Weekend CWS Regional

[CWSGuy406]

Hey guys - Me and my brother are taking a trip out to Notre Dame this weekend, to check out three games (I'm pretty sure it's three). I had a couple of questions:

 

First, anyone else heading out there? Let me know if you are.

 

And second, I was wondering if some of you more knowledgable guys on the college ranks could tell me who I should be watching. I don't have a list in front of me, but I believe some of the teams are like Notre Dame and Kent State. The rest I don't know, but it would be cool if someone could give me a couple of people to keep my eye out on, so I could give you guys what I saw.

 

Thanks, and if anyone else is heading out to ND, let me know.

 

EDIT: Oh yeah, Arizona is going to be there too. When I first heard Arizona was going to be there, first thought I was like "Sweet, I get to see Brian Anderson!" And then I realized he's already at Winston Salem. Stupid me!

[Palehosefan]

I'll give you BA's take on some players, for Notre Dame, UC Irvine, Arizona, and Kent State they don't have any projected to be in the first round players. But, here are the highest ranked players that seewill likely be drafted in the first 5 rounds. Hope this helps.

 

Brett Smith, rhp

 

Smith was the cornerstone of John Savage's first recruiting class at UC Irvine when the school reinstated baseball in 2002. He led the upstart program to a national ranking this year by going 8-4, 2.19 with nine-inning averages of 2.1 walks and 9.0 strikeouts. He has first-round stuff with a four-pitch assortment that includes a sharp, late 86-88 mph slider. He also has a 90-92 mph tailing fastball and curveball, but his changeup is straight and soft. At 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds, he has a good downhill plane on his pitches. He performed like a first-rounder this season, with a knack for making big pitches in key situations. His delivery is a little rough, as the ball doesn't come easy out of his hand and he leaves too many pitches up in the zone. But he gives hitters a deceptive look with a mid-stride hesitation in his delivery. Smith projects as a sandwich pick or second-rounder. He also is one of the many players in this year's draft being advised by Scott Boras.

 

Grant Johnson, rhp

 

Of the six players who formed the core of Notre Dame's 2001 recruiting class, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Johnson was the only one who wasn't drafted out of high school. He immediately asserted himself as the marquee player in the group with a big freshman season (9-5, 3.46) and a strong summer with Team USA. His fastball was clocked at 95 mph--and it wasn't even as good as his slider. Then Johnson had labrum surgery, missed 2003 and came back slowly this season. He had worked just46 innings this spring, though he was 5-0, 1.58. He's had no major lingering problems from the surgery, other than his velocity has ranged from 89-93 mph. He's been on a strict pitch count--50 to start, 85 in a mid-May complete-game win against Rutgers--and was limited to 10 sliders per start. Even though he's at about 80 percent, he has flashed his freshman stuff. Johnson remains the top prospect in Indiana and should go no higher than the third round. He's a real risk/reward pick, and he could be a steal if he's healthy and returns to his freshman form.

 

John Hardy, 2b

 

Hardy is the cousin of shortstop J.J. Hardy, one of the top prospects in the Brewers organization. They're the same age and intended to enroll at Arizona before J.J., an Arizona high school product, went in the second round of the 2001 draft and signed, while John, an Idaho high school product, slipped to the 10th round. Both players' fathers played tennis professionally. Hardy started at shortstop for Arizona his first two years and moved to second base this year, where he adapted nicely. He was Arizona's leading hitter most of the spring before a late slump dropped his average to .330. Hardy's tools are a tad short across the board. He doesn't possess his cousin's speed, power or arm strength, though their hands are about the same. Scouts disagree on John's future value. Some see him going in the first four or five rounds; others don't see him going in the first 10.

 

Andrew Sonnanstine, rhp

 

Sonnanstine has improved significantly since redshirting his freshman year at Kent State because he wasn't considered strong enough to compete in Division I. He dominated the New England Collegiate last summer, giving up just 28 hits in 58 innings, and was the league's No. 8 prospect. Now solidly built at 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, Sonnanstine was 7-4, 2.69 this year with averages of 8.4 strikeouts and 1.7 walks per nine innings. He throws four pitches consistently for strikes, including an 88-92 mph fastball with sink and boring action, and an 83-86 mph slider. He adds deception to his delivery by varying his arm slot. Opinions are mixed on Sonnanstine, though some teams see him as a fifth- to eighth-round pick. His detractors say he has a below-average fastball and limited projection.

[Chisoxfn]

Brett Smith is a good player. Also keep an eye out on Matt Anderson, I think he plays 3rd base for UCI. He's got good power potential. UCI also has a few younger playesr that are pretty talented.

