2011 College World Series: Day Four Discussion

by John Sickels on Jun 21, 2025 2:00 PM EDT

2010 construction on TD Ameritrade Park, the new host stadium for the men's 2011 NCAA College World Series. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

None of my predictions come true with this and seem to actually backfire. I don't want to curse anyone's team, so I'll refrain from more predictions until we get to the finalists.

Use this thread to discuss today's CWS.

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Is Mike Wacha a big 2012 draft prospect?

He looks very impressive. Good FB and a nasty change

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by mathisrocks5 on Jun 21, 2025 2:14 PM EDT reply actions

Yes

He’s not the top collegiate pitcher, but safely in the top 5 for me.

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by Jeff Reese on Jun 21, 2025 2:25 PM EDT up reply actions

What do you think of Renda?

He looks like a small scrappy player like Pedroia

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by mathisrocks5 on Jun 21, 2025 2:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Haven't seen enough of him yet

But I certainly wouldn’t throw around Pedroia comps.

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by Jeff Reese on Jun 21, 2025 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions

If you have the #1 pick next year who would you pick as of today?

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by mathisrocks5 on Jun 21, 2025 3:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Probably McCullers

Of the college guys, I’d lean towards Kevin Gausman.

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by Jeff Reese on Jun 21, 2025 3:23 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m a Gausman guy too. Very high ceiling. McCullers’ velo readings at PG National were ridiculous. Reportedly did not throw a FB below 94 mph and was pumping 96/97. If he gets his command together by next year he’ll probably maintain his current #1 h.s. status. I’m still not sure he breaks the mindset against h.s. righties going 1-1, and if one of the Williams boys (Trey or Nick) steps up I could see them going. The current top-ranked college position guys (Diekroeger, Marrero, Piscotty, maybe Vic Roache) don’t blow me away. Looks like a good draft for h.s. position players with Addison Russell and Albert Almora in the mix as well. Joey Gallo is a two-way threat, and one of my favorites, David Thompson, is going to have an amazing career even by Florida h.s. baseball standards when he finishes his senior year. Dude can flat out rake.

by blackoutyears on Jun 22, 2025 12:01 AM EDT up reply actions

You're probably right

But he’s the top talent on my board at the moment, whether he actually goes 1.1 is another story. Frankie Piliere’s report on him also mentioned that he showed a good change-up last weekend too: http://sbb.scout.com/2/1081304.html

Yeah, the college position players don’t wow me either. Zunino is probably the top guy for me there and I’m not sure he’s really a top 5 talent. I wish Adam Brett Walker would play the outfield, he’s a guy I’m just waiting to be really high on.

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by Jeff Reese on Jun 22, 2025 9:00 AM EDT up reply actions

McCullers' change

was the most exciting thing I read about him last year — Goetz was talking about it in an article I read last May — and I’m not surprised Piliere was impressed. I have no doubt that he’s the top h.s. RHP right now, with only a couple of guys currently on the radar poised to challenge him (Giolito, Cherry, maybe Weickel or Porter).

I was very interested in Piliere’s PG National prospect list. I’m really high on C.J. Hinojosa, whom he had at 16, but was surprised that he left off his Klein teammate and fellow Longhorn commit Austin Dean. Dean’s nickname is The Freak and he pounded the ball this year. Both guys square up pitches and both showed very good power for true INF prospects.

ToS is coming up, and I can’t wait. Look out for David Thompson. I knew he was crushing, but BA noted that he’s already broken Prince Fielder’s FLA h.s. home run record and still has his senior year left. There’s some (amusingly self-promotional?) video on Youtube that shows what he can do.

by blackoutyears on Jun 22, 2025 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions

wacha

I saw him pitch in March against Oklahoma….VERY impressive pitcher, definitely first round material next year.

by John Sickels on Jun 21, 2025 3:05 PM EDT up reply actions

He did not do well today, but I know it’s an extremely SSS.

Bye-bye to all the Texas teams, UNC gets a 2nd shot at Vandy on Wednesday in a do-or-die game. Florida’s sitting pretty with a well-rested Hudson Randall ready to go on Friday and Whitson well-rested for the Saturday start (if necessary).

