Mack – Draft News – Reid Detmers, José García, C J Van Eyk, Weekend #1 College Pitching, Garrett Crochet

Sox Machine featured some top names they have targeted fir the first round of the June draft. One is:

D1Baseball.com’s David Seifert is a former Philadelphia Phillies cross-checker who has developed methods on ranking the best college players from an analytic standpoint. He grades pitchers based on three categories: Zone Control, Pitch Ability, and Durability.

“Zone Control (ZC) is how well the pitcher controls the strike zone with strikeouts, walks, wild pitches and hit by pitch. Pitch Ability (PA) refers to a pitcher’s ability to pitch using statistics like WHIP, FIP and OppSLG. Durability (DR) is largely based on innings pitched as college starting pitchers have shown greater success in professional baseball than college relievers.”

Based on Seifert’s findings, the top-ranked college starting pitcher entering the season is Louisville’s, Reid Detmers.

For a league that is pushing more technology and advanced development methods, why isn’t Detmers a consideration for the top pick? To start, he has a 50-grade fastball that sits at 92-93 mph. He also doesn’t have a four-pitch mix like Emerson Hancock.

What Detmers does have is excellent command. His curveball might be his only plus-pitch, but Detmers had a 37.6 K% last year striking out 167 batters in 113.1 innings by just pounding the strike zone. When it comes to durability, Detmers had eight starts pitching more than seven innings and averaged 96 pitches thrown per start. He took a big step forward from his freshman to sophomore year, reducing his walk rate from 13.4 BB% to 7.4 BB%.

Fish Stripes targeted three players on the Florida International University (FIU) that may land big in the June draft. One is:

José García is a junior and starting catcher for the FIU Panthers. Out of high school, García was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 38th round. He’s one of the best pure power hitters in the Conference USA. García has also been a starter since he arrived on FIU’s campus. As a freshman, García batted .285 with six doubles, eleven home runs, 43 RBIs and had a .936 OPS. García was named C-USA Freshman of the Year and named Freshman All-American on Perfect Game, Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA. As a sophomore, he batted .264 with eight doubles, 13 home runs, 38 RBIs and had a .886 OPS.

Over the summer, José García didn’t play for any teams and prepared for the 2020 season.

García could be another power hitter the Miami Marlins grab from FIU. In the 2019 MLB Draft, the Marlins selected Lorenzo Hampton Jr. from FIU in the 28th round. Hampton batted .280 with seven doubles and two home runs in the Gulf Coast League.

José García would be a nice addition to the Marlins farm system. Besides power, he has a good arm behind the plate and can hit for contact. If the Marlins do take him, García probably projects to be a late day two or early day three pick.

Talking Chop featured 20 names to know coming up to the draft. One was:

C J Van Eyk, RHP, Florida State - Florida State’s beef pitching prospect in a number of years is CJ Van Eyk. A promising hard throwing right hander who turned the corner for the Noles last spring. Unlike most other first rounders, it is a plus curve that stands out as his best pitch instead of his fastball- though the fastball can reach 95 MPH.

The first weekend is in the books for the NCAA college teams and let’s look at some of the results of the top starters projected for the draft:

University of Georgia’s ‘Friday starter’, junior Emerson Hancock, wishes he could have a do-over after a miserable start against small school Richmond: 4-IP, 6-ER, only 4-K.

Georgia’s Saturday starter, Cole Wilcox, fared much better: 5-IP, 1-ER, 8-K, Win (1-0).

Auburn’s Friday starter, Tanner Burns, pitched 5.0-IP, 3-ER, 7-K, Win (1-0) against Illinois-Chicago.

Mississippi State’s J.T. Ginn dipped his foot in the pond of Friday against Wright State: 3-IP, 2-ER, 4-K, 2-BB.

Florida State’s CJ Van Eky may have had the best start of all the prospects on Friday vs. Niagara:  5-IP, 0-R, 8-K.

TAMU’s Asa Lacy pitched well on Friday vs. Miami: 6-IP, 1-ER, 8-K

Sodo Mojo had a feature on this top draft prospect –

Garrett Crochet is a hard-throwing, left-handed pitcher from the University of Tennesee. Crochet is well put together, standing at 6’6″, 220 lbs. But if pitching success was tied directly to how impressive your physique was, CC Sabathia is just a guy you’ve never heard of.

But Crochet not only backs up the impressive size, but his stuff has the potential to land him in the “Ace” tier of pitchers in a handful of years. Crochet’s fastball sat between 92-95 last spring, with reports that he sat at 96-100 for most of fall ball. Crochet also has the ability to spin his fastball at near-elite spin rates, making his already impressive pitch play up even more.

With a potential 80-grade fastball, Crochet doesn’t need much more than a couple of average offerings to make him at least a solid #3 type of starter. And as luck would have it, Crochet has just that. In fact, his changeup is already considered well-above-average, and some believe it can become his second plus offering.