The CBB continues our countdown for the 2010 College Baseball season by checking in on the Top 100 Players in the country. We will be providing one player per day until we reach number 1.
We continue the list today with number 16 in our countdown with Sophomore RHP Sonny Gray. He is from Smyrna, Tennessee where he attended Smyrna High School. He went 4-0 with a 0.79 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 35 innings while hitting .518 including three home runs during senior campaign. Heading into the 2008 MLB Draft, he was ranked as the No. 52 draft prospect by Baseball America and the 67th best draft prospect by Perfect Game. He was selected in the 27th round by the Chicago Cubs but decided to honor his commitment to Vanderbilt.
Gray appeared in 22 games as a freshman including making four starts as he went 5-1 including five saves with a 4.30 ERA. He ended up pitching a total of 58.2 innings while striking out 72 batters. His biggest issue last season was his wild side as he walked 20 batters, tossed five wild pitches, and hit five batters. He spent the summer of 2009 with the USA Collegiate National Team where he appeared in eight games including two starts. He went 3-1 with a 0.75 ERA in his 24 innings of work. He ended up striking out 27 batters while walking eight and hitting two batters. Baseball America rated him the third best prospect on the 2009 USA Collegiate National Team.
Gray is one of the hardest throwers in the country with his fastball that can top out at 97 MPH and having a curve that drops off the table at 80-84 MPH. If Gray can find his control during his college career, then he will be one of the best pitchers for the 2011 MLB Draft.
You can check out the rest of our Top 100 by clicking here.
5 comments
Brian, Update on Alex Wimmers – RHP – Ohio State – Now preseason All-American, rankings and scouting have him up with Ranaudo (who is very good), believe nationals will take interest because Wimmers compliments Strasburg and if nationals are to win they need pitching, Pirates – Orioles – Royals all have interest (you probably have connections to check with them).
Talk is that he has a very high profile and if he is any where close to last year, he would be top in line for the Golden Spikes Award – he was a finalist last year.
Good possibility he goes 2-6 1st round which would not make Reds happy since he would be gone before their selection and very good he is taken before Cleveland. Check it out.
If Harper is to expensive for nationals – Wimmers would be a great choice. Then if Gibbs or Forsyth is avaliable nationals get a good cathers 2nd round and able to pay above slot money and may get two great players for price of one. A lot of good cathers. INTERESTING THOUGHT
First, Wimmers will have his due. Its unfair to the others to ramble on about Alex on their profile.
Second, nobody in the scouting world woul echo those sentiments. Seriously? Nobody is more than happy to see Wimmers rise through the ranks and be as effective and good as he is.
However he isn’t even the top pitching prospect in Ohio going into 2010. Stetson Allie of Lakewood St. Ed holds that honor.
I’m not going to steal more time away from another player, as I’m sure Gray is very deserving of this profile, and again Wimmers will be forthcoming, but lets tone down the hype just a bit.
Lets save the Wimmers talk until he comes on the list!
Sonny is more than worthy of this ranking. In fact, I’m a little surprised that neither Sonny nor Gerritt Cole cracked the top 10, seeing as how they were arguably the top two arms on Team USA this summer.
I like Pomeranz more then both of them right now. Both Sonny and Gerrit have some growing pains to go through. Cole was good last year and didn’t get the run support. If you want to bring up, Cole’s best game was against Canada in the World Baseball Challenge.
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