Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2019 i Baseball America

@TRACYRINGOLSBY Gary Hughes can understand the lure of Kyle Murray to the Athletics, despite his NFL potential. He also knows firsthand that there is no sure thing in the world of scouting, and never is that truer than with multi-sport athletes. A baseball lifer, who made his mark in the game in scouting, Hughes has been down that road before with the two-sport star. And he doesn’t regret it. Yes, John Elway made only a brief stop with the Yankees’ short-season New York-Penn League team in Oneonta on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. DIAMOND-GRIDIRON STANDOUTS Baseball America founder Allan Simpson provides a sampling of the best combined baseball-football talents, listed by draft year. 1978: Kirk Gibson 1979: John Elway, Jay Schroeder 1982: Bo Jackson, Kenny Williams,…

Now, as Mike Martin prepares for his 40th season as head coach at Florida State, it seems impossible to imagine the Seminoles without him. Between his playing and coaching career, he has been a part of the program for 47 of its 72 years of existence. The field the Seminoles play on bears his name. His No. 11 has become synonymous with his name in Tallahassee. Martin is now the winningest coach in college baseball history, but how he came to be the head coach at Florida State, his alma mater, feels improbable 40 years later. Dick Howser, the best player in Florida State history, had returned to his alma mater in October 1978 as head coach after an all-star career in the big leagues and a decade as the…

NOTABLE STORYLINES ● Washington (35-26) made a strong push down the stretch last season, staying in the Pac-12 title race until the final day of the regular season and then putting together an NCAA Tournament run that ended with the program’s first College World Series appearance. The Huskies have recruited at a high level under coach Lindsay Meggs but replicating last year’s success won’t be easy. Washington must replace ace Joe DeMers, shortstop Levi Jordan and closer Alex Hardy. The Huskies do bring back Mason Cerrillo (.341/.395/.404) and DH Joe Wainhouse (.306/.352/.603, 19 home runs), their two leading hitters, as well as catcher Nick Kahle (.293/.392/.457, 6 homers). On the mound, righthanders Jordan Jones (6-4, 3.98) and Josh Burgmann (2-2, 3.19) will be asked to take on bigger roles. If…

REGIONAL TEAMS Michigan Minnesota Indiana TEAM TO BEAT: MICHIGAN The Wolverines came on strong in the second half last season with a young team, but they just missed the NCAA Tournament. Now a year older, Michigan enters the season with high expectations and eager to break through for its first Big Ten Conference title since 2008. It returns sophomore center fielder Jesse Franklin, a Freshman All-American, and senior second baseman Ako Thomas, a catalyst at the top of the lineup, and starters Tommy Henry and Karl Kauffman. Michigan has impressive athleticism offensively and a deep pitching staff. The Wolverines should be ready to for a breakout campaign this spring. PLAYER OF THE YEAR: JESSE FRANKLIN, OF, MICHIGAN Franklin earned Freshman All-American honors last year after hitting .327/.379/.588 with 10 home…

LEODY TAVERAS RANGERS Scouts have long dreamed on Taveras’lithe body and athleticism, seeing a potential standout everyday center fielder. To date his offensive numbers fall short of what even marginal reserve big league outfielders hit in the minors. Taveras has hit .253/.315/.351 for his career, numbers more in line with a career minor leaguer than a major leaguer. Taveras will be just 20 years old in 2019 and still has time to improve, but his offensive performance needs to start ticking up. DANIEL JOHNSON INDIANS Johnson broke out in 2017 but came back down to earth in 2018 as he struggled in Double-A and was beset by a broken hamate bone. His ability to hit better pitching further came into question when he hit .145/.260/.177 in the Arizona Fall League.…

Our draft to-do lists serve as a starting point for watching the progress of potential first-round picks for 2019. Our goal is to identify specific areas of growth or certain weaknesses that players need to improve this spring to win over scouting departments. Doing so will either cement their prospect status or allow them to rise up draft boards this spring. Florida high school righthander Carter Stewart and Duke outfielder Griffin Conine serve as two prominent examples from the 2018 draft to-do lists who impacted their stock in opposite ways. Teams noted prior to the season that Stewart, who then ranked No. 25, could dramatically improve his stock if he showed improved fastball velocity during the spring. After pitching mostly in the high 80s and low 90s during the summer,…

