Braun and Pedroia named Rookies of the Year

Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers and Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox were named Rookie of the Year in their respective leagues today. Braun was a standout player for the Miami Hurricanes from 2003-2005 while Pedroia starred for the Arizona State Sun Devils from 2002-2004.

Arizona State Press Release
Miami Press Release

CBB Top Position Players for 2008

Pedro Alvarez, Vanderbilt.
This hard-hitting, Junior third baseman from Horace Mann High School in the Bronx, New York is one of the pre-season favorites for the Golden Spikes Award and was the only 2007 Golden Spikes finalist to return in 2008. Alvarez is lethal at the plate, as a career .360 batter with an NCAA high 40 career home runs (among active players). In 2006, he hit .329 with 22 home runs and 64 RBI en route to earning National Freshman of the Year. In 2007, he improved to .386, 18, 68, which leading Vanderbilt to a number 1 ranking for the majority of the season. Alvarez is deadly from the left side of the plate and is protected in Coach Tim Corbin’s lineup by being sandwiched between another pair of returning all-America players, RF Dominic De la Osa (.378, 20, 62) and SS Ryan Flaherty (.381, 4, 57). Alvarez is also a spectacular fielder with cat-like reflexes and a cannon arm; however, Pedro’s flair for the dramatic defensive play also leads to his fair share of errors. Those errors and a tendency to strikeout too often will be the items Alvarez looks to improve in his swan song season.

Dominic de la Osa, Vanderbilt
Hitting in the coveted “Mickey Mantle spot” (in front of Pedro Alvarez, as Mantle did when Roger Maris hit 61), Dominic de la Osa exploded in 2007, proving to be one of the top speed-power guys in the nation. Entering last season with a .300 average and 16 home runs in solid, if unspectacular Freshman and Sophomore years, “of the Bear” set career highs with a .378 average, 65 runs, 23 doubles, 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases. A consensus first team All-America, de la Osa was expected to be a first day pick in the MLB draft before plummeting to the 10th round and the Tigers. An abysmal summer on the Cape left de la Osa with more to prove and he returned to man Rightfield as a Senior for Coach Corbin.

Justin Smoak, South Carolina
Joining Brett Wallace and Yonder Alonso as the elite first basemen in College Baseball, Smoak enters his Junior year in second place on the career homerun list among active players. As a Freshman, he hit .303 with 17 homeruns and 63 RBI. Smoak improved on those numbers last year, hitting .317 with 19 homeruns and another 63 RBI. Most impressive, however, is Smoak’s patience, with 94 walks against 79 strikeouts. The switch-hitting lefty is also thrifty with the glove, sporting a career .994 fielding percentage. Smoak is perfectly positioned for a true, breakout season in a good hitter’s ballpark.

Yonder Alonso, Miami

Alonso was named the top first baseman in the Cape Cod League in 2007. He hit an outstanding .338 for the summer after hitting .376 with 18 homers during the 2007 season for the Hurricanes. Alonso is a patient hitter as he walked 64 times during the collegiate season and 36 times in the CCBL. He only struck out 56 times combined. He needs to work on his defense as he is limited to playing only first base. He should develop more power before getting drafted in 2008 as he will become stronger and a better hitter. Alonso should be able to compete for many National Player of the Year awards in 2008 in addition to conference accolades.

Buster Posey, Florida State

Posey is one of the College Baseball Blog's favorite players. He moved to catcher before the 2007 season as the Seminoles had an opening behind the plate. Buster hit .382 with 3 homers and 65 RBI at FSU while spending his summer with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox where he batted .281 as he struggled to adjust to the Cape Cod League pitching. One scout told us that Posey improved his draft stock with the move behind the plate but needs to refine his catching skills as he is raw at calling games and blocking pitches. Posey should be one of the top catchers in the ACC competing with Tim Federowicz for conference awards. The CBB will be seeing Posey this season when FSU comes to Boston College for a three game set. The CBB expects Posey to be drafted in the top five rounds of the 2008 draft.

