D1 - Top Pitching Stat Lines Past Week

TEAM	NAME	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA	NOTES
Arizona	Kurt Heyer	8.0	10	7	2	2	11	2.12
Arizona State	Brady Rodgers	8.0	4	1	1	0	3	1.29	L (4-1)
Arizona State	Jake Barrett	0.1	0	0	0	1	1	1.8
Arkansas	D.J. Baxendale	2.1	8	5	5	1	4	5.23
Arkansas	Nolan Sanburn	3.0	4	2	2	3	1	3.24
Cal Poly	Nick Grim	1.2	1	0	0	1	4	3.18	W (2-1)
Cal State Fullerton	Dylan Floro	9.0	7	2	1	0	9	2.25	W (4-2)
California	Justin Jones	2.2	8	8	6	2	1	5.45	L (2-4)
Clemson	Kevin Brady	3.1	3	1	1	5	4	2.94
Clemson	Scott Firth	4.0	3	0	0	2	2	0.84	SV (1)
Coastal Carolina	Josh Conway	7.0	4	2	2	0	6	1.35	W (3-1)
Duke	Marcus Stroman	7.2	6	1	1	0	12	2.57	L (3-3)
Eastern Kentucky	Anthony Bazzani	4.0	5	2	2	5	2	2.95
Florida	Hudson Randall	6.0	8	3	3	1	4	3.56	L (3-1)
Florida	Austin Maddox	4.1	5	2	1	4	3	2.08	L (2-1)
Florida	Brian Johnson	4.0	3	3	2	1	1	3.28
Florida Atlantic	R.J. Alvarez	2.0	0	0	0	0	4	0.79	SV (4)
Georgia	Alex Wood	6.1	7	4	4	2	5	2.55
Georgia Southern	Chris Beck	6.0	7	2	2	2	16	3.59	W (3-2)
Georgia Tech	Buck Farmer	9.0	3	0	0	0	11	4.17	W (5-2)
Georgia Tech	Luke Bard	4.1	2	0	0	3	5	0.99
Kentucky	Jerad Grundy	2.2	7	3	3	1	1	3.41
Louisiana State	Kevin Gausman	6.2	5	5	5	2	12	2.27	W (5-0)
Louisville	Justin Amlung	7.0	1	1	0	0	9	2.37	W (5-2)
Louisville	Matt Koch	1.2	0	0	0	1	1	2.7
Memphis	Dan Langfield	4.0	6	5	5	1	5	3.18	L (4-3)
Middle Tennessee State	Hunter Adkins	5.2	6	4	4	2	3	4.24	L (3-3)
Missouri State	Pierce Johnson	3.0	5	4	1	3	5	2.01
Monmouth	Pat Light	6.1	6	5	3	1	5	3.1	L (4-2)
Northwestern State	Mason Melotakis	2.1	1	0	0	1	3	3.28	2 SV (7)
Oklahoma State	Andrew Heaney	5.1	8	4	4	1	4	1.69
Radford	Eddie Butler	7.2	4	3	3	1	9	3.16	L (2-2)
Rice	J.T. Chargois	3.1	2	0	0	3	3	3.38	W (2-1)
Samford	Lex Rutledge	5.0	2	1	1	2	6	7.16
San Francisco	Kyle Zimmer	7.1	10	4	4	1	6	2.15	L (2-2)
Seton Hall	Ryan Harvey	6.0	9	6	5	2	7	4.26	W (2-2)
South Carolina	Michael Roth	6.0	5	3	3	1	3	1.68	W (3-0)
South Carolina	Matt Price	9.0	1	1	1	5	12	3.12	SV (1)
St. Edward's (Texas)	Stephen Johnson	3.2	2	1	1	0	8	1.25	2 SV (9)
St. John's	Kyle Hansen	6.0	8	2	2	2	8	3.37	L (1-5)
St. Mary's	Martin Agosto	7.0	8	2	1	2	10	1.56	L (4-1)
Stanford	Brett Mooneyham	7.1	9	4	1	4	7	1.96	L (5-1)
Stanford	Mark Appel	8.0	12	6	6	2	5	3.56
Texas	Austin Dicharry	3.1	4	1	1	2	3	3.38
Texas	Hoby Milner	1.2	3	1	1	0	1	3.38	L (5-4)
Texas A&M	Ross Stripling	7.2	7	4	4	2	6	2.87	L (4-1)
Texas A&M	Michael Wacha	6.1	12	5	4	1	5	2.72
UCLA	Scott Griggs	2.1	2	0	0	2	4	1.72	SV (6)
Utah	Tyler Wagner	1.0	1	1	0	0	1	2.84
Virginia	Branden Kline	6.0	3	2	2	2	10	3.09
Wake Forest	Tim Cooney	7.2	8	4	3	2	3	4.06	-http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/2012/04/college-draft-prospects-stat-roundup-week-7-2/