@BaseballAmerica @BaseballAmerica BaseballAmericaMag ReadBA SOUNDS OF THE GAME National writers Kyle Glaser (right) and Carlos Collazo chat about the Padres’ farm system as part of the team-by-team offseason series of prospect podcasts, while national writer Teddy Cahill podcasts regularly about college baseball. Chech them all out at, BaseballAmerica.com/podcasts. “EDGAR MARTINEZ. MARIANO RIVERA. ROY HALLADAY. MIKE MUSSINA. YOUR 2019 @BASEBALLHALL CLASS.” @BaseballAmerica DAWN OF A NEW ERA Ever wondered what it takes to create an issue of Baseball America? Lots of discussion and lots of conversation. With our first monthly issue, it was an even bigger project to bring you even more content. Here’s the view of the BA conference room, where the big discussions—and debates—happen. PROSPECT HANDBOOK SEASON February marks not only the beginning of spring training but also the…

FEATURES Paige Lowary couldn’t heal where she got sick. After two years in the circle at Missouri, she packed her bags and moved farther west to a place that would turn her into a national champion. Oklahoma and Patty Gasso allowed Lowary to recover and thrive. She became the No. 1 pick in the 2018 National Pro Fastpitch Draft and is now speaking out about why she transferred. Go to SoftballAmerica.com to read Lowary’s first-person account. Nine Oregon players transferred out of the program following a coaching change amid a contract dispute. One of those players, Maggie Balint, went on the record with Softball America and detailed why. “The launch of Softball America propels the sport into mainstream media coverage at the highest level. The coverage, from prospect to professional,…

College baseball is an ever-changing game. Players come and go and teams rise and fall. Legacies are forged under the hot Omaha sun, but dynasties are rare. The game is changing again this year. Mike Martin, college baseball’s winningest coach, will soon join a host of other legendary coaches who have stepped away in recent years. The Oregon State and Florida teams that dominated the last two season have turned over. All that change is sure to make for a fun season and with Opening Day fast approaching, Baseball America presents its annual College Preview. The pages that follow include the Preseason Top 25, the Preseason All-America teams voted on by major league scouting directors, conference previews and much more. The preview continues online at BaseballAmerica.com. There, readers can find…

Among the players Martin has coached are dozens of All-Americans and big leaguers, three College Player of the Year winners, a first overall draft pick in both MLB and the NFL and one NFL Hall of Famer. Here are Baseball America’s picks for the 10 best players he’s coached over the last 40 years. 1. Buster Posey, C The 2008 College Player of the Year, Posey hit .463/.566/.879 with 26 home runs as a junior. Posey and J.D. Drew are the two best players in the last 40 years of Florida State history. Posey famously came to FSU as a shortstop and played there his freshman year before converting to catcher at the advice of Mike Martin Jr. He immediately took to the position and has gone on to star…

During the 2016 season, newly named interim Nevada-Las Vegas coach Stan Stolte was trying to juggle his on-field responsibilities with the unenviable task of selling uncertainty to recruits. Stolte had been promoted to interim head coach the previous December following Tim Chambers’ resignation. UNLV after the season would take the interim tag off Stolte, but in the moment, recruiting wasn’t an easy task. He could offer elite competition, exposure, even a new multimillion-dollar clubhouse on campus. But he couldn’t offer the same stability as other programs and it left him facing an uphill battle. “There are definitely guys out there I think we could have had if things were different, but I wasn’t going to lie to kids, so I just had to wear it,” Stolte said. “I just knew…

Elon’s Kyle Brnovich and George Kirby are two premium pitching prospects in this year’s draft class from outside baseball’s traditional power conferences, but they are far from the only smaller school pitchers to watch this spring. Ricky Devito, RHP, Seton Hall: The 2018 Big East Conference pitcher of the year, Devito posted a 1.88 ERA during his first stint as a starter with Seton Hall before carving up hitters in the Cape Cod League last summer. Seth Johnson, RHP, Campbell: A converted junior college shortstop, he has wowed scouts with his athleticism on the mound and a fastball that’s been up to 96 mph as well as promising secondaries. Hunter Gaddis, RHP, Georgia State: After becoming the first Georgia State player ever to be chosen to play for USA Baseball’s…

TEAM TO BEAT: EAST CAROLINA The reigning American Athletic Conference Tournament champions, East Carolina returns a bevy of experience from a season ago. Led by All-American Bryant Packard, who earned AAC player of the year honors last year, the Pirates feature a veteran lineup that could include three seniors, four juniors and two sophomores. In 2018, Packard and first baseman Spencer Brickhouse paced the Pirates’ offense by hitting a combined 24 home runs, 32 doubles and driving in 100 runs. Coach Cliff Godwin’s club also returns four of its top pitching options from last season in sophomore Alec Burleson and juniors Tyler Smith, Trey Benton and Jake Agnos. A 6-foot-1, 212-pound lefthander, Burleson was the AAC rookie pitcher of the year in 2018, and he has the chance to lead…

