Andrew Chafin, Taylor Sparks, Nathan Kilcrease, Trevor Bauer

Andrew Chafin - Chafin, like Adam Conley last week, was a pitcher I was very interested in seeing. The two have some similarities beyond their left-handedness, in that they both have excelled in past years as closers. Chafin is a redshirt sophomore this year since he missed all of the 2010 season due to an arm injury that required Tommy John surgery. He was dominant during his freshman year, posting eight saves and a 1.26 ERA. - http://www.5tooltalk.com/2011-notes-3-5-11.html  







Taylor Sparks, 3b, St. John Bosco HS, Bellflower, Calif. To use the duck analogy without mentioning it in an Aflac context, “if it runs like a player, hits like a player, throws like a player and looks like a player, then it’s a player.” I think Sparks gets overlooked more than he should because he doesn’t have a huge present tool, but he has five tools that are all in that 50 to 55 range (i.e., major-league average) on the pro scouting scale. http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=5302





Alabama’s Nathan Kilcrease: The Crimson Tide has struggled immensely this season, but finally rose to the occasion this weekend. The Tide pitched better in the series opener against Northwestern State, and did again on Saturday with starting pitcher Nathan Kilcrease helping the team earn a 4-2 win. Kilcrease struck out 10 and allowed no earned runs and just five hits in seven innings. - http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=5326





Also really hard to top what UCLA JR RHP Trevor Bauer did on Saturday. Lines like Bauer’s (10 IP 4 H 1 ER 5 BB 17 K) just don’t come around every weekend. According to the numbers whizzes at College Splits, Bauer’s Game Score of 92 topped Van Skike’s of 84. According to me, 10 innings and 17 strikeouts are both eye-popping numbers. http://baseballdraftreport.com/