D1 - BA Top 25

	Team	W-L	Last Week	Prev.
	1.	Florida	24-4	2-2	1
	2.	Florida State	24-4	3-1	4
	3.	North Carolina	22-6	4-1	5
	4.	Arizona	21-7	3-0	8
	5.	UCLA	20-5	3-1	6
	6.	Stanford	16-6	1-4	2
	7.	Texas A&M	22-6	3-1	7
	8.	Kentucky	27-2	3-1	10
	9.	Rice	21-9	3-1	9
	10.	Mississippi	20-8	3-1	16
	11.	South Carolina	20-8	3-1	11
	12.	Louisiana State	22-6	4-0	15
	13.	Arkansas	22-6	0-3	3
	14.	Cal State Fullerton	17-10	3-2	13
	15.	Central Florida	23-6	4-0	17
	16.	Baylor	22-7	4-0	21
	17.	North Carolina State	19-7	3-2	20
	18.	Miami	21-7	2-2	12
	19.	Purdue	20-5	4-1	19
	20.	Oregon State	17-8	2-1	22
	21.	San Diego	23-7	3-1	24
	22.	Oregon	18-8	3-2	23
	23.	Auburn	17-11	2-2	NR
	24.	Arizona State	16-12	1-4	14
	25.	Texas	15-11	2-2	18
Dropped out: Georgia (25).

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/top-25/rankings/2012/2613210.html

Baseball and Stuff – Carlos Gonzalez, Wendall Rijo,  Cristhian Martinez

Carlos Gonzalez, COL – Back-to-back 20/20 seasons have solidified CarGo as one of the top outfield options in fantasy baseball.  Gonzalez has often been criticized for striking out too much and not walking enough, but he greatly improved in both areas last season, bringing his K% from 21.2% in 2010 to 19.4% last season, and bringing his BB% from 6.3% to 8.9% (on par with league average).  He’s still not fantastic in either category, but those banking on regression based on this should keep looking.  His HR/FB of 15.4% in 2011 was the best in his career, and he managed another 20/20 season while only playing in 127 games.  If he had played a full season in Colorado in 2009, when he hit 13 HR and stole 16 bases in 89 games, we could be talking about a guy coming off of three-straight 20/20 seasons.  Health willing, he has top-five outfielder written all over him - http://bullpenbanter.com

Pop group Far East Movement will help celebrate opening day for the 2012 Major League Baseball season with a performance at the MLB Fan Cave in New York City on Wednesday. The MLB Fan Cave is located in the former Tower Records store in New York’s Greenwich Village section. MLB is launching a concert series there that will also include The Fray on April 13 and Daughtry on April 26. link

IF WENDALL RIJO - 5-11/170, R/R, 9/4/95, La Romana, DR -  PG Grade: 10 - Rijo sprained his knee during a rundown in the game at the Red Sox Complex in Fort Myers and was unable to play for the rest of the trip. The injury looked more serious when it occurred and it’s very fortunate that it wasn’t worse. Rijo is an outstanding prospect from a number of different perspectives. He is the son of a scout and has a deeper and mature understanding of the game than his fellow DPL prospects. He’s also the oldest of the players, having just missed being eligible to sign July 2, 2011 by four days, and is clearly the leader and most respected player of the group. The first thing we were told in the Dominican was that Rijo was the best “player” we would see but his tools wouldn’t stand out. We respectfully disagree; this young man has some really high level tools. - link