UCLA Stanford Arizona Oregon State Oregon TEAM TO BEAT: UCLA Last year the Bruins had the look of a team a year away, thanks to its young core. Now that nucleus is back, ready to get UCLA back to Omaha for the first time since winning the 2013 national championship. The Bruins have a veteran lineup led by Chase Strumpf, Michael Toglia and Jeremy Ydens that should make them formidable offensively and defensively. UCLA isn’t as experienced on the mound, but starters Ryan Garcia and Zach Pettway and closer Holden Powell give the pitching staff a strong starting point. PLAYER OF THE YEAR: ADLEY RUTSCHMAN, C, OREGON STATE The reigning College World Series Most Outstanding Player and the early favorite to be the first overall draft pick this June, Rutschman…

It is true that some organizations have cut scouting jobs in recent years. The Astros’ reductions are the most notable, but several other teams are starting to follow in Houston’s footsteps by replacing scouts with video analysts and additional analytics staffers. But the sky isn’t falling. To get an idea of how scouting departments have changed, Baseball America compared front office staffing in 1999, 2009, 2018 and 2019. While scouting departments are clearly downsizing, it does come after explosive growth for most of the 21st century. To get a sense of the size of scouting staffs, we counted each organization’s staffing as listed in the Baseball America Directory. The exact counts from one team to another vary because of differences in titles. A position that is a director with one…

Two of the breakout rookies of 2018 endured seasons lost to injury when they were in low Class A. But when healthy, the Braves’ Ronald Acuña Jr. and the Nationals’ Juan Soto rocketed to the major leagues and excelled. Looking forward, here are 10 prospects who we’re hoping have a healthy 2019. 1. Sixto Sanchez, RHP, Phillies After Astros righthander Forrest Whitley, Sanchez has a compelling argument as the next best pitching prospect in baseball. He sits in the mid-to-upper-90s and can break triple digits, doing it without much effort and while filling the strike zone. Yet Sanchez threw just 46.2 innings last year, with his final outing coming on June 3 before he went on the disabled list with right elbow inflammation. The Phillies say Sanchez is healthy and…

● The Estrellas Orientales chose wisely during the 2017-18 Dominican League rookie draft, opting to select shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. over third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with the first pick. The organization’s front office was leaning towards selecting Guerrero. Then assistant general manager Raul Gonzalez pushed for them to consider position scarcity and the future of the organization. Tatis would be a quality shortstop for years to come, and someone Estrellas fans could be excited to watch. The dearth of shortstops projected in future draft classes, combined with Tatis’ hometown roots in San Pedro de Macoris, made Estrellas select the homegrown rising star. Guerrero did not play in the league this season, while Tatis led all hitters with four home runs in the playoffs to help Estrellas win the Dominican…

@JOE_SHEEHAN For the second straight year, the Hot Stove League has run cold. Some teams progressed in their rebuilding projects, others steered clear of the luxury-tax threshold, and free agents, once again, wondered what hit them. There are many reasons for the weak demand. The addition of the second wild card cleaved a full playoff spot into two halves, and teams have responded by tempering their efforts to win one of them. The increased flow of guaranteed money to all 30 teams, money that allows teams to lock in profits regardless of on-field performance, has diminished the incentives to take financial risks to add wins. The most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement targeted large-market, high-revenue teams with surgical precision, beating them back behind the luxury-tax threshold. Most important, though, is the…

@JJCOOP36 If you are a longtime Baseball America reader, you may remember a one-time unofficial motto of ours. If the New York Times was once “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” Baseball America used to operate under the idea that “All the News Will Fit if We Make the Type Small Enough.” Look back at our 1999 College Preview issue and you will see some font sizes that require a magnifying glass to read. Sandwiched around a feature on freshman Georgia Tech third baseman Mark Teixeira were notes about how now-Oklahoma State head coach Josh Holliday was the best defensive catcher in the Big 12 Conference. But to get all of that content into the magazine, sometimes the type had to shrink smaller than was ideal. Allan Simpson and…

