Here my notes from all of the college baseball action arou d the country, including player news, risers and fallers.
From Games I went to:
– I watched UAB’s Tanner Graham pitch on Friday night and he was very sharp with a fastball that was up to 92 with life. He struck out nine over five innings. He could be middle round pick this year as a junior.
– I also watched Bowling Green outfielder Jake Wilson over the weekend and the former Red Sox draft pick was very impressive. He finished the weekend 3-of-12 with a run, RBI and stolen base. I think he has a chance to be a high draft pick in the 2019 draft.
– On Sunday I went to watch Alabama play and came away very impressed with freshman catcher Sam Praytor. He receives the ball very well and even stole a couple of strikes with his framing ability. Praytor also has a cannon for an arm as I saw him gun somebody down on Sunday. To go along with his stellar defense, he picked up 4 hits on the weekend.
– After a slow start, Alabama’s new 3-hole hitter Joe Breaux really impressed over the weekend. He has the walk-off hit on Saturday and a pair of doubles on Sunday. He’s going to really give the Alabama lineup a boost.
Other Player Notes:
– I think the entire college baseball world took notice of Jake Wong over the weekend. The ace for Grand Canyon pitched 6 shutout innings against TCU Friday night with 9 strikeouts. His draft stock is soaring.
– I watched Tristan Beck Friday night against Cal State Fullerton and came away impressed. His fastball sat 88-91, but he had a wipeout slider working a plus change-up. Good to see him back out pitching well.
– Also in that Stanford game I came away in love with shortstop Nico Hoerner. He plays with great energy and hit one of the hardest shots I saw all weekend putting a dent in the 400 sign in center field.
– I saw of the Vanderbilt game on Friday night, or at least enough to know that Drake Fellows has a nasty breaking pitch that had a Duke hitters confused all night.
– Nick Sandlin was unbelievable as a starter for Southern Miss Friday night against Mississippi State. I don’t think there is any way they can take him out of the starting rotation now. That slider from that arm slot is deadly.
– It wasn’t a great weekend for Mississippi State as a team, but I saw center fielder Jake Mangum make several great defensive plays.
– On a side note, there were a couple of big injuries in the Big 12. Texas Tech ace Steven Gingery left his start early, while TCU’s Luken Baker exited the game Friday night after taking a ball off the face and getting cut pretty good. I think Baker should be alright and could be back this weekend, but the severity of Gingery’s injury is unclear.
Teams on the Rise:
– Southern Miss: I said it in our Power Ranking, but I don’t think any team had a better weekend than Southern Miss. the Golden Eagles are flying high after sweeping in-State rival Mississippi State. They looked primed to host another regional this year.
– Stanford: The Cardinal also had an impressive sweep over an in-State foe in Cal State Fullerton. That pitching staff is one of the best in the country, and the offense looks solid as well. Stanford could be a top eight seed.
– Ole Miss: I admittedly was not high on Ole Miss coming into the season, but they had a big weekend at with a sweep over a very good Winthrop team. I’m still not convinced they’re s top 15 team, but they certainly opened up my eyes this weekend.
– Notre Dame: I’m not sure if it had more to with LSU being bad or Notre Dame being good, but still, taking two-of-three from LSU at The Box is impressive.
Teams on the Decline:
– LSU: There is no other way to describe the weekend for LSU than U-G-L-Y. The starting pitching for LSU was a complete disaster. Had it not been for a grand slam band 3-run home run late in Friday’s game they would have been swept. I know they had some injuries, but still, get it together.
– Oklahoma: They started out the weekend with a quality win, but then dropped three straight. Steele Walker was just 3-for-14 in their losses, including 0-for-6 against South Alabama. They have to find ways to produce runs without him.
– Cal State Fullerton: I wasn’t very high on the Titans coming into the season, and they didn’t do anything against Stanford to raise my expectation. Unless someone surprises, this could be a down year in the Big West.
– Mississippi State: Like their SEC counterpart in LSU, this weekend was ugly for the Bulldogs. At least they were on the road against a ranked opponent. The starting pitching, especially Konnor Pilkington, was a major letdown, and the offense just couldn’t break through.
Final Thoughts:
It was a great Opening a Weekend of college baseball. After one weekend of games I feel like there are 10-15 teams that I really feel can compete for the title. But if I’m being honest, I have a really hard time putting other teams in the top 25. I know it’s a long season though, and I can’t wait to see how week two unfolds.
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