"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner

Keep an eye on my son, Jake "The Jacksonville Rifle" Dunning. From SS to the mound - exclusively toeing the rubber since March 2010.

by Fla-Giant on Jun 21, 2025 9:30 PM EDT up reply actions

He was lights out

until today. IIRC he came into the game with a 0.95 ERA in his first three post season starts. Haven’t gotten to the part of the start where the wheels come off but in the early innings I’ve seen the FB command was a little off; he looked almost too strong. The other day he was very comfortable at 90-92 with the FB, getting nice downward plane and getting great armside run. Today he was 92-94 but the ball was up and he was spinning off to the 1B side.

I think he’s a guy who could help himself a lot next year by coming in even a bit more conditioned. As noted earlier, the the breaking ball has to improve. If he adds a consistent curve to the FB and change he’ll be pushing into top of first round consideration. It might be overstating things, but he’s not that far behind Jungmann for me.

by blackoutyears on Jun 21, 2025 11:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Don't quit prognosticating too soon, John

None of my predictions come true with this…

You were dead-on with the UF vs. Vandy pick. You predicted a 2-1 Gator win and the final score was 3-1.

BTW, best pitching performance of the CWS has now been claimed by Steven Rodriguez of Florida:
14 batters - 0 hits, 7 Ks, 1 BB, 13 outs, 50 pitches, 37 strikes, only 1 ball hit out of the infield

Damn, the dude was lights-out - and he came back today after getting 3 outs and facing 4 batters last night. That’s a tough turnaround for a pitcher these days.

"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner

Keep an eye on my son, Jake "The Jacksonville Rifle" Dunning. From SS to the mound - exclusively toeing the rubber since March 2010.

by Fla-Giant on Jun 21, 2025 2:51 PM EDT reply actions

Was that game Whitson vs Garvin?

How did they do? I missed it.

Lance Berkman= Awesome, CJ Wilson= Jack@$$
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If you didn't know by now, my screen name is sarcastic

by mathisrocks5 on Jun 21, 2025 2:57 PM EDT up reply actions

It got suspended last night

Whitson and Garvin were both pretty solid, IMO. Don’t have their lines right off hand. But Fla-Giant is right on the money in saying Rodriguez was terrific. Easily the best pitching performance I’ve seen in the CWS so far.

by RynoRooter on Jun 21, 2025 3:36 PM EDT up reply actions

I know

Garvin K’d 9 in 6 and Whinston had 5 in less than 5.

by SenorGato on Jun 21, 2025 8:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Garvin seemed to pitch better than Whitson, but he just made the mistake of bunching a walk and a bunt and then immediately hanging a breaking ball to Preston Tucker that left the yard for the 3-run lead. Whitson did a good job of making good pitches with runners on base.

"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner

Keep an eye on my son, Jake "The Jacksonville Rifle" Dunning. From SS to the mound - exclusively toeing the rubber since March 2010.

by Fla-Giant on Jun 21, 2025 9:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Whitson's FB was flat nasty

He missed to the glove side a bit, but that’s plus velo and movement. Possibility to be pretty monstrous. Great build and a simple delivery.

by blackoutyears on Jun 21, 2025 11:52 PM EDT up reply actions

He was right with Covey as my favorite HS pitcher last year...

So much so that I consistently spell his name wrong, but that’s because I’m an idiot.

by SenorGato on Jun 22, 2025 1:15 AM EDT up reply actions

I was (and am) a huge Covey fan

but I ended up convinced that Whitson was a bit better. That impression hasn’t been helped by the fact that Covey and SDU had a very difficult season. I’m hoping Covey rebounds as a sophomore. Whitson, meanwhile, had as good a freshman year as could have been hoped.

by blackoutyears on Jun 22, 2025 11:03 AM EDT up reply actions

Whistons bigger and more athletic so he'd have to get the

nod.

by SenorGato on Jun 23, 2025 1:36 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Why didn't you jinx the Gators?

You owe us Commodores one.

by parish on Jun 21, 2025 4:28 PM EDT up reply actions

CWS over for me...

…living in Texas, I was hoping either my Longhorns or the Aggies would win it all but both were shown the exit door rather quickly. Longhorns just couldn’t score any runs and even their “great” pitching wasn’t all that “great”. I have a feeling the Gamecocks are going to repeat…

by rblythepittsteel on Jun 22, 2025 5:46 AM EDT reply actions