Brett Wallace, Arizona State

Wallace led the Sun Devils back to the College World Series in 2007 where he hit an outstanding .404 for the season while hitting 16 home runs. He won the Pac 10 Triple Crown as was named the Player of the Year in the conference. Brett spent the summer of 2007 with the USA National team where he competed in the Pan-Am Games and the World Port Tournament. He hit .312 with two homers and 26 RBI for the summer. Wallace is a big guy as he is listed at 6'1 245 pounds so he struggles in the field and will likely be stuck at first base in MLB or moved to DH if he is put in the American League.

Thanks to NewYorkDore for helping out with some of the previews.

CSTV Fall Top 25

Doug Kroll of CSTV has released his top 25 poll based on Fall practices. It's worth checking out. Arizona State is listed as the top team. We will see about that.

Click here for the article.

LSU Takes 2008 CB Recruiting Title

Coach Paul Mainieri and Recruiting Coordinator Terry Rooney took home the title of #1 Recruiting Class of 2008. The Collegiate Baseball title was unsurprising as Coach M (in his first year at Baton Rouge after a successful stint in South Bend) and Coach Rooney had assembled a massive class including 12 Freshman and 7 JuCos, including several All-Americans.

The future is certainly looking bright for LSU, which is seeking to restore its position as one of the top programs in the country.

This was the 25th ranking of recruiting classes by Collegiate Baseball. The full release can be found here.

The list of top classes goes as follows:

Rank Team Recruits

1. Louisiana St. 19

2. Florida St. 20

3. Oregon St. 16

4. Notre Dame 14

5. UCLA 11

6. Cal. St. Fullerton 16

7. North Carolina 12

8. Arizona St. 17

9. San Diego 18

10. Texas 17

11. Washington 16

12. Auburn 14

13. Virginia 16

14. Oklahoma St. 18

15. Vanderbilt 13

16. Georgia 14

17. Rice 12

18. South Carolina 13

19. Missouri 16

20. Miami, Fla. 8

21. Clemson 10

22. Stanford 13

23. Georgia Tech. 11

24. Arizona 9

25. Mississippi 17

Rivals mailbag

Our favorite Rivals writer Kendall Rogers checks in with a mailbag column talking about some of the challenges Vanderbilt is facing with the loss of David Price, a preview of Arizona State, the future of Memphis baseball, and finally Texas AM utility player Blake Stouffer chances of winning National Player of the Year. The article is available here.

Arizona State opens fall practice with 29 scrimmages

The Arizona State Sun Devils have released their fall baseball schedule with 29 intra-squad scrimmages scheduled. The full release is available here. This is not the typical fall schedule as teams usually use this time to develop their players skills in practice and have a five game series at the end of the fall. I wonder why ASU has decided to play so many games this fall? Is there that much competition for spots on the team? Does Pat Murphy just want to take a look at his players in a game situation? I am just wondering. Thanks to Mark over at Pitch Fork Nation for bringing this interesting development to my attention.

Washington State releases 2008 schedule

The Washington State Cougars have released their 2008 schedule which is highlighted by 13 games against 2007 NCAA Tournament participants. They will open the season on February 22nd when the Creighton Blue Jays visit for a three game set. They will also host Kent State on March 7th-9th in a four game series and Arizona State on April 11th-13th. The full release is available here.

Perfect Game names Top 20 Prospects in VL

FROM VALLEY BASEBALL LEAGUE
Baseball website PGcrosschecker.com recently compiled its list of the top 20 players in the Valley Baseball League. The list was compiled by Allan Simpson with input from the league's managers and scouts.

Similar to the recently released Baseball America list, PG Crosschecker identified Winchester's Luke Greinke as the league's top prospect. He was also the league MVP. He was followed by Covington outfielder Jason Kipnis, but then six of the next seven players listed were pitchers.

Simpson noted that league officials felt that the 2007 season saw a jump in overall talent around the league, in particular in the pitching department. The numbers appear to support that assertion. In 2007, league pitchers as a whole had a 3.70 earned run average while hitters had a .247 batting average as a league. In 2006, hitters posted a .258 average while pitchers compiled a 3.88 ERA, and the year before saw a .257 batting average and 3.97 ERA as a league.