Braves reliever Cristhian Martinez was arrested early Monday morning in Gwinnett County on charges of DUI, according to Gwinnett County jail records. Martinez’s blood alcohol registered .10, according to documents. The legal limit in Georgia is .08. He was also charged with improper lane change and impeding the flow of traffic. Martinez was booked into the Gwinnett County jail at 4:24 a.m. and released at 10:41 a.m. link

Local investors to buy The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News, website for $55 million

keithlaw‏ - @keithlaw - Another baseball DUI. But hey, let's test Jose Bautista's urine for steroids another dozen times

Juan Francisco finishes a perfect spring: zero walks, 18 strikeouts.

Sand Gnats Report Coming Tonight

I am spending the afternoon with the Savannah Sand Gnats team and will report back my thoughts on them some time tonight


Mack

Mets Stuff - Andres Torres, Rhiner Cruz, Zack Wheeler

Mets Stuff  - Andres Torres, Rhiner Cruz, Zack Wheeler

·        After going hitless in seven at-bats in a minor league game Monday, centerfielder Andres Torres declared his sore calf “100 percent,” and said he would be ready to start on Opening Day this Thursday. Torres, limited to just 23 Grapefruit League at-bats, expects to play on Tuesday’s game against the Yankees, barring unexpected soreness in the morning. If the Mets allow him to do that, they will be essentially committing to beginning the season with him (if Torres makes a Grapefruit League appearance, the team cannot backdate a disabled list stint).

 http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/andres-torres-sore-calf-100-percent-jon-niese-confirms-discussions-contract-ny-mets-article-1.1054733#ixzz1qvRNUVbq

·        The Astros have announced that that both Rule 5 draft picks, Marwin Gonzalez and Rhiner Cruz will make the Opening Day roster. Per Rule 5 draft rules, both must stay on the big league club the entire year or be offered back to his original club for $25,000.00 each. Lucas Harrell has also won the fifth starters spot in the rotation as Jordan Lyles has been optioned to AAA Oklahoma City and will begin the season there. He and Paul Clemens will be first in line for a big league promotion if a current starter is injured or not performing. These announcements, along with the recent cuts and options have set the Astros Opening Day roster. All we need is an official announcement from the club. - http://climbingtalshill.com/2012/04/02/astros-will-keep-both-rule-5-picks/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

·        David Lennon - ‏@DPLennon  - Collins called Frank Francisco's ailment patellar tendintis. "They thought it would go away and it hasn't," he said.

·        Collin McHugh - ‏@Collin_McHugh - The last 80 miles. It's a sprint to the finish. And the bathroom.

·        Cam Maron - ‏@cam_maron - just made it to Savannah, not a bad ride at all!!

·        Zack Wheeler‏ - @Wheelerpro45 - In Binghamton with the boys.

·        Koch Industries Inc., the company run by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, asked a district judge to review a $21.5 million lawsuit filed against it by the liquidator of Bernard Madoff’s firm. Madoff trustee Irving Picard sued the company in bankruptcy court in February demanding return of money withdrawn from a feeder fund that invested with Madoff. His suit is similar to Picard’s complaint against the New York Mets owners, which was taken over by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff to decide such issues as whether the trustee can recoup money from parties that acted in good faith, Koch Industries said in a filing today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-02/koch-brothers-seek-new-judge-for-21-5-million-madoff-suit-1-.html

