Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2023 i Baseball America

But Louisiana State dominated the transfer portal by adding three of the top five players available, including the top two. Here are the top 10 faces in new places. Tommy White, 3B/1B North Carolina State to Louisiana State White ended the 2022 season with 27 home runs, a Division I record for a freshman. There are questions about White’s viability as a defender, particularly at third base, but that’s something LSU will overlook to get his bat, arguably the best in college baseball, into its lineup. Paul Skenes, C/RHP Air Force to Louisiana State Skenes is the premier two-way player in college baseball. In two seasons at Air Force, he hit .367/.453/.669 with 24 homers and was the Falcons’ closer in 2021 before moving to the rotation last season. He…

Stowers Hopes To Earn Starting Spot After punishing righthanded hitters at Camden Yards by changing the outfield dimensions in left field, the Orioles spent the offseason pursuing lefthanded hitters to balance their lineup. No matter who they bring in, 25-year-old Kyle Stowers might prove to be their best option—and the 2019 supplemental second-rounder from Stanford is entering a pivotal spring training. “He’ll have an opportunity to win a major league job,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters at the Winter Meetings. “He did some impressive things late. Took some good at-bats, some big homers. Got great experience playing in the games we were playing in against our division. “Kyle’s got a ton of ability.” The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Stowers made his MLB debut as a temporary Covid callup in June. In…

A top the right field bleachers at Alex Box Stadium stands “The Intimidator,” a full-size billboard that looms over the outfield. A snarling tiger head dominates the right half of the sign, while the rest is emblazoned by the all-caps “NATIONAL CHAMPIONS” and the six years the Tigers won the College World Series: 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2009. The Intimidator symbolizes many things at once. It stands as a monument to Louisiana State’s dominant position in the sport. Only Southern California has won more national titles than LSU, and only one of its 12 titles (1998) has come since the Tigers won their first. It is what its name suggests, an intimidating force for LSU’s opponents, letting them know that they have entered the home of college baseball…

Three years of free tickets and a family connection wasn’t enough to compel Matt Harvey to so much as consider going to Connecticut. Harvey was the top prep prospect in the class of 2007. He played for Fitch High in Groton, Conn., less than 50 miles south of UConn’s campus in Storrs. He was coached by his father Ed, a member of the Huskies’ 1972 College World Series team. Still, UConn coach Jim Penders couldn’t get a sit-down with Harvey, and when Harvey’s draft stock fell, he left the Nutmeg State for North Carolina, where he went on to become a first-rounder in 2010. “Today, I think we’d have a good chance at Matt Harvey,” Penders said. Rightfully so. Penders has led the Huskies to each of the last four…

Lin Dominates With Wide Repertoire Most amateur pitchers with deep repertoires are met with a harsh reality upon reaching pro ball: They soon find out their secondary pitches aren’t as good as they think. Then there is 19-year-old Taiwanese lefthander Yu-Min Lin. He has a fastball, changeup, slider, cutter, curveball and sinker—not to mention a variation of his changeup that club officials say can behave like a screwball. Lin deployed them to devastating effect last year, logging a 2.72 ERA in 14 starts while racking up 91 strikeouts in 56.1 innings split between the Arizona Complex League and Low-A Visalia. “They all have separation off each other,” said Gabriel Hernandez, the Visalia pitching coach last year. “That’s the good part about it. Some guys might have a slider and a…

J.J. COOPER @JJCOOP36 In most years, the college team that emerges as No. 1 on our Preseason Top 25 has gone through rounds of debate and discussion. This year, it was Louisiana State at No. 1 by a mile. If LSU had simply brought in the nation’s best recruiting class to add to a team that already featured outfielder Dylan Crews—the nation’s best draft prospect—the Tigers would have been one of the favorites for a spot in Omaha. Adding in the best transfer class in college baseball was how this team went from potentially good to potentially great. LSU brought back three starting pitchers who made 10 or more starts last year. But thanks to the influx of transfers Paul Skenes, Thatcher Hurd and Christian Little—as well as recruits like…

KYLE TEEL, C VIRGINIA Out of high school in 2020, Teel stood out for his athleticism and played all over the diamond. A catcher now, Teel served as the primary back-stop for Team USA and features a plus throwing arm but is still refining his defensive actions. His lefthanded swing has lots of moving parts, but he controls the zone well and has been an on-base machine for Virginia, with a .305/.409/.481 slash line in two seasons. BRAYDEN TAYLOR, 3B TEXAS CHRISTIAN Taylor’s excellent vision, zone control and pitch recognition make him one of the best pure hitters in the class. He has walked at a 19% rate compared to a near-16% strikeout rate with TCU, and his 13% chase rate is excellent. Taylor’s elite vision pairs nicely with his…

THREE-TIME CHAMPION BANDO EMERGED FROM INAUGURAL DRAFT Sal Bando was one of the best players on the last team to win three consecutive World Series. A sixth-round pick of the Athletics in the first-ever draft in 1965 out of Arizona State, Bando became the club’s everyday third base-man during its final year in Kansas City in 1967. By 1969 he was an all-star who hit a career-best 31 home runs. Bando finished second in American League MVP voting in 1971 and was an AL all-star in 1972, ’73 and ’74 as the A’s won the World Series each year. Like the rest of Oakland’s stars, including Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter and Rollie Fingers, Bando left the club following the advent of free agency. In Bando’s case, it…