[redandwhite]

Also keep an eye on the College of Charleston and my cousin Kevin Bulger ;o

[dasox24]

Brett Smith, rhp

 

Smith was the cornerstone of John Savage's first recruiting class at UC Irvine when the school reinstated baseball in 2002. He led the upstart program to a national ranking this year by going 8-4, 2.19 with nine-inning averages of 2.1 walks and 9.0 strikeouts. He has first-round stuff with a four-pitch assortment that includes a sharp, late 86-88 mph slider. He also has a 90-92 mph tailing fastball and curveball, but his changeup is straight and soft. At 6-foot-5 and 215 pounds, he has a good downhill plane on his pitches. He performed like a first-rounder this season, with a knack for making big pitches in key situations. His delivery is a little rough, as the ball doesn't come easy out of his hand and he leaves too many pitches up in the zone. But he gives hitters a deceptive look with a mid-stride hesitation in his delivery. Smith projects as a sandwich pick or second-rounder. He also is one of the many players in this year's draft being advised by Scott Boras.

I loved everything about this guy until I read the last sentence, but he still would be a pretty good pick if we could get him w/ one of our supp. picks or 2nd round picks.

Johnson also sounds like a guy that I'd take a risk on considering that the reward could be huge, and it's really not a waste of an early round pick if he doesn't return to his old form b/c we have a lot of other picks in the first couple rounds.

[CWSGuy406]

Well, guys I had a great time. I saw three games (Notre Dame vs. UC Irvine, ND Win, Arizona vs. Kent State, Arizona Win, Notre Dame vs. Kent State, ND Win). All were fairly close and pretty fun games.

 

The ballpark was good. The popcorn sucked but everything else was fun. The burgers were delicious, good nachos, good ice cream. OK - now to the ballgame!

 

-First game was fun. Notre Dame vs. UC Irvine. Unfortunatelly I wasn't able to see Brett Smith of UC pitch, however, I saw Grant Johnson pitch. And, let me just say this - if we select this guy over someone like JP Howell, I will be really pissed. Grant looked pretty good at times, but he left a hell of a lot of pitches up in the zone, and he god hit hard when he did. He seemed to like to leave his offspeed stuff up in the zone (ala Felix Diaz), and that hurt him a lot. He didn't do too badly, something like five/six innings and four runs, but I really didn't like what I saw from him. The guy that really impressed me from Notre Dame was Sophomore Craig Cooper. He had four RBIs in the game, he hit the ball hard almost every AB. He had a three - run homer, and came within five feet of a Grand Slam in his second at bat. Any info on this guy? I know he can't come out for the draft this year, but he looked very good to me.

 

-Second game was a close one between Kent and Arizona, Arizona coming out on top 6-5 IIRC. Unfortunately I wasn't able to concentrate on how John Hardy did, so my apologies. Kent State really shot themselves in the foot this game, though, they had six errors. Not gonna get it done.

 

-Third Game between Notre Dame and Kent State was the best and funnest in my opinion. Notre Dame won this one pretty easily, something like 7-1, IIRC. Again, Craig Cooper hit the ball hard multiple times this game. He really impressed me. However, Sophomore pitcher for Notre Dame Tom Thorton really stole the show. He went 8 1/3 innings, three hits, one walk, 12 Ks. He struck out 7 in a row at one point and carried a no-hitter through 4 1/3 innings. He was pitching a lot of offspeed at the beginning of the game, but as the game wore on, he was really blowing it by hitters. One play stands out - it was a line-drive that hit him square in the chest. You heard it from where I was sitting, which was pretty right down the third base line. What was amazing was how he actually sucked up the pain, got the ball, and threw out the guy at first. After that he just fell down and was basically out cold for a minute or so. He got up, and just dominated the rest of the game. He looks to be an awesome pitcher. A Notre Dame season ticket holder explained to me that when he is on, he is almost unhittable, and that during the season, he went 27 innings and gave up only 3 runs at one time.

 

 

Well I hope I provided some nice info. I was hoping to see Brett Smith and Andrew Sonnanstine pitch, but I didn't, so I was pretty mad that they didn't pitch today. THe only other somewhat - high (Top 10 rounds) rated prospect - people were telling me that Steve Sollmann was someone to look out for, but he really didn't impress me much either.

 

Overall, fun trip - college athletics are always a good time!

[Chisoxfn]

Thanks for sharing that with us. Don't know mcuh about that player your talking about, but my guess is he's a pretty good one. Notre Dame has a ton of talented young players. They really seem to be a developing program. Had they not been riddled with injuries, they probably would of been a favorite to go all the way.