·        Zack Wheeler - Right Handed Starter, Mets - After the Mets unshackled Wheeler in 2011 his confidence skyrocketed and his control problems dissipated. The Georgian has early trouble in Binghamton's cool air, but slays the Eastern League after May 15. His strikeout rate, which has never dropped below 10 SO/9 in his young career, reaches a Strasburgian 12.5 SO/9. Still, scouts are concerned that his overpowering arsenal is masking command issues. He spends the full year at Binghamton and is caught at a Phi Lambda Phi slip-and-slide mixer. His actions cause the New York Media to question the 22-year-old's makeup, dedication and to wonder aoud why he can't be more like Tim Tebow.

http://bullpenbanter.com/rtmenu/725-projected-2013-top-10-prospects

MLB Draft Insider - Top 25

Rank	Player	Position	School	Prev
01	Byron Buxton	OF	Appling County HS (GA)	02
02	Lucas Giolito	RHP	Harvard Westlake HS (CA)	01
03	Kyle Zimmer	RHP	San Francisco	05
04	Mark Appel	RHP	Stanford	03
05	Mike Zunino	C	Florida	04
06	Max Fried	LHP	Harvard Westlake HS (CA)	04
07	Carlos Correa	SS	PR Baseball Academy	11
08	Walker Weickel	RHP	Olympia HS (FL)	10
09	Kevin Gausman	RHP	LSU	11
10	Michael Wacha	RHP	Texas A&M	07
11	Deven Marrero	SS	Arizona State	08
12	Stryker Trahan	C	Acadania HS (LA)	12

http://mlbdraftinsider.com/2012/04/the-board-volume-iv/

Mets Stuff - Gil Hodges, Ron Darling, Andres Torres, Frank Francisco

Mets Stuff  - Gil Hodges, Ron Darling, Andres Torres, Frank Francisco

Even though it was 40 years ago today, I can remember it like it was yesterday — my father coming into my room to give me the first dose of reality in my childhood life — Gil Hodges, the man who managed my team to a World Championship, had passed away. I remember it hitting me like a ton of bricks in my 11-year-old stomach. It was my first exposure to the fact that people die. Obviously, I did not know Gil Hodges, but he was the leader of a team that won a World Series and made my team matter more than the other team in town. And being a Met fan who resided in the Bronx, that made me feel like he was part of my family. - link

Andrew Fegyveresi‏ - @afegyveresi - Congrats to SNY’s Ron Darling - who won best analyst at the NY Emmy Awards. #SNY has won the "best analyst" category 5 of the past 6 years

Andres Torres played 9 innings in CF in a minor league intrasquad game on Monday. He went 0-7 with two walks and scored from first on a double. David Wright had seven plate appearances in that game and was 1-6 with a walk and a stolen base.

Andy McCullough‏  @McCulloughSL - Frank Francisco will undergo an MRI on his left knee today. The knee was drained yesterday to reduce swelling.

David Lennon‏ - @DPLennon - Francisco threw long toss today, and felt better now that fluid is gone. But swelling and fluid often a symptom of bigger problem


Bobby Parnell started the "bullpen game" and allowed just two hits while striking out two of the 10 batters he faced over his three innings of work. Assuming Parnell won't pitch in either of the Mets' two Grapefruit League games against the Yankees, he will finish the spring without having allowed a run. In all, Parnell allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out eight over 12 1/3 innings..  link



Tim Hudson held the Mets scoreless for two innings, but they scored four runs in six innings against Brandon Beachy. The first came in the third inning when Ruben Tejada grounded into a double play. The second, third, and fourth runs scored on a Tejada home run in the fifth. The Mets tacked on four in the ninth inning, thanks in large part to a pair of bases-loaded walks by Jose Lugo. On the mound, the Mets' bullpen had a mostly good day. The five relief pitchers who appeared combined for eight strikeouts and one walk. Bobby Parnell, Manny Acosta, and Ryan Fraser each had scoreless outings, and Ramon Ramirez and Miguel Batista surrendered a run a piece. - AA

D1 Game Notes – Joey Gallo, Byron Buxton, Courtney Hawkins, Gustavo Cabrera, Chance Wolfe

D1 Game Notes – Joey Gallo, Byron Buxton, Courtney Hawkins, Gustavo Cabrera, Chance Wolfe                                

