D1 Game Notes

• One does have to start considering that Florida’s Mike Zunino might be the first pure catcher drafted number one overall since 2001, when Minnesota picked Joe Mauer. Zunino’s stats for the #1 Gators are quite impressive: .403/.463/.806 in 19-games, 7-HR, 25-RBI. He also hasn’t committed a single error behind the plate. There are some scouts that project him as a future corner outfielder, but it’s my guess that he will be drafted as, and remain, a catcher. He is the best college bat in the draft and only Byron Buxton and David Dahl come close to him, talent wise, in high school.

 • Since we’re on the subject of college catchers. Miami senior Peter O’Brien has definitely turned the heads of some of his skeptics this season. We all know the problems he has had in the past with both the draft and the NCAA, but he finally got the chance to play one more season in college and his stat line through the first 20 games is: .389/.483/.792. He is nowhere the defensive player that Zunino is but he does have a plus arm to second. Scouts warn that this is only the fourth year he has ever played a game behin the plate. I have no idea if he will stick as a catcher, but I simply have loved the bat all through his college career.

 • One of the hottest teams in D1 baseball right now is Coastal Carolina (13-6). The Chanticleers have won six straight, including a 7-0 shutout Sunday of UAB (13-7). The team is being led by senior OF Daniel Bowman (.362/.451/.522), junior starter Josh Conway (2-1, 1.00) and junior closer Aaron Burke (4-0, 0.39)




. • Speed Checks


         o UCLA Scott Griggs – 92-95 FB and 80 SL.