While Waynesboro finished first in the regular season and won the Jim Lineweaver Cup as league champions, the Generals placed just three players in the top 20 and none higher than #11. In fact, many of the top prospects come from the lower half of the standings. Simpson noted that was a sign of the league's improved depth.

PGCrosschecker.com Valley League Top 20 Prospects

1. Luke Greinke, UT, Winchester (Auburn)

2. Jason Kipnis, OF, Covington (Arizona State)

3. Zac Blakney, RHP, Fauquier (Montevallo)

4. Shayne Moody, SS, Woodstock (Charlotte)

5. Ashur Tolliver, LHP, Harrisonburg (Arkansas-Little Rock)

6. Donald Jordat, RHP, Luray (Miami-Dade C.C.)

7. Rob Gilliam, RHP, Luray (UNC Greensboro)

8. Tim Sexton, RHP, Staunton (Miami-Dade C.C.)

9. Josh Judy, RHP, Haymarket (Indiana Tech)

10. Tyler Kuhn, SS/2B, Luray (West Virginia)

11. Pat Irvine, C/OF, Waynesboro (Elon)

12. Garrett Parker, RHP, Harrisonburg (Oklahoma City)

13. Bobby Hernandez, RHP, Staunton (Barry)

14. Josh Eidell, RHP, Woodstock (Villanova)

15. Elih Villanueva, RHP, Luray (Florida State)

16. Jeremy Cruz, 1B, Luray (Stetson)

17. Chris Masters, LHP, New Market (Western Carolina)

18. Brandon Sizemore, 2B, Waynesboro (Charleston)

19. Kurt Davidson, C/1B, Waynesboro (Akron)

20. Dustin Umberger, RHP, Luray (Liberty)

Full scouting reports from the summer on each player are available here. A subscription is required to view the insider-level reports.

Rivals Names Top 10 NCAA Seniors

Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com listed his top 10 Seniors on Monday. This list looks quite a bit like his recent article on returning draftees, but Kendall has some solid notes about each player.

Perhaps the most exciting thing to come out of the countdown is Kendall's new abbreviation for "switch pitcher": SWP. For those not in the know, that references Pat Venditte and the amazing nature of high level ambidexterity. My exuberance is not meant to be dismissive of Kendall's ranking, it's just that you take news when and where you can get it during the August slow season. Kendall does a great job of churning out news and interesting features and the Rivals CBB site is definitely a daily visit, much as the College Baseball Blog hopefully is for all of you.


You can read the countdown here: 10 through 6 and 5 through 1.


On to the countdown:


1. Blake Stouffer - Texas A&M - UT
2. Dominic De la Osa - Vanderbilt - RF
3. Cole St. Claire - Rice - LHP
4. Pat Venditte - Creighton - SWP
5. Joshua Fields - Georgia - RHP
6. Josh Satow - Arizona State - LHP
7. Phil Disher - South Carolina - C
8. Matt Hague - Oklahoma State - 3B
9. Mitch Harris - Navy - RHP
10. Zack Pitts - Louisville - RHP

Rivals.com Rates Top Returning Draftees

Kendall Rogers, Rivals.com's baseball guru, broke down his top 10 players to return to school despite being drafted.

1. Texas OF Kyle Russell

2. Texas A&M Utility Guy Blake Stouffer

3. Vanderbilt OF Dominic De la Osa

4. Rice Closer Cole St. Clair

5. Creighton switch-pitcher Pat Venditte

6. UGA Closer Josh Fields

7. ASU Starter Josh Satow

8. USC Catcher Phil Disher

9. OKState 3B Matt Hague

10. Auburn OF Mike Bianucci

This writer would probably have flipped a couple of these guys around. It's hard to argue with Russell Stouffer and De la Osa; however, a healthy Cole St. Clair could be the difference between Rice swapping a C-USA ring for a College World Series ring.

And I'm happy to see Venditte return. I've not seen him pitch yet, but he's the guy who will throw lefty to one batter and righty to the next.

Read Kendall's breakdown here.

2008 Recruiting Classes finalized

The MLB Draft deadline was last week so many NCAA teams are releasing their recruits for the 2008 season. We have compiled a list below of press releases from Monday.

