DRAFT: Connor Powers, Zach Hurley, Casey Harman, Chase Burnette... and Derek Dietrich

3/9 from http://thecollegebaseballblog.com/:  -


SEC PLAYER OF THE WEEK - Connor Powers • Miss. State - Senior • 1B • Naperville, Ill.

• Powers lead MSU to a sweep of four games against SE Missouri and Michigan State in the BankFirst Baseball Challenge at Dudy Noble Field with a three-home run, 15-RBI weekend…Matched a career-high with a 6-RBI game and belted a walk-off three-run home run vs. SEMO in the opening game…Leads MSU with five game-winning RBI, including two walk-off home runs.

• Registered his second two-home run game of the season and set a career-high with a 7-RBI performance in State’s tournament finale against Michigan State…Climbed into the SEC lead in both home runs (7) and RBI (25).

PLAYER OF THE WEEK - Zach Hurley, Ohio State - Sr., LF, Springboro, Ohio/Springboro - Hurley led the Buckeyes to a 3-1 record last weekend with wins over Duquesne, St. Louis and Fairleigh Dickinson. The senior hit .571 over four games, reaching base at a .609 clip and slugging at a 1.048 rate for an OPS of 1.657. The left-fielder recorded multiple hits in every game, including a 5-for-5 performance on Sunday against the Knights. Hurley also scored six runs and drove in seven over the weekend, recording seven extra-base hits with five doubles, a triple and a home run, coming a single shy of the cycle in Game 1 against the Billikens on Saturday. The weekly honor is the first of Hurley’s career and the second for a Buckeye position player this season.

3/8 from: http://baseballdraftreport.com/  - With that brief hard throwing righthanded pitching prospect interlude out of the way, let’s get right back to more soft-tossing lefties. Yes, JR LHP Casey Harman (Clemson) is yet another college pitchability lefty. His line against South Carolina: 5 IP 8 H 3 ER 2 BB 5 K. Interesting 2011 SO RHP David Haselden (Clemson) got the win, however, with his outstanding long relief appearance: 4 IP 0 H 0 ER 1 BB 3 K

3/7 from: http://mlbbonusbaby.com/  - Stock Up - Chase Burnette, OF, Georgia Tech: I put Burnette here based on the five games I’ve seen him play in so far. He has come out on fire this year for Tech, and it’s for good reason. He’s stronger, having put on over 15 pounds of weight since last year, and he’s seeing the ball better than ever before, adding up to solid production. I had a conversation with a scout about Burnette, as he hadn’t seen Burnette yet this year until Friday afternoon, and he didn’t have anything on him from previous years. He was impressed with Burnette’s batting practice display, as he did put on the best display both days I was there. He’s showing most of what it takes to be a fourth or fifth outfielder, which is up from a spot as an organizational outfielder. He sprays the ball around well, and he shows fringe-average to average power, which should be good enough for that bench lefty spot. He’s a decent defender, but he did drop a ball coming in and to his right on the Saturday game, resulting in a big error that cost his team some runs. His arm is below-average, and he’ll have to be a left fielder at the next level.

Stock down - Derek Dietrich, SS, Georgia Tech: Dietrich had a solid game on Saturday, but he is definitely losing steam in the scouting community. He’s trying to pull everything in the air, resulting in a lot of lazy flyballs, pop-ups, and swings and misses. He’s doing a very good job of not striking out, but it’s been frustrating to watch him do what he is not built to do. In batting practice, it’s almost like he’s been told not to hit the ball the other way. Everything is right of second base and in the air, and he’s not a power hitter. He’s next to last in slugging percentage out of the team’s starting lineup, and he needs to change his approach to suit that. He could be a high-average hitter if he sprayed the ball around the field, and he showed a little life in that regard on Saturday, with a hard-hit double to the left-center field gap. However, for the most part, Dietrich is slipping heavily, having really showed no improvement at shortstop and at the plate. He did do a short two-inning showcase at third base on Saturday, and he made a couple of excellent plays, so he did put that thought into some scouts’ minds, but there were only three scouts left at that point, so I’m not sure how much of an impression he made other than to get a couple of scouts to look at each other and smile.