2011 DRAFT: - Jose Brizuela, Cam Gallagher, Jack Lopez, Julius Gaines... and Anthony Rendon

Jose Brizuela:



10-4-10 from: - link  - One such secondary pitcher is third baseman Jose Brizuela, who plays at Archbishop McCarthy HS. The 5’11”, 180 lb Brizuela is very athletic and as good a defensive high school third baseman as I’ve seen in this class. He has a quick lefthanded bat and a chance to hit, but it will take time and his power potential is uncertain. I believe Brizuela might have even more upside on the mound. He was mostly 85-86 MPH today, peaking at 89 MPH, and didn’t bother much with off-speed. His athleticism is quite evident in his delivery and in his quick loose arm. With a natural low three-quarter slot, Brizuela has the potential for plus movement on his fastball. A number of scouts are following him as an infielder, I don’t know of any personally who are thinking of Brizuela on the mound because he is more of a project there. But I would keep the possibility open.



Cam Gallagher:


10-1-10 from: - link  - There is no surefire #1, but Cam Gallagher got our nod for the combination of his bat, his physical projection (6’3”, 219 lbs), and his impressive one-spot athleticism. We still believe he’ll be drafted high as a catcher and has a chance to stay there. But Gallagher is as capable as anyone on the list of successfully going the Paul Konerko route from catcher to first base slugger.



Jack Lopez:


10-2-10 from: - link  - Jack Lopez (Deltona HS) doesn’t have a lot of size (5’10”, 155 lbs) but is a slick fielder with righthanded bat-speed and draft potential.


Julius Gaines:


10-7-10 from: - link  - But perhaps the most polished fielder of them all is #4-ranked Julius Gaines, the very lanky 5’10”, 154 lb shortstop from Luella HS in Georgia. Gaines has light feet, an average arm, very soft hands, and the ability to make plays both routine and difficult. He should always have a shortstop’s body which gives him as good a chance as any to stay at the position.

Anthony Rendon:

http://www.draftsite.com/article/2011-MLB-Draft-Preview-College-Hitters/43  - 1) Anthony Rendon, 3B, Rice University - The consensus top hitter in the 2011 class, he has everything you could want. Rendon has an extremely quick bat, with good weight transfer, giving him plenty of power, as the ball seems to just pop off his bat. He combines it with very good plate coverage, tremendous pitch recognition, and patience. At third base his defense is above average; he has very good range, to go along with soft hands and an extremely strong arm. The few marks against him could be that he isn’t the biggest guy at 5’11" and he lands somewhat late on his front foot at the plate, but that is just nitpicking. College pitchers just don’t enjoy facing Anthony Rendon right now. To top it all off he has very high baseball instincts and should be the top bat and potentially the top player off the board when the draft rolls around.