2012 College Baseball Prospect Notes: 2-27-12

This weekend a few things happened that could change the draft a lot. It is very early on but a huge blow was delivered to a player that could have been a top 10 pick. Victor Roache dove for a ball in the game Saturday night and broke his wrist. It looks like he'll miss quite a bit of time if not the entire season. I wish him a speedy recovery and maybe he can follow in the footsteps of Jackie Bradley last year and make it back toward the end of the year and still get drafted high enough to be worth signing and going pro.

Mark Appel looked better this week striking out 10 in 7 innings and only allowing 3 hits and 3 walks. This was against a weak hitting Texas squad. I hope he can replicate this going forward.

Kevin Gausman struck out 7, walked none and allowed 4 hits to Appalachian State.

Georgia Tech Ace Buck Farmer K'd 13 Ohio State hitters in just 6 innings.

Andrew Heaney at Oklahoma State had 12 k's and 2 walks in 7 1/3 IP. Kurt Heyer, Branden Kline, Brady Rogers and Michael Wacha had good outings as well. These guys aren't in the top tier of college pitching but all should be top 3 round draft picks and could move into the 1^st with good seasons.

Marcus Stroman at Duke had a very good start against Canisius after a rough outing to open the season. Kyle Zimmer looked great against Missouri as well. These two could be top 10 picks with their upper 90's velocity. Zimmer could even move into #1 overall talks. Stroman is looked at as a future closer, so I don't think he will have much chance of breaking into the top 3 but could be a top 10 pick.

Brett Mooneyham at Stanford looked good against Texas as well. He K'd 7 and walked 3 in 8 innings. I really hope he keeps moving in the right direction. Big potential there. Matt Price at South Carolina threw 81 pitches in 5 Innings, struck out 8, walked 1 and gave up 1 hit. He is on his way to stretching out that arm.

At Vanderbilt, Sam Selman had a rough 3 2/3 Innings. He gave up 1 hit, 4 BB's and 3 K's with 68 IP against Oregon.

One last name to watch on the mound is Austin Maddox. He has looked great out of relief in 3 games. He has pitched 8 2/3 innings, allowed 4 hits, no walks and 9 strike outs. He has a mid 90's fastball and a nasty slider. He is looking like his future is on the mound and not at the plate.

At the plate, offense seems to have picked up a lot this season. I'm trying to keep this to 2012 draft guys but sophomore and 2013 draft pick Josh Dezse at Ohio State crushed 3 homers in one game. He can pitch in the upper 90's as well. It's a good name to know for next season. He is probably a top half of the first round type of pick.

Preston Tucker is raking right now. He just set the record for most RBI in Florida Gators history, surpassing Brad Wilkerson.

James Ramsey for Florida State keeps hitting following a very good summer. The other usual suspects showed up this weekend. Richie Shaffer at Clemson homered as well as Nolan Fontana at Florida, although he isn't much of a power guy. Mike Zunino is fighting a groin pull but it should be fine by next weekend. Peter O' Brien at Miami is crushing the ball right now as well. I don't have stat compilations for the weekend but O'Brien is hitting .519 with 4 homers at this point.

Next week, I'll start the stock up and stock down most likely. This week though, stock is up on Zimmer and down on Roache for sure.