Arizona State
Oklahoma
Richmond
Mercyhurst
Texas A&M (Thanks to Aggiebaseball.net)

Best College Program?

I want to be a Sports Agent website checks in with an article about the most successful baseball programs based on MLB players drafted and making it to the Majors. Using their calculations, They have USC in the top spot with 275 players drafted and 94 players making it to the Majors. Texas holds down the second spot followed by Arizona State, Stanford, and UCLA to round out the Top 5. The full article is available here.

USA drops critical game to Chinese Taipei

FROM USA BASEBALL
ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS— Team USA (25-11, 4-3 WPT) was beat for the second time by Chinese Taipei (4-4 WPT) at the World Port Tournament, 1-0, forcing the Americans to have to beat first place Cuba on Saturday to advance to Sunday’s finals. If they lose on Saturday, their summer is over.

The Americans forced one last rally in the ninth inning off of Wei-Hua Lee, who finished with a complete game four-hitter. Tommy Medica (Santa Clara) had a one-out pinch-hit single, before a two-out bunt base hit by Danny Espinosa (Long Beach State) in front of the plate, followed by a walk, loaded the bases. But Petey Paramore (Arizona State) struck out on a 2-2 pitch to give the Taiwanese the victory.

Lee worked his magic all day long, retiring 10 in a row early, and then another nine in a row into the eighth inning.

Tyson Ross (4-1, California) lost for the first time this summer, pitching seven-plus innings, giving up one run on six hits. He put runners on base in seven of the eight innings, but got 13 groundball outs. With a runner on base in the eighth, Brett Hunter (Pepperdine) came on and struck out the side.

Ryan Flaherty’s (Vanderbilt) hit in the fifth, the 3500th hit in the tournament’s history, broke a string of 10 in a row retired by Lee, and loaded the bases for the first of two times. Two walks followed Flaherty, before Jordy Mercer (Oklahoma State) struck out to end the threat and keep Taipei up 1-0.

A one-out triple by Chien-Yu Kuo came around to score on a groundout to give Taipei a 1-0 lead in the first.

TEAM NOTES
Ryan Flaherty’s single in the fifth inning was the 3500th hit in the tournament’s 22-year, 11-time history... Standings heading into tonight’s game between Cuba and the Netherlands are the Cubans are 6-0, Japan is 0-7 and the Netherlands is 3-3... Netherlands will need to win twice and have Team USA lose to Cuba in order to get into the Finals... The Americans won four of five from Chinese Taipei in the States and lost the first game at the World Port Tournament, 10-5... Jordan Danks has hit safely in the last six World Port Games... games can be followed live on the internet at http://www.worldporttournament.nl/... Stats are available at: http://utopia.ision.nl/users/hwede/stats07/wpt07/ and under live scoring.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The Americans will close out the summer with a game against Cuba (8 a.m. Eastern). The Finals between the first place team, currently Cuba (6-0) and the second place team are on August 12 at 7 a.m, Eastern, finishing the summer for the Americans.

Team USA gets one hit but picks up a win over Japan

Team USA was one-hit by Japanese pitcher Yuske Iwamato but picked up a 1-0 victory on the first day of the World Port Tournament. As the game entered the ninth inning, Team USA had no hits off of Iwamato but Jordan Danks (Texas) got a lead-off walk. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Tommy Medica (Santa Clara). He then advanced to third on a flyball from Brett Wallace (Arizona State). Logan Forsythe (Arkansas) then hit a single to drive home Danks with the eventual winning run. Ryan Berry (Rice) started for Team USA and went 7.1 strong innings while only giving up three hits and three walks but got the no-decision. Brett Hunter pitched the final 1.1 innings without allowing a hit while striking out three batters to up his record to 3-0. Yuske Iwamato was the tough luck loser pitching a complete game while allowing the only hit and four walks. Team USA is off on Friday before playing The Netherlands on Saturday.