·        Joey Gallo may have struggled at the plate on Wednesday and lost the game as the starting pitcher on Thursday for Bishop Gorman (Nev.), but he may have opened some eyes with his arm strength on the mound. Gallo was in the mid-90s out of the gate in the first inning, and stayed in the low-90s throughout his start, according to Baseball America's Nathan Rode. What he didn't have was location, keeping his fastball up in the zone. He wants to hit and there are scouts who still love his raw power, size and strength at the plate - link

·        Keithlaw - ‏@keithlaw  - I think that is the most likely choice. "@ARankin11: Do you predict Byron Buxton to be the first overall pick to Astros in the draft?

·        Courtney Hawkins, OF/RHP, Carroll (Texas): In Carroll's one victory, Hawkins (No. 26) particularly showed what all the fuss is about. On the mound, he was up to 93 mph with a good breaking ball, as he struck out nine in 5 1/3 scoreless innings. He also provided the lone run for Carroll with a long home run to left-center. Most see him as an outfielder, but one scout thought he could excel either way if given the opportunity. - link

·        OF GUSTAVO CABRERA - 6-1/190, R/R, 1/23/96, LaRomana, DR -  PG Grade: 10 - Cabrera is the player that all the scouts want to see and is going to perhaps be the prospect who will lose the most by the new international signing rules. In the previous unlimited free market system he was likely a $4-to-$5 million dollar player. With the $2.9 million limit per team, he’ll be looking at something more in the neighborhood of $1.5 million. Cabrera has a tightly wound athletic body reminiscent of Justin Upton. In fact, Cabrera’s tools at the same age are very reminiscent of Upton’s. He ran the 60 in 6.34 seconds in Arizona and has an explosive first step that enables him to steal bases at will (he had 5 steals in one game in Florida) and the aggressiveness and instincts to use his speed. He throws 90-plus mph from the outfield with a very quick release and his speed will give him well above average range at any outfield position. - link

·        Congratulations to Clever C/RHP Chance Wolfe  on being named the Prep Baseball Report Missouri's Player of the week for the week of 3/26-4/1 . Wolfe carried the No. 11 ranked Clever Bluejays to a 4-0 record during the week, with an impressive .642 batting average (nine for fourteen at the plate). Of the nine hits , Wolfe had one double, one triple, and a dramatic walk off homerun.  He also collected eleven RBIs and drew two walks. On the season, Wolfe is hitting .526. On the mound, Wolfe picked up two wins, throwing eight innings and striking out fourteen batters. On the season, Wolfe has a 0.75 ERA  and has given up only one run - link

·        Speed Checks:

o   UVA Branden Kline – 92-94

o   LSU Ryan Eades (2013) -  94-96, 98, 82-SL, 84-86-CH

o   Arkansas Ryne Stanek (2013) l 95-96, 97, 84-87 SL, 84-85 CH

o   Stanford LHP Brett Mooneyham 89-93

o   LSU (2014) Aaron Nola  90-94, 95, 78-79-CV, 81-CH

o   Alec Rash - 93-94, 95

o   Cal LHP Michael Theofanopoulos - 90-92, 80-82 CH, 83 SL

Matt Grabusky - Scouting Report: Duane Underwood

Player:  Duane Underwood

Position:  RHP/OFSchool:  Pope HS, GADate of Birth:  7/20/1995Height/Weight:  6’2/195Bats/Throws:  R/RClass Of:  2012Committed To:  Georgia

Scouting Report:

Duane Underwood is a legitimate two way prospect from Georgia.  Many believe that Underwood’s future will be on the mound, but playing outfield is a legitimate option.

Underwood uses a 3/4 release point and has good arm speed.  He has a mid-90′s fastball that has reached up to 97.  He also feautures a hard curve that is a potential plus pitch.  His change is also a promising pitch.

At the plate, Underwood has good bat speed and some power potential.

Underwood is a strong defender in the outfield.  He has good range and a strong, accurate arm.

Underwood is a strong athlete and has a 6.84 time in the 60.

link