Schaeffer Hall of Kansas threw an opening day no-hitter against Air Force.
Hes not a big time prospect or anything (although he has been drafted twice) but
an impressive way to start the season nonetheless.

Here’s a heavily edited version of something I originally wrote up elsewhere (and have since reposted elsewhere as well). It’s all about some of the more interesting starting pitching performances of Friday night. A little dated now, but still (hopefully) worthwhile.

Cream of the Crop

Stephen Strasburg (San Diego State): 5.2 IP 3 H 0 ER 2 BB 11 K 4 GO 1 AO 1 LO, 105 pitches
Alex White (North Carolina): 5 IP 8 H 3 ER 1 BB 9 K 5 GO 1 AO 90 pitches
Kyle Gibson (Missouri): 6 IP 3 H 0 ER 3 BB 6 K 6 GO 3 AO 1 LO
Mike Minor (Vanderbilt): 5.2 IP 5 H 2 ER 2 BB 6 K 3 GO 7 AO 1 LO
Kendal Volz (Baylor): 6 IP 2 H 1 ER 2 BB 5 K 9 GO 2 AO

Some really super awesome highly reputable website has these players respectively ranked 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 13th in their draft class, so, yeah, you know they are good. I’m not really sure what I can add to numbers that speak so darn well for themselves. Five pitchers, five good to very good pitching performances, five first rounders and millionaires come June.

Starter or Reliever?

Louis Coleman (LSU): 5 IP 2 H 2 BB 8 K 2 GO 4 AO 74 pitches
Ryan Berry (Rice): 4.2 IP 4 H 5 ER 5 BB 3 K 6 GO 3 AO 1 LO
Preston Guilmet (Arizona): 4 IP 5 H 0 ER 2 BB 6 K 3 GO 2 AO
Brad Boxberger (Southern Cal): 6 IP 1 H 0 ER 6 BB 11 K 2 GO 2 AO 120 pitches

As you can probably ascertain from their lines, all four of the young men listed above started the first game of the season for their respective college teams. Reports have Boxberger’s velocity falling off quickly after the first inning (and again after the second inning), a trend that jives well with his scouting reports heading into the season. While it’s almost always a good thing to exhaust every avenue, boulevard, and throughway that leads to a pitcher starting rather than relieving, you’ve got to wonder if it’s the right thing for a college coach to have a pitcher with professional aspirations tied to potentially being an elite reliever someday throwing 120 pitches in a game. Who am I kidding? You don’t even have to wonder. It’s bad. Research shows us this. Even if you are on the side of the debate that says pitchers are babied and pitch counts are overrated, come on – 120 pitches in the first game of the season? What’s the point? The fact that Boxberger is looked at as a potential reliever by scouts is just icing on the shortsighted, irresponsible cake. If you as a manager can help it, no pitcher should throw 120+ pitches in a single game ever, let alone on February 20th, right? It’s not good for the player and, if you stop and think for a second, it’s not good for the team, either. Is squeezing one extra inning (or two) out of a starting pitcher in a non-conference game so early in the season worth the potential damage an injury or even fatigue could have on the ballclub? Maybe there is more to the story that I simply don’t know, but from where I’m sitting Chad Kreuter has some answering to do.

As for the other guys, both Berry and Guilmet are no doubt about it college starters who may be converted to relief as professionals. Louis Coleman is an interesting case because he may actually have just good enough stuff to survive professionally as a swingman/special usage long reliever if he shows he can start for LSU. That’s arguably an upgrade over simply topping out as a generic middle reliever, depending on your own personal philosophy on bullpen usage.

Draft-Eligible Youngsters (Sophomores)

Brooks Raley (Texas A&M): 6 IP 5 H 1 ER 1 BB 6 K 3 GO 7 AO 1 LO 79 pitches
Jeff Inman (Stanford): 7 IP 9 H 5 ER 1 BB 3 K 12 GO 4 AO

Hard not to be impressed by Raley’s debut effort, all the way down to the efficient way he went about his business. Inman’s numbers aren’t nearly as pretty, but the strong groundballing start is promising. The groundball numbers fit his scouting profile (strong sinker), but the lack of dominance (namely the poor K/IP rate) is something that needs a turn around this season if Inman wants to get into the first round – a spot in the draft that some think he can rise up to. I don’t buy Inman as a first rounder at all, so I’ll amend that last statement to say I personally he’ll need to show he can put hitters away in college if he wants to be a first three rounder this spring.

