College Baseball Resource Thread 2007

[colbyjack]

This weekend's BA college preview from BA:

 

www.baseballamerica.com/t...63858.html

 

And a picture of Tennessee's James Adkins, who I saw face David Price a couple of weeks ago:

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/images/jadkins07428309tf.jpg

[DAS1410]

CJ,

 

Have you seen/heard any recent scouting reports on Joe Savery?

 

His workload has gone up over the past few starts, so it looks like his strength/stamina is returning. But, his control is off (26 BB) and he's not missing many bats (40 K), but he does have a good BAA (.221 - 48/217) and as of his start on 4/29 has not given up a HR in 62.2 IP this year.

[colbyjack]

I heard some reports earlier in the season on Savery, but none within the last month or so. He was topping out around 91 then, working in the high-80s (as opposed to working in the low-90s and touching 95), but his command reportedly has been pretty good. Rice has obviously taken it slow with him, but scouts still are concerned about his arm, which always brings up the concern about pitchers that come from Rice (but when this concern comes up, I always remind people that Wayne Graham coached Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens at San Jacinto College).

 

So, he still has talent, but any team selecting him is doing so recognizing there is a fair amount of risk. The fallback option is hit bat, as some considered him a first-round talent as a position player. However, the power just isn't there this year (at least not the last time I checked) to justify a first-round selection.

 

He's another candidate for the super-sized sandwich round, and if he does slip, I wouldn't be surprised to see him back at Rice next year to improve his draft status (payday).

[colbyjack]

I haven't been watching as much college baseball in recent weeks for a couple of reasons. The first being that the Brewers have been far too much fun to follow to turn my attention away from the big-league team. The second is that many of the games being televised offer teams that I have already had a pretty good look at.

 

Anyway, I did tape a Friday contest between Houston and Tulane from a couple of weeks ago that offered Houston ace Aaron Brown facing Tulane ace Sean Morgan.

 

Aaron Brown

A sinker-slider pitcher, Brown is very tall and rail think. It looks as though you could wrap your hand around his biceps. He needs to rely on control and inducing contact early in counts because he isn't going to blow anyone away, but his fastball had very nice dip to it and his slider showed nice bite. Not wicked bite like Morgan's slider, but good enough to induce plenty of weak ground balls. He's not an early round guy, but he could go in the 5-10 range.

 

Sean Morgan

I hadn't seen Morgan pitch since his freshman year. A former draft pick of the Brewers in the 2004 draft out of high school, Morgan was hailed for both his arm and his bat, and originally served as a closer and hitter for the Green Wave. He's starting now, but I think his future is in the bullpen. His delivery has been described as violent, which it most certainly is. He reminded me a lot of Derrick Turnbow. They aren't carbon copies of one another, but Morgan is similar in that his delivery is very max effort, with a lot of arm to it. He commanded his fastball very well, and despite giving up a couple of first-inning runs, the balls hit off of him weren't hit very hard at all, finding a few holes in the infield to go along with a bunt hit. He uncorked a few sliders which dove in the dirt just like Turnbow's. I'd love to see what he could do in the closer's role in which he would be allowed to uncork both his fastball and slider on every pitch, because I could easily see him being very dominant in this role. His fastball is heavy, and he too likely will induce a lot of weak ground balls. He gives up his fair share of dingers, but when you pitch aggressively with your fastball as Morgan does, that's going to happen.

 

There are a few other interesting draft eligible players on the Tulane squad, such as Brad Emaus and Warren McFadden, and while both have some good tools, I would be a little surprised if either was selected before the fifth round. Emaus is a good, not great, all-around player and hitter, while McFadden has the potential to be dynamic, but his swing is way too long, and is going to lead to a ton of Ks if he doesn't find a way to shorten it.

 

I also wanted to provide an update on UW-Stevens Point RHP Jordan Zimmerman. Here's his updated line on the year:

 

6-0, 2.17 ERA, 9 games (5 starts), 2 saves, 45.2 IP, 34 H, 52 K, 12 BB, .211 BAA

 

Since my last update of Zimmerman (4/23) he has appeared in 3 games, going 2-0 with a save, allowing 4 ER in 15 IP, allowing 12 hits and 3 BB while striking out 20. His arm is going to be pretty fresh entering the summer given the relatively short schedule in D3 ball, not to mention his late start due to his injury (and the elements).

[colbyjack]

BA's weekend preview:

 

www.baseballamerica.com/t...63887.html

 

Quote:

---

Streakin'

Beau Mills, 3b, Lewis-Clark (Idaho) State

Mills, a transfer from Fresno State, has had quite a few memorable weeks this season, but last week might have topped them all. He delivered a walk-off RBI single to win Saturday's game against Linfield (Ore.) College, then set a new Lewis-Clark record on Sunday by driving in eight runs in a 15-3 win. Mills also set the school's single-season home run mark in that game, swatting two to bring his total to a mind-boggling 30 in 205 at-bats. If that wasn't impressive enough, Mills is batting .468/.546/1.010, and he has driven in 105 runs in 51 games. Don't be fooled into writing off this performance based on the NAIA competition; Mills hit 22 homers as a freshman at Fresno State and followed it up with 14 more as a sophomore, when he batted .355.