Team USA Recap
World Port Tournament Schedule

2008 Arkansas Schedule

Hognation.net which is a fan site for Arkansas Razorbacks fans has posted the 2008 schedule. The Razorbacks open up on February 22nd when they host Wright State for a three game set. They will also take part in the Aggie Baseball Classic where they will play Louisiana Tech, Texas A&M, and Ohio State. The other highlights on the schedule is a two game sets at Arizona State and at Nebraska. These tough out of conference games should prepare the Razorbacks well for the tough SEC.

Full Schedule

Valley League Weekly Honors – July 30, 2007

FROM PRESS RELEASE
Players of the Week

Jose Cueto (Miami, Fla.), a junior outfielder from Virginia Tech hit .455 last week for Winchester, going 10-for-22 on the week. Cueto added seven runs, 10 hits, three doubles, two home runs and five RBIs for the Royals. Cueto slugged .864, while walking three times on his was to compiling a .520 on base percentage.

Jason Kipnis (Northbrook, Ill.), a sophomore outfielder out of Kentucky (according to some readers transferring to Arizona State) hit two more home runs last weeks to up his league-leading total to nine. Kipnis also added a .333 batting average with five runs, two doubles, two home runs and nine RBIs. Kipnis went 6-for-18 with six walks to finish with a .480 on base percentage.

Pitchers of the Week

Russ Brewer (Norwood, N.C.), a freshman righthander out of Vanderbilt went 1-0 on the week with a complete-game shutout for Waynesboro. Brewer allowed seven hits, walked none and struck out nine in the win. He faced just six batters above the minimum and held opponents to a .212 batting average against.

Ross Fetterly (Norfolk, Va.), a sophomore righthander from Old Dominion went 1-1 on the week. Fetterly pitched 16.1 innings and posted an ERA of 1.65, including pitching a complete game. He gave up 10 hits, 3 earned runs, three walks, lead the league with 16 strikeouts and held opponents to just a .179 batting average against.

Weekly Valley League Notes

Team USA hammers Holland 14-0

FROM PRESS RELEASE

DURHAM, NC— Tyson Ross (3-0, California) took a no-hitter into the sixth, striking out eight over seven innings in leading Team USA (19-7) to a 14-0 victory over the Netherlands in the first of a three-game, two-day series. Ross allowed just two hits while walking none, in his first appearance since the Gold Medal Game eight days ago.

Brett Wallace (Arizona State) drove in five with a three-run home run and a two-run double, while Ryan Flaherty (Vanderbilt) went 3-for-5 with four RBIs a day after turning 21 years old. Roger Kieschnick (Texas Tech) went 3-for-4, as the trio all hit home runs.

Flaherty, Kieschnick and Jordan Danks (Texas) all hit home runs as part of an eight-run eighth inning.

Ross was perfect through the first 14 batters, before an error by second baseman Ryan Flaherty allowed the first Dutch base runner to reach base in the fifth. Ross finished off the inning by striking out the side. Ross’ no-hit bid was broken up an inning later, by Danny Rombley, with a one-out base hit to center field.

Five of the Americans first six runs came with two outs to give them a 6-0 lead after three.

The Americans tallied back-to-back, two-out RBI singles from Logan Forsythe (Arkansas) and Kieschnick to take a 2-0 lead in the first. Wallace’s two-out, two-run single in the second then made it 4-0.

A Kieshnick homer in the third gave the Americans a 5-0 lead in the third, before a two-out, RBI double from Josh Romanski (San Diego) made it 6-0. Dutch righthander Rob Cordemans gave up six runs on seven hits over the first two and two-third innings.

Wallace’s homer in the eighth made it 9-0, after reliever Diegomar Markwell pitched four and one-third scoreless innings. Wallace’s blast was one of three homers and eight runs in the inning, as Flaherty added a three-run shot and Danks followed with a solo shot.

TEAM NOTES
It was second baseman Ryan Flaherty’s 21st birthday last night... shortstop Danny Espinosa made a nice play off the glove of Ross in the first inning to rob Dirk van’t Klooster of a base hit... these same two teams will play in Holland in Rotterdam starting next week at the World Port Tournament... the four home runs was a summer-high... high school senior Tyler Stovall, a Team USA junior team invitee, pitched the ninth inning.