2010’s

Deck McGuire (Georgia Tech): 7 IP 3 H 0 ER 1 BB 13 K 3 GO 4 AO
Chris Hernandez (Miami): 6 IP 3 H 1 ER 3 BB 7 K 11 GO 1 AO 95 pitches
Sammy Solis (San Diego): 6 IP 4 H 1 ER 0 BB 9 K 7 GO 1 AO

Let’s combine these lines real quick and take a moment to bask in all it’s young pitchery glory:

19 IP 10 H 2 ER 4 BB 29 K 21 GO 6 AO

That’s good for an ERA of 0.95, a K/9 of 13.74, and a GO/AO ratio of 3.5. Even that Strasburg guy would be jealous of numbers like that. Hernandez is a fascinating prospect (I say that about a lot of guys, don’t I?) in that he has put up tremendous results at Miami in his young career, but lacks traditionally dominating stuff. Perhaps the 11/1 groundball to flyball number is a bit of a clue to how he has been so successful. If I get the time/patience/energy, I’ll have to go through the Miami game logs from last year and see what his 2008 ratio looked like.

New on Campus

Austin Dicharry (Texas): 1 IP 1 H 0 ER 1 BB 2 K 1 GO 0 AO
Sonny Gray (Vanderbilt): 3 IP 3 H 0 ER 1 BB 3 K 5 GO 0 AO

Two pretty sharp collegiate debuts for two of the finest young righties the class of 2011 has to offer. Gray’s 3 innings out of the Vandy pen were especially good, as 8 of his 9 outs recorded were either grounders or strikeouts and his lone walk was an intentional one. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to be a college hitter getting the 1-2 punch of Mike Minor and Sonny Gray all in one afternoon.

Real Deal College Relievers

Scott Bittle (Mississippi): 1 IP 1 H 0 ER 0 BB 1 K 1 GO 1 AO
AJ Griffin (San Diego): 2.1 IP 2 H 0 ER 1 BB 4 K 2 GO 1 AO
Jason Stoffel (Arizona): 1 IP 3 H 1 ER 0 BB 2 K 0 GO 1 AO
Robert Stock (Southern Cal): 1 IP 0 H 0 ER 0 BB 2 K 1 GO 0 AO 12 pitches

I was very impressed at the wonderful debut of Robert Stock. Consensus opinion may have turned on you, buddy, but I still think you’re a keeper. Not too many players can get on base three times (including 2 hits, one a double), throw out two runners trying to steal second, and pitch a perfect ninth inning throwing low-90s heat. All that and he’s still only 19? Sign me up. The talent that made him one of the top recruits heading into USC hasn’t totally disappeared despite his poor college numbers, so this could be the year he finally taps into that large reserve of skill he possesses.

Random Lefties For Whom I Could Think of No Other Clever Unifying Characteristic

Rob Rasmussen (UCLA): 5 IP 2 H 0 ER 1 BB 5 K 6 GO 3 AO 1 LO
Tanner Robles (Oregon State): 5 IP 3 H 3 ER 4 BB 2 K 7 GO 4 AO 1 LO
Nick Hernandez (Tennessee): 5 IP 9 H 3 ER 1 BB 5 K 4 GO 5 AO

More notes from the weekend as a whole…

Caleb Shofner (Texas A&M) isn’t a prospect per se, but a weekend like this will get a guy noticed. The draft-eligible sophomore went crazy on opposing pitching, putting up the following numbers: 9-10, HR, 3B, 5 RBI, 11 R, 2 BB, 4 HBP

That’s good for a line of .900/.938/1.400! That’s a mind-boggling three game stretch for anybody, anywhere. There was once an infielder for a top college program that wasn’t highly thought of, but just kept hitting, and hitting, and hitting, and hitting. Eventually, Tony Thomas from Florida State got himself drafted within the top 100 picks by the Cubs (97th overall). It’s a huge stretch to say Shofner can sustain numbers good enough to get noticed like Thomas did, but he’s off to a fantastic start all the same.

Ryan Schimpf: 7-10, HR, 2 2B, 6 RBI, 3 R, 4 BB, 0 K
DJ LeMahieu: 5-9, 3 3B, 3 RBI, 2 R, 1 BB, 0 K

The LSU middle infield wasted no time getting off to hot starts this season. I guess you can’t really waste time if you want to get off to a hot start, right? Schimpf may be a better comparison to Tony Thomas than Shofner was. LeMahieu has three triples through three games. That’s weird.

Brooks Raley: 9-15, 3 2B, 4 RBI, 3 R, 0 BB, 2 K

Raley has had as good a start as any college player in the country. If nothing else, he has the most well-rounded start – the bat has clearly been huge and he pitched a gem of his game to kick off the season. While I’m making up comps with no research, how about Raley as a pre-injury version of Joe Savery?

Ryan Jackson: 3-10, 3B, 2B, 1 RBI, 5 R, 4 BB, 1 K
Yasmani Grandal: 4-7, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 5 R, 6 BB, 1 K
Harold Martinez: 6-15, 2B, 5 RBI, 3 R, 1 BB, 3 K

Jackson is going to be a really fun player to watch this season. His glove is top notch, but his bat has loads of question marks. If he can at least show competence with the bat, he’ll be a premium draft come June. Martinez has played first, third, and a tiny bit of shortstop so far for the Hurricanes.

