College Baseball Daily continues our countdown to the start of the 2012 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 countdown today at number 30 with Stanford redshirt junior LHP Brett Mooneyham. The Atwater, California, native earned four varsity letters at Buhach High School while helping his team to four straight league titles. He was named first team All-League in his senior season of 2008, leading the team to a Division I Championship on both the mound and at the plate. He went 9-2 with a 0.97 ERA including 103 strikeouts in 58 innings and holding opponents to a .116 batting average. At the plate, he hit .379 with 5 HR and 35 RBI. Mooneyham’s father was a 4-time first round pick, finally signing with the Angels as the 10th pick in the 1980 June Draft. He played 9 professional seasons, seeing time in the major leagues with the Oakland A’s in 1986.
The 6’5″ left hander had an outstanding freshman year in 2009 as he was named a Freshman All-American by both Louisville Slugger and Collegiate Baseball, going 6-3 with a 4.14 ERA and over 67.1 innings pitched, striking out 72 and holding opposing batters to a .204 BAA. Though Stanford failed to make the postseason in 2009, Mooneyham was tied for 2nd in the Pac-10 in fewest hits allowed with 46 while getting 5 out of his 6 wins in Pac-10 play.
Mooneyham had flashes of his 2009 brilliance in 2010, but that was overshadowed by his massive struggles at throwing strikes. He ended up going 3-7 with a 5.07 ERA in 17 starts. He started out the season at an abysmal 0-4 as the Sunday starter, getting his first victory April 10th against Oregon, and didn’t win against until May 7th at Long Beach State. Even though he had control issues with a 1.59 WHIP, Mooneyham’s strikeout numbers were solid, striking out 99 over 87 IP and holding opposing batters to a .243 BAA. His walk numbers are a huge issue though giving up 62 free passes in 2010, and are particularly deadly when seeing West Coast offenses week after week.
He spent the summer of 2010 with the USA Collegiate National Team pitching in four games (three starts) while going a perfect 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA in 11 innings. Mooneyham spent the beginning of the summer of 2010 in the Cape Cod Baseball League with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox where he made four starts totaling 22.2 innings. He finished the Cape portion of his summer with a 3-0 record and an ERA of 3.18.
Mooneyham missed the entire 2011 season with a thumb injury but is expected to be back in full force for the 2012 season. He will help lead a strong one-two punch with potential number 1 overall pick Mark Appel in 2012.
You can check out the rest of our Top 100 by clicking here.
