Draft 2012: - Duane Underwood, Freddy Avis, Carson Kelly, Connor Harrell, Max Fried

11-15-11: - http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=6369  - Duane Underwood (2012 RHP, East Cobb Baseball)- The live armed righty made the leap to high level prospect status this summer when he ran his fastball up to 97 mph during the 17u WWBA National Championship. He cemented his lofty reputation by touching 98 at East Coast Pro and 96 at the PG All-American Game. Given the ball on possibly the biggest stage in amateur baseball, Underwood started the Opening Night matchup between East Cobb and Palm Beach PAL in Roger Dean Stadium. Underwood did not disappoint, limiting PAL's talented lineup to one (unearned) run on four hits, while striking out nine without issuing a walk in 4 1/3 innings. Underwood topped out at 95 with his fastball in the victory, using his secondary stuff sparingly. Underwood flashed a quality curveball at 75 with sharp biting action, but had little need to mix his pitches much given how dominant his fastball is, even against good competition.

11-22-11: - http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school/baseball/post/_/id/814/lucas-giolito-leads-loaded-cali-senior-class  - Here’s a look at the Top 10 California high school prospects in the Class of 2012. 3. Freddy Avis, RHP, Menlo School (Atherton, Calif.)  Despite lacking the physical frame of some of his in-state rivals at 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, Avis has good arm speed and a fluid delivery, producing easy velocity in the 90 to 93 mph range and also holstering a curveball. He's believed to be a strong commit to Stanford, but is also likely to be considered in Round 1.

11-24-11: - http://mlbdraftguide.com/1  - The top 2012 prospect from Oregon in the 2012 class, Carson Kelly has high upside at the plate and on the mound.  He is an athletic player who has who has been a member of the 18U National Team in 2010 and 2011. Kelly has a line drive swing with power to all fields.  He has above average bat speed.  His recorded 60 time is 7.12. Kelly should be at least average defensively at third.  He has good quickness and a plus arm. On the mound, Kelly has an easy delivery with a high 3/4 release.  He throws a fastball from 88-92.  He has a change with sink that shows good potential.  Kelly’s 74-77 curve is also a quality pitch. While Kelly has the ability to pitch at the next level, most see his future at third base due to his offensive potential.

11-26-11: - http://ht.ly/1fPzwd  - We continue the countdown today at number 58 with Vanderbilt junior Connor Harrell. The Houston, Texas native spent his high school career at Kinkaid High School where he was a four year letterwinner in baseball while picking up two in football. He was named a three-time first-team all-conference and first-team All-South zone selection. He decided to continue his baseball career at Vanderbilt under head coach Tim Corbin. He ended up appearing in 58 games .300 with 15 doubles, 3 home runs and 39 RBI as a freshman. He played the summer of 2010 in the NECBL with the Newport Gulls. Harrell hit .265 with three homers and 10 RBI in 31 games. Harrell ended up sliding back a little as a sophomore with a .289 batting average with nine homers and 36 RBI. He spent the summer in the Cape Cod Baseball League with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. He ended up hitting .244 with two RBI in 20 games totaling 45 at bats

11-26-11: - Tweet: - eric sondheimer - Just saw lefty Max Fried throw a 95 mph fastball in his first winter outing. Pretty impressive. Could be top 10 pick in June

Draft 2012: - Joey Rickard, Kenny Diekroeger, Lucas Giolito, Kyle Hansen, Freddy Avis

7-19-11: - http://www.mlbbonusbaby.com/2011/6/29/2250656/early-look-at-2012#comments  - Joey Rickard, Arizona, 6’1 180, R/R, runs well underway, 6.55, 60 guy, throws adequate, solid range, makes contact, short stroke with occ alley power, doubles type guy, could be quality 4th OF in time, 8-12 round type.

9-1-11: - http://projectprospect.com/article/2011/08/31/2012-mlb-draft-top-prospects  - Kenny Diekroeger, SS, Stanford - Stanford shortstop Kenny Diekroeger can be a frustrating player to evaluate. The good is that he has a compact and hand-oriented swing that's very short to the ball. He has a smooth trigger and has the hand strength required to make a hands dominant swing work. However, Diekroeger doesn't get anywhere near the bat speed he could out of his swing, nor does he maintain optimum angles through the zone. Diekroeger has similar hand rhythm actions to Jason Bay, but also has a pull side dominant plane like Bay. Diekroeger's hand rhythm helps pull his front shoulder back to an angle that usually is conducive to hammering the pitch away, but he doesn't maintain that plane when he launches. His strong hands should allow him to still be quick inside yet still cover away with the angle of hip-shoulder separation he achieves, but due to a heavy rolling top hand, Diekroger pulls his barrel off the pitch away and consistently into a pull dominant plane.

9-8-11: - http://www.gacksports.com/65590/2012-mlb-mock-draft-update  - 2. Baltimore Orioles Lucas Giolito Pitcher Harvard Westlake High School California This was such a tough pick to make. I felt like Lance McCuller’s Jr. still deserves to be a top pick, but there are too many numbers working in Lucas Giolito’s favor. Giolito managed to strikout batting prospect Trey Williams. Giolito weighs 6 foot 6 220 pounds. Giolito was 9-1 with an ERA of 1.00 last season during his junior season of high school baseball. You get a 95 MPH 4 seamer and a 92 MPH 2 seamer with Giolito. Another plus pitch that Giolito has is his hard breaking curve ball that he manages to deliver into the lower corners of the strike out zone so effectively.

Pitcher Kyle Hansen and outfielder Jeremy Baltz have both been named Top-30 prospects in the Cape Cod Baseball League, as announced by Baseball America. Hansen, who played with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, checked in at No. 22, while Baltz was listed as the No. 27 prospect after his season with the Falmouth Commodores. Hansen made 13 appearances, including two starts, for the Red Sox and went 0-1 with a 3.63 ERA. The righty finished tied for tenth in the league with four saves and racked up 28 strikeouts, while issuing just nine walks in 22.1 innings of work. Hansen also limited the opposition to a .214 batting average. The righty also made one playoff appearance, striking out four in 4.0 innings of one-run relief. - http://www.redstormsports.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/090811aaa.html  

8-16-11: - http://sancarlos.patch.com/articles/freddy-avis-suddenly-a-sizzling-mlb-prospect  Freddy Avis’s summer has been a blur. And that’s how many an opposing batter would describe his mid-90’s fastball. How much has changed for Avis since he completed his junior year at Menlo School? At the time of the MLB draft in early June, Avis would’ve gawked at the possibility of weighing a lucrative offer to play professional baseball in a year. That was about the furthest thing from his mind as he was narrowing his college choices and eying a full slate of travel-ball games with the California Smoke.