Ryan Lollis: 6-15, HR, 2 2B, 6 RBI, 5 R, 1 BB, K
Greg Folgia: 5-14, HR, 3B, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 7 R, 3 BB, 3 K

Two pretty promising starts for key players on the Missouri squad. Four of Folgia’s five hits went for extra bases, that’s always nice.

Grant Green: 2-11, HR, 1 RBI, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K
Robert Stock: 6-11, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R, 1 BB, 1 K

Tale of two weekends. Green, everybody’s All-American, struggled mightily against the Long Beach State staff, especially through two games (0-8). Stock had a lovely weekend in all phases of the game – hitting, pitching, and throwing players out from behind the dish. His power will be well worth tracking as the season moves along.

Gabe Cohen: 5-11, 4 RBI, 2 R, 4 BB, 0 K

The toolsy Bruin showed a little something this weekend. I’m a sucker for college players with big tools and little production (see Stock, Robert) and Cohen fits the bill. It’s only a weekend, but that BB/K ratio is promising.

Dustin Ackley: 9-13, 3 2B, 2 RBI, 4 R, BB, K
Mark Fluery: 5-10, 3 2B, 6 RBI, 4 R, 2 BB

Ackley just hits. He had a five-hit day on Sunday. Hit, hit, hit, hit, hit. Fluery is one of the many good, not great college catchers eligible for the draft this year. He’s a definite prospect.

Golden Tate: 7-14, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 4 R, 1 BB, 2 K

The star Notre Dame football player with the best name ever had a heck of a start to the season. We know he is a plus athlete, so he’s got that going for him.

Jason Kipnis: 12-17, 3 HR, 3B, 4 2B, 8 RBI, 11 R, 4 BB, K, 2 SB
Carlos Ramirez: 8-14, 4 HR, 3B, 2B, 9 RBI, 6 R, 3 BB, 4 K

I was way down on Kipnis as a prospect heading into this season. Apparently, somebody tipped him off about me slighting him so he has decided to go make me look as bad as humanly possible. Thanks, champ. It’s February 23rd and Jason Kipnis has been on base 16 times already. The man has 8 extra base hits! Ramirez, Kipnis’s Sun Devil teammate, has had a powerful start to his debut season with Arizona State. He is a plus defender behind the plate and another solid 2009 draft catching prospect worth watching.

Positional Notes

Curt Casali (Vanderbilt) played first base, Preston Clark (Texas) played DH, the aforementioned Harold Martinez (Miami) played both first and third (and SS), Brooks Raley hit leadoff and played both outfield corner when not pitching, Andy Burns (Kentucky) started a game at second, and Phil Gosselin (Virginia) played leftfield and second base (after playing mostly on the left side of the infield last year).

Pitching Notes

Alex Wilson (Texas A&M): 6.2 IP 3 H 0 ER 1 BB 14 K 4 GO 2 AO 99 pitches
Matt Harvey (North Carolina): 5 IP 3 H 3 ER 0 BB 11 K 2 GO 1 AO 1 LO, 90 pitches
Brandon Workman (Texas): 7 IP 2 H 0 ER 0 BB 7 K 8 GO 6 AO

Three dominating pitching performances by three excellent prospects. If Wilson is healthy and throwing like this with any kind of consistency, the Aggies are going to be hard to beat this season. Harvey and Workman are both attempting to position themselves at the top of the 2010 draft, with Harvey the clear favorite to go number one overall.

Rob Kumbatovic (Hofstra): 8 IP 9 H 3 ER 0 BB 4 K 100 pitches (L)

Kumbatovic is a junior righthander who pitched a beauty against Florida State. He’s got good size (6-4, 200) and had a few college offers from decent baseball schools (Elon being one of them), but he’s still not considered a prospect of any real consequence. Call him the Caleb Shofner of pitching prospects, I guess. Even though he’s not a prospect, I thought a line like that against competition like that was worth a mention.

Andrew Oliver (Oklahoma State) struck out the first five batters he faced. His first six outs all came on strikeouts. Nice way to start a season, right?

Kyle Blair (San Diego): 5 IP 4 H 5 ER 2 BB 5 K 4 HBP 3 GO 3 AO 3 LO
Alex Meyer (Kentucky): 3 IP 4 H 3 ER 1 BB 1 K 2 GO 6 AO, 59 pitches 2 WP

Blair hit four batters in his debut. Nice way to start a season, right? Meyer’s first college appearance showed he has plenty of room for improvement going forward…

I appreciate the writeups….