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The nine-game American trip will continue with the Netherlands on Sunday in Cary (morning game at 11 a.m.), and Durham (afternoon game at 5 p.m.), before closing out with and Russia on Monday (one night game) in Cary, NC at 7 p.m... the team closes out their schedule at the World Port Tournament in the Netherlands starting on August 2.

China drops Team USA 2-1

PRESS RELEASE
BIRMINGHAM, AL— China’s Kun Chen, Youhua Guo and Quansheng Zhao out dueled Team USA’s Lance Lynn (2-1) and Jordy Mercer as the Chinese (1-2) won the third game of the five-game series over the Americans (17-7), 2-1, on Wednesday evening. Team USA had won the first two games of the series.

Chen went the first six and two-thirds, giving up one run on seven hits, before yielding to Guo. Guo went an inning and one-third before yielding to Zhao in the ninth, who posted the save, despite putting the tying run on second base.

Brett Wallace (Arizona State) and Danny Espinosa (Long Beach State) each had three of the Americans nine hits, who rested starting outfielders Jordan Danks (Texas) and Logan Forsythe (Arkansas) to begin the night.

Espinosa’s bunt base hit in the ninth sent the winning run to the plate against Zhao with one out. Espinosa was then balked to second. Zhao though got a flyout and strikeout to end the game.

An RBI single followed by a groundout gave China a 2-1 lead in the second, the second time in two nights the Chinese led early.

Lynn went the first four innings, giving up two runs on two hits. Mercer went the final six innings, not allowing a hit the rest of the way. He struck out eight on the night and did not walk a batter.

Wallace gave the Americans a 1-0 lead in the first with an RBI single.

TEAM NOTES
The game was delayed by over an hour due to a rain storm which started around 90 minutes prior to first pitch... Manager Mike Weathers played in the Oakland A’s minor league system in Birmingham, AL in the mid-1970’s for three years... RHPs Jacob Thompson (Virginia) and Brian Matusz (San Diego), neither of which are injured, left the team for precautionary reasons due to a high number of innings pitched over the previous eight months... Thompson finished the summer 1-2 with a 1.27 ERA, Matusz was 3-1 with a 1.33 ERA... junior national team invitee, Tyler Stovall, a lefthander/outfielder from Hokes Bluff (AL) High School joined the team on Wednesday and will be with the team through the end of the week... Team USA is now 2-2 against Communist-led governments over the last four games (China and Cuba).

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
The five-game series with China continues in Rome, GA on Thursday and Ft. Mill, SC on Friday, finishing off the nine-game (two-day) American trip with the Netherlands and Russia in North Carolina... the team closes out their schedule at the World Port Tournament in the Netherlands starting on August 2.

Team USA picks up second win over China

Team USA got four runs in the middle innings to knock off China 4-1 in the second game of their five game series. Team USA was led on the mound by Josh Romanski (San Diego), Brett Hunter (Pepperdine), and Cody Satterwhite (Ole Miss). Romanski started for Team USA and went four innings while giving up one run on six hits with six strikeouts. He ended up getting a no decision as Brett Hunter (1-0) picked up the win by going the middle four innings without allowing a run on one hit and two walks. Cody Satterwhite pitched a perfect ninth inning to get his fourth save. Pedro Alvarez (Vanderbilt) went 2-4 with a run scored to lead the offensive attack for the national team. Brett Wallace (Arizona State) got a run-scoring double to help the offensive attack. Team USA and China will play on Wednesday at 7 pm in Birmingham (AL).

Team USA Recap

Valley League Players of the Week-July 23

The Valley League has released players of the week for July 23rd. Ryan Sontag and Luke Greinke each were named Players of the week while Wade Korpi and Zac Blakney were named Pitchers of the Week. Ryan Sontag of Arizona State hit .433 last week in seven games while scoring nine runs, getting 13 hits, and driving in six runners. Luke Greinke of Auburn hit .619 last week while leading the league with 13 hits. Wade Korpi of Notre Dame pitched seven shutout innings last week while only allowing three hits as he led his team to a victory on Saturday night. Zac Blakney of the University of Montevallo threw six shutout innings while giving up only five hits and a walk with 10 strikeouts.

Valley League Release