Looking ahead to the 2017 draft

allentown 2017-02-10 20:49:04 UTC #81

Unless he's recuperating from surgery to his pitching shoulder, he's not like Joe Savery.

Patchmk88 2017-02-18 01:41:53 UTC #82

McKay in his first game of the season went 6 innings gave up 0 runs 4 hits and 0 walks and struck out 9. Reports were that he was hitting 94-95 in the first few innings. At the plate he went 2 for 3 with a single, hr, and 2 Rbis. UofL played at Spectrum Stadium vs Alabama St.

schooldoc 2017-02-19 05:31:05 UTC #83

Alex Faedo (Florida) and Kyle Wright (Vanderbilt), both projected as top-10 if not top-5 picks, had mediocre season debuts on Friday.

On the other hand, JB Bukauskas (UNC) threw six shutout innings and struck out 10 in his start. Mike Lange (LSU) threw five shutout innings.

Tanner Houck (Missouri), who I have seen in mocks going to the Phillies at 8 overall, lost his first start of the year to Eastern Michigan. He allowed 8 hits and 5 runs (4 ER) in 5.2 ip, but did strike out nine.

It'll be interesting to watch the college pitching crop this season.

Patchmk88 2017-03-02 23:12:38 UTC #84

Sorry I keep pumping up Mckay but he's my favorite college player and has been an absolute beast so far. This is from a D1 Write-up - https://d1baseball.com/roundup/d1-digest-wednesday-march-1/:

Stat of the Day: Have you seen Brendan McKay’s line?

First-team preseason All-American Brendan McKay went 3-for-3 with two RBIs in Louisville’s 20-2 win against Morehead State on Wednesday. Everybody knows McKay is really, really good — he’s been college baseball’s premier two-way player since he set foot on campus, earning first-team All-America honors at the utility spot in each of his first two seasons. But McKay is on another planet right now. Through eight games, he’s hitting a mind-boggling .667/.714/1.083 with three homers and 13 RBIs. Absurdly, he has been walked or hit by a pitch more times (nine) than he has made outs (eight).

Oh, and McKay is 2-0, 0.82 with 14 strikeouts and four walks in 11 innings on the mound. Ho-hum.

schooldoc 2017-03-03 02:55:24 UTC #85

Since Friday night is ace night in college baseball, a number of these guys should be starting tomorrow night. Let's see how some of the top guys are doing after 2 starts:

Faedo (Florida): 1-0, 2.70 ERA....threw 8.2 inn of 2-hit shutout ball vs. Miami in his 2d start
Wright (Vandy): 0-1, 3.27 ERA....threw 6 inn of 1-run ball his last time out
Houck (Missouri): 0-1, 7.20 ERA...allowed 4 ER in 4.1 ip his last time out vs. Tex A&M-Corpus Christi
Bukauskas (UNC): threw a 3-hit shutout over 7 inn with 11 k's in his 2d start
Lange (LSU): 2-0, 0.82 ERA

Faedo, Bukauskas, Lange, McKay all very sharp to open the season, albeit against lesser competition (with occasional exceptions). Houck struggling. Wright just ok.

schooldoc 2017-03-04 01:37:01 UTC #86

A sampling of Friday night results

Bukauskas today vs. Long Beach St.: 7 ip 6 h 2 r 1 er 1 bb 9 k
Wright today vs. Cal St-Northridge: 5 ip 6 h 5 r 3 er 2 bb 8 k
Faedo so far today vs. Columbia: 5.2 ip 2 h 0 r 2 bb 8 k

Patchmk88 2017-03-04 01:52:34 UTC #87

McKay is day to day with an abdominal strain so he didn't pitch or hit tonight. May be out for the rest of the weekend.

Patchmk88 2017-03-11 04:33:32 UTC #88

You all know I have to post my weekly update on McKay. We need some good new right? Well out baseball team moved to 13-0 today with a 3-0 victory over Pitt. He went 7 innings, striking out 15, and not allowing a run. On the year he is 3-0 with a .5 ERA and 29 ks in 18 IP. He also is batting .559 with 4 hrs and 16 rbis. Dude is a beast.

schooldoc 2017-03-13 00:05:37 UTC #89

Some other recent results from the top college pitchers:

Alex Faedo (Florida) won Fri night vs. Seton Hall: 6 ip 5 h 0 r 1 bb 6 k
JB Bukauskas (UNC) won Fri night vs. Virginia: 6 ip 3 h 1 r/er 2 bb 7 k
Tanner Houck (Mizzou) won Fri night .vs. Appalachian St.: 8.2 ip 4 h 0 r 2 bb 7 k
Alex Wright (Vandy) lost Fri night vs. Saint Mary's: 4 ip 10 h 6 r 5 er 1 bb 7 k

Squire 2017-03-16 15:26:33 UTC #90

First BA Mock through 10 picks is up. Has us taking the one player who is off to a bad start -RHP Kyle Wright.