 

In case you were wondering, the Warriors are 48-4.

---

 

Holy moly. Mills continues to put up silly Nintendo numbers for Lewis-Clark State. I really hope the Brewers have him somewhere on their radar at #7.

[natedogge7]

i heard his defense is simply...atrocious lol.

[tomter38]

Hey Madtown Bomber I know Fabian and Rowe were pretty impressive, but what'd you think of the pitcher in game 2 for Concordia? Besides a rough first inning he did decent, but then again I may be a little biased towards my own performance. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[colbyjack]

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get to see Jordan Zimmerman pitch this spring. I was prepared to see him play in late March/early April, but the elements caused several UW Stevens Point series to be re-scheduled to early week contests.

 

However, a Pointers game played in early to mid-April against UW Whitewater was available on TV, and I got a chance to see Zimmerman, who I also missed last summer in the Northwoods League by one day.

 

It was snowing when the game started, and Zimmerman came out firing mostly fastballs. I obviously didn't have access to a radar gun, so I can't comment on how hard he was throwing, but based on reports I have heard from people that have seen him pitch this spring, he has been consistently in the low-90s touching 95 on occasion.

 

His fastball command was impressive, and the pitch had some nice darting and diving movement to it. In later innings it started to straighten out more, and batters started to wait back on it better especially since his breaking ball isn't as sharp as it could be.

 

He has two different breaking balls. One looks as though it is trying to be a curve, but is rather slurvy, and kind of looks like a get me over pitch. The other looks more like a true slider, and has good promise but needs to be tightened up (and for all I know it has, since it was a cold day). His breaking balls did continue to look better one after the other, but there were times that he tried to string too many of them in a row, and again batters would react to this and get good swings on the ball.

 

His delivery is his best attribute IMO. No wasted movement, he repeats it extremely well, and it is so silky smooth. One of those deliveries in which it looks like he's play catch. His body type and delivery reminded me a lot of Tim Hudson, and even Dave Bush, with an athletic build, high waist, yet not an overly large or imposing frame.

 

He also induced a ton of ground balls, which I always like seeing, as he did a good job of keeping the ball down in the zone and the natural movement on his fastball helps him with this as well.

 

I'd love to see how he is throwing now with the warmer weather in the area, and he pitched 8 innings the other day in the D3 playoffs, striking out 11 with no walks against St. Scholastica. Stevens Point will play in an elimination game today at noon vs. Ripon after losing on Thursday to St. Olaf. If they win the noon game, they will play St. Thomas at 7 pm tonight, and if they win that game they will play another game on Sunday, of which I'm guessing Zimmerman may be asked to take the mound again after three days rest. The games are being played in Wisconsin Rapids if anyone is interested.

[natedogge7]

thanks for the report on zimmerman, he really intrigues me. He is projected more of a 3rd round guy right now?

[colbyjack]

It's hard to say, because really anyone could go in the super-size sandwich round. If you're a candidate to go in the top three to five rounds, you're a candidate to be taken in the supplemental first.

 

And it depends on how he's been pitching lately. UWSP won their game earlier today against Ripon to advance to play this evening against St. Thomas, a game in which they're leading 5-0 in the 5th (Zimmerman has 2 RBI in this game, an RBI groundout and a solo HR serving as the team's DH). If they win this game I'm guessing Zimmerman will be trotted out to the mound for Sunday's contest vs. the winner of tomorrow's St. Thomas-UW Oshkosh contest. Basically, the more opportunities Zimmerman has to prove himself, the better, and if they win the regional tourney they're off to the D3 World Series.

[GagneCY03]

CJ, just looking at Pedro Alvarez's stats, does his strikeout rate or number of errors bother you? He's being touted as the best prospect in next year's draft, but I was expecting better stats from him.

[tomter38]

According to the website updates, Zimmerman just went 6 1/3 scoreless giving up only 2 hits and striking out 10 against Oshkosh in the Regional Final. This can only help hsi cause.

[natedogge7]

what does everyone think of todd frazier? what type of mlb player does everyone think he could eventually become?

 

he looks like a really exciting power+speed type of guy although hes probably going to K 100+ times a year.

 

he looks like a 275/360/500 25hr 20sb type of player from reading scouting reports and watching video of him.

[colbyjack]

Frazier was discussed recently in one of the threads. I looked for the conversation, but couldn't find it.

 

fewgoodcards and myself both compared him to Jeff Francoeur, and also pointed out that he is a similar prospect to Ryan Braun. Very athletic with good power. He walks a bunch, but he strikes out a bunch too. Your projected future numbers for him a similar to the ones we talked about.

 

Jordan Zimmerman and UW Stevens Point beat UW Oshkosh today to claim the regional title, and will take part in the D3 World Series that begins this Friday at Fox Cities Stadium in Apple-ton (at 10:00 am if anyone's interest, I may try to make the trip if I can find a way to take a half-day from work). Zimmerman claimed the MVP award for the tournament, starring both at the mound and at the plate. In two games, he went 2-0 with 21 K and 0 BB in 14.1 innings, which marks the second straight year he has earned the tournament's MVP award.

 

Here's UWSP's story on Zimmerman and the Pointers' success:

 

www.uwsp.edu/athletics/ba...hkosh3.htm