College Baseball Prospects

I wanted to clear up something I mentioned in a recent article. I said that I would put my player evaluating skills up to those of the Rangers front office brass. So what I will do is go thru and look up players by myself. I will spend no money to do this! I will not pay for any ESPN Insider information or Baseball America Top Tools lists. I will spend a few hours a week researching players, and focus on guys that the Rangers could draft... I know David Price P from Vandy is amazing but unless you're a Devil Ray fan you won't see your team get him.

I already brought you up to date on the greatness of Matt Wieters and Matt LaPorta. So here is a quick look at some of the other top collegiate hitters in this year's draft...according to me.

Beau Mills 3B LCSC - LCSC is Lewis and Clark State College, btw. Mills is a transfer from Fresno State, where he had academic issues (which should raise a few ?'s.) But, Mills is hitting .459/.553/1.000... no that isn't a typeo he's slugging 1.000!!! That's how a guy who plays NAIA ball gets a chance to go in the top 5 of the draft. He broke the school single season record for homers, 30, in 20 fewer games than it took the previous record holder. Mills has also only struck out 17 times so far this year, meaning he can crush while consistently making contact! I do have some concerns about the level of competition, there's a long way to go from the Frontier Confrenece to MLB. The lefthanded hitting Mills had some rather troubling splits this year while he killed righties like me with Ken Griffey Jr on SNES, his average against southpaws was nearly 200 points lower, .503 vRH/.339 vLH. He'll prolly shift to 1B in the pros, since he made 11 errors at 3B this year, but his bat could be for real.

Todd Frazier SS Rutgers - Simply, Frazier is one of the best hitters in college and the fact that he plays a premium defensive position doesn't hurt. Frazier absolutely raked this year to the tune of a .375/.502/.751 line for the Nappy Headed Hoes. Frazier complimented his 50 BB's by going 21/25 on steal attempts. There aren't a ton of SS's in this years draft and his bat will carry him even if he moves to third or second base.

Corey Brown OF OkState - Brown hasn't gotten much pub from the few other people covering the draft but this centerfielder's batting line should make people take notice, .358/.512/.791! He does have a high strikeout rate, but he reminds me a lot of a Brad Wilkerson (stop the jokes Ranger's fans...it's a compliment) or young Jeremy Burnitz type player... a guy with good power, good defense, great eye at the plate and decent speed. Very underrated guy who could end up being a 5-6 win player in the show.

Matt Mangini 3B OkState - No mention of the OSU Cowboys would be complete without Mr Mangini. This hot corner...er? lead the 06 Cape Cod league in batting. While his numbers this season have been somewhat short of dominate, .343/.445/.566, they're still pretty darned good and he's already proven he can hit with the wood bat.

Kyle Russell OF UT - This longhorn right fielder lead DI in slugging this year, .877! Very tall and fairly thin, Russell has a very quick bat and big time power. Russell has a decent eye, 35BB in 187AB's, but swings and misses an awful lot, 32% of the time over the last two years. Russell also lead the 06 Cap Cod League in K's. I could see him being somewhat of a Shawn Green type player.

Mitch Canham C OrSt - Canham is the kind of college player I really like, accomplished college player, who plays a premium defensive position, who has a great eye at the plate, and a little bit of pop. Canham hit .352/.478/.593 for the Beavers this year.

Danny Payne OF GaTech - Along with Canham and Brown, Payne is another vastly underrated player in this year's draft. Payne has the patience at the plate to carry him all the way to the bigs. He's small and over looked by a lot of scouts but I'll take a guy who hit .393/.522/.582 on my team.

Now I have a sneaking suspicion that none of these guys will be Rangers, but all of them stand a good chance at being good big leaguers...and most of them will. JD the challenge is officially on, see what you can do with an entire scouting department a multi-million dollar budget and far more time than I have. I still think I'm the favorite in this.

Anyway I'm off to the Temple to see Dice-K v B-Mac. I'll be back with more hitters, the pitchers and the few high school players I've seen enough to make a recommendation about.