Top 7 were Greene, McKay, Lewis, Bukauskas, Breck, Kendall, Faedo

fish 2017-03-16 15:51:35 UTC #91

Not sure I see a Greene going 1-1 (especially has a high school arm), but McKay makes great sense for the Reds at #2.

I watched a few games for the top college arms last year- the thing that stood out about Bukauskas, Hauck, Faedo, and Lange was the power breaking balls. Pitches that already look like plus big league pitches. All have some warts in their deliveries (Faedo looks like he's going to break his arm off at the elbow). Wright has a great body and his delivery looks very clean and controlled, but his stuff was around 90-91 last year- pretty average.

At this point i'd probably put Alex Lange behind Bukauskas. Lange has an 84 mph curve that's just outright nasty.

flyers19rw 2017-03-16 16:10:34 UTC #92

Adding another LSU tiger to the staff wouldn't be the worst thing that could come out of this draft. He doesn't have the high nineties FB but that curve is a hammer.

Squire 2017-03-18 11:23:45 UTC #93

Kyle Wright with a better start last night though light on strikeouts. Tanner Houck with a gem as he hands Alabama their first loss of the season. Lange got tuned up in his start last night 8 runs in 4.1

Patchmk88 2017-03-18 13:41:26 UTC #94

McKay went 7 innings giving up no tuns, 5 singles, and 1 walk, while striking out 12 last night. Still praying that he somehow falls to us.

schooldoc 2017-03-18 23:06:47 UTC #95

It's a long way from now to June, but right now I don't see it.

Squire 2017-03-19 20:02:05 UTC #96

Not playing in a top conference but Missouri State 3B Jake Burger starting to get my attention with his 9th HR last night.

Squire 2017-03-23 14:44:13 UTC #97

BA With an Updated Top 100 Draft Prospects:

Hunter Greene, RHP, HS
Brendan McKay, 1B/LHP, Louisville
J.B. Bukauskas, RHP, UNC
Austin Beck, OF, HS
Jeren Kendall, CF, Vanderbilt
Kyle Wright, RHP, Vanderbilt
Royce Lewis, SS/OF, HS
Nick Pratto, 1B, HS
Alex Faedo, RHP, Florida
Seth Romero, LHP, UHouston
Pavin Smith, 1B, UVA
D.L. Hall, LHP, HS
Mackenzie Gore, LHP, HS
Jordan Adell, OF, HS
Heliot Ramos, OF, HS
Alex Lange, RHP, LSU
Tanner Houck, RHP, UMissouri

fish 2017-03-23 15:27:42 UTC #98

I really like Burger's hitting ability- but he's already built like a right handed Schwarber/Thome. You have to really believe in the bat because the body is all down hill.

Lange and Faedo pitch against each other this Friday- that should be interesting. It's on ESPN's SEC network, but I guess that doesn't come standard in the ESPN cable package. I'm a little curious why Wright isn't falling in the rankings like Faedo and Lange- he's had one good start this year.

To have Jeren Kendall or Royce Lewis fall to them would be a dream, but that's not likely. Kendall is striking out a ton, but walking ok and the average is creeping up. Pratto is a really interesting hitter- great pro looking body already. He looks like he would be a good enough athlete to play an outfield spot, but i haven't seen anything that suggests he has played off first (except to pitch).

allentown 2017-03-23 17:32:35 UTC #99

Given where we are in the rebuild, I think Phillies prefer college with the #1. If the order falls like this, I think they take Lange, which as things currently stand, would suit me fine.

phillychuck 2017-03-23 21:15:56 UTC #100

Looks like Lange lost his change-up after the 2015 season and has been struggling to find it since. He's sitting 92-96 with decent location..his K numbers and K/BB ratio are both better this season, but he's giving up too many hard-hit balls (including HRs). That may be a result of relying on only 2 pitches. I think pro coaches could restore his change-up (which was his best pitch coming out of HS). I wouldn't mind him in the draft.