We've all heard the old saying. You don't want to be the person who follows the legend. You want to be the person who follows the person who follow the legend. This challenge will be taken on this year by Matt Bragga at Rice and Ben Orloff at UC Irvine. Bragga takes over the Owls from Wayne Graham and Orloff takes over the Anteaters from Mike Gillespie. Graham and Gillespie both won national championships and more than 1,000 games in their careers. In the fall of 2007, I experienced the same kind of challenge. George Horton was three years removed from winning the national championship at Cal State Fullerton when he departed for Oregon. Horton was also my former coach and mentor. He was a legend in my mind after…

In the stands behind the plate at Elon’s Latham Park, scouts routinely gather for games. That frequently means there’s someone on the mound who needs to be evaluated. Then they come back to the next day, too. That’s because Elon has two prime pitching prospects and they’re both entering their junior seasons. Righthanders Kyle Brnovich and George Kirby attract the attention. Both were voted Preseason All-Americans by major league scouting directors—Kirby on the second team and Brnovich on the third—and project to be picked in the top four rounds of the draft in June. The righthanders come from different parts of the country and yet they’ve put Elon back on the map in terms of college baseball’s must-see teams. “It’s cool to see people up there and see interest from…

TEAM TO BEAT: TEXAS TECH The Red Raiders reached the College World Series in 2018 for the third time in program history thanks to their ability to mix and match a whole host of power arms on the pitching staff, impressive power in the middle of the lineup, and by putting premium athletes all over the field. They will look to use a similar formula in 2019. Third baseman Josh Jung (.392/.491/.639), a College Player of the Year candidate, is the centerpiece of the offense as one of the best pure hitters in college baseball. Also returning to the lineup is power-hitting first baseman Cameron Warren (.326/.444/.549), electric outfielder Gabe Holt (.348/.440/.485) and steady second baseman Brian Klein (.317/.422/.480), all of whom played big roles last season. They’ll be joined…

REGIONAL TEAMS Vanderbilt Louisiana State Florida Mississippi State Mississippi Georgia Auburn Arkansas South Carolina Texas A&M TEAM TO BEAT: VANDERBILT The Commodores enter the year as the top-ranked team in the country and look to be perhaps the most complete team in the nation. Vanderbilt returns eight regulars from its line-up, as well as its full rotation and some key relievers. The Commodores have five seniors on their roster, a luxury for a program that is used to seeing its players get drafted and sign as juniors. To that mix, Vanderbilt added the No. 2 recruiting class in the country. Vanderbilt is looking for its first SEC title since 2013 and this team has everything it needs to get back atop the standings.. PLAYER OF THE YEAR: JAKE MANGUM, OF,…

Jeren Kendall and Buddy Reed are two of the most exciting outfielders in the minor leagues. Both are capable of a highlight-reel catch at any time. Both boast blazing speed and can absolutely fly in the outfield and on the basepaths. Both have plus arms that can gun down a runner at any base, at any time. Both can change a game in an instant, either with a momentum-turning defensive play or by creating a run where there was none with their speed. But as electrifying as they are, both Kendall and Reed face serious questions about how much they can hit. Kendall, a Dodgers first-rounder from Vanderbilt in 2017, hit .215/.300/.356 as an age-appropriate player at high Class A Rancho Cucamonga in 2018. Reed, a Padres second-round pick in…

The Caribbean winter leagues are an opportunity for players to perform in their home countries and test their skills against players from all different levels of professional baseball. These games are intense, and provide a unique experience whether a player is a former big leaguer looking for a job or a prospect trying to improve his game. With the 2018-19 winter ball season and postseason concluded in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Venezuela, we reflect on a handful of up-and-coming players who stood out. Since winter league seasons are roughly 50-60 games long, this list emphasizes players who left impressions on scouts during their time in winter ball. 1. FERNANDO TATIS JR., SS, PADRES DOMINICAN LEAGUE “El Niño” won over the hearts of Estrellas Orientales fans with his…

Five years from now, Great Lake Bat Company founder Aaron Chamberlain expects that hitters won’t have a specific type of bat they love to use—they’ll have several. “Within five years, bat bags will look like golf bags,” Chamberlain said. “Some bats will be a quarter-inch longer or a quarter-inch shorter. Some will be a half-ounce heavier or a half-ounce lighter. If you’re facing the closer, the hitter will think, I need to pull something different (from the bat bag).” Chamberlain is a bat manufacturer, so him proposing one player carrying a variety of bats sounds like a clever ploy to sell more bats. But he’s been gathering data to support his proposals. Thanks to Chamberlain and a few others, baseball is starting to tread where golf trail-blazed long ago. Anyone…