2012 College Baseball Prospect Notes: 3-5-12
by Matt Garrioch on Mar 5, 2026 2:00 PM EST
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PrintIt wasn't an overly eventful weekend but I have a few notes. Later this week, I will try to get more player write ups done. A lot of the same names are being talked about here. I would like to talk about some others that you should know as well.
Mark Appel for Stanford got hit hard by Fresno State giving up 8 hits and 7 ER in 8 innings. He walked 3 and K'd 11. Kevin Gausman at LSU gave up 10 hits in 6 1/3 IP and K'd 6 but did not allow a walk. Not a great weekend for these 3. On the other hand Duke ace Marcus Stroman K'd 17 in 7 innings and only gave up 2 hits.
Brett Mooneyham at Stanford continued to look good throwing 2 hit ball over 7 innings and notching 13 K's and walking only 2.
Kyle Zimmer at San Francisco pitched 6 solid innings allowing only one run on five hits and walking none. He struck out 7 as well.
Michael Wacha at Texas A&M continues to pitch well. He pitched 7 innings with 7 K's, walked 1 and allowed 8 hits but only threw 92 pitches.
Austin Maddox has been dominant coming out of the Florida pen. He pitched 3 1/3 innings allowed 2 hits and K'd 7. He looks like he could be a future closer with his mid 90's velocity and nasty slider.
While Kurt Heyer at Arizona doesn't have the highest ceiling, he pitched 9 excellent innings allowing 6 hits and striking out 14 without allowing a walk.
Damien Magnifico at Oklahoma is a name to watch for all the velocity fans as he hit 100 again this weekend. The amazing thing is that it was in the 40's during the game. He could add a couple ticks as it warms up.
Matt Reynolds at Arkansas is swinging a hot bat right now. He isn't a big power hitter but a line drive guy with good contact ability.
Watching Florida is like watching a pro team. Mike Zunino is such a great hitter. He hit a homer and two doubles again on friday night. Nolan Fontana is a professional hitter. He works counts, gets on base, uses his speed well. So much fun to watch. Preston Tucker is right there as well. Works the count and hits the ball hard all the time. He is so much more consistent now than he was two years ago as a sophomore. It's really fun to watch them.
Tom Murphy at Buffalo is another catcher that is getting scouts attention. He is a good defender and he is hitting .370 this season with a homer. He isn't a big power guy, but he could go high this year because of the lack of depth in the college ranks.
Tyler Naquin at Texas A&M just keeps hitting and is still above .500 for the season. He is also an excellent defender in the outfield and has a rocket arm
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So do the early results on the season change your view of any of the guys listed above? Tucker moving up? Zimmer and Wacha too? Appell really falling off the 1 or 2 overall spot, or just a flare up? Doing a dynamic big board would be cool week to week.
Thanks!
by Mike Kaluk on Mar 5, 2026 2:51 PM EST reply actions
I don't move guys around
too readily unless I don’t have a good handle on them. Wacha is one and Zimmer is another. I was too low on both. In general, I see more of the H.S. guys the summer before and project them out. Unless they really turn it on in the spring, they don’t move a huge amount. College guys usually are more fluid for me in spring because that is when I see them the most.
Appel isn’t falling much. This is what he was last year and there aren’t too many guys going to overtake him just because his stuff is there. He just isn’t dominating.
by Matt Garrioch on Mar 5, 2026 4:30 PM EST up reply actions
Zimmer
I read that he might be a candidate to go first overall.
Basic scouting report on him? Is he really sitting in the mid-90s with a knockout curve? 12-6 break?
by SenorGato on Mar 5, 2026 3:18 PM EST via mobile reply actions
6'3", 185 lean frame.
Very athletic. Both parents were good athletes.
When I saw him early last year, he was horrible. Poor mechanics, didn’t look good at all. Looked like a high school kid just learning to pitch, honestly. Later in the year and into the Cape season, he worked on his mechanical issues and he seems to have ironed them out. He has went from 89-91 to 94-99. His breaking ball has plus-plus potential. It is a sharp downer.
He has a lot of potential since he doesn’t have a lot of mileage on his arm. He is an outside 1-1 candidate if he continues to show his improvement and if he can build up stamina and work late into games with his stuff.
by Matt Garrioch on Mar 5, 2026 4:28 PM EST up reply actions
My weekend 3 notes:
by Jeff Reese on Mar 5, 2026 3:46 PM EST reply actions
Thanks Matt
Hope you don’t mind me promoting a bit in the comment section.
by Jeff Reese on Mar 5, 2026 5:27 PM EST up reply actions
Seems like the two posts are (and aim to be) very complementary of each other.
My son, Adalberto Mejia. He's got the goods - he just needs a cool nickname.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
by Fla-Giant on Mar 5, 2026 5:47 PM EST up reply actions
Nice to see a write-up on Barnes
I could see him go in the supplemental. Love the swing.
by cookiedabookie on Mar 6, 2026 9:15 AM EST up reply actions
Good stuff, Matt
I agree with your comment on Florida’s professionalism. South Carolina also fits the same bill. The 3 game series between those 2 teams this year should be titanic.
One thing that I think you should reconsider is your view of Austin Maddox as only a future reliever. He’s pitched 4 innings and 3.1 innings in relief in 2 separate appearnces during their first 3 weekends. He’s got the stamina and strength to be a starter, and now that he’s developed a consistent and well above-average slider (using a new grip this year) I can see him beginning to establsih a repertoire that could allow him to thrive as a starter in the pros. I also wouldn’t be surprised if he gets some Saturday or Sunday starts as the season progresses if Whitson’s health remains iffy and/or Brian Johnson continues to struggle as a starter. If Maddox continues to pitch like this for the rest of this season and gets a few starts then I could see him sneaking into the later part of the first round come June.
My son, Adalberto Mejia. He's got the goods - he just needs a cool nickname.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
by Fla-Giant on Mar 5, 2026 4:30 PM EST reply actions
He looked like a pure reliever last year
But his secondaries have supposedly taken huge strides. I don’t think he’s ever going to crack that rotation (Crawford and Magliozzi seem to be next in line), but I’m anxious to see what Maddox looks like this year.
The Arkansas/Florida series will be fantastic too.
by Jeff Reese on Mar 5, 2026 5:33 PM EST up reply actions
Agreed. Maddox as a pitcher looked like more of a function of not having a good closer candidate than it did a funciton of Maddox’s potential pro career (similar to what Buster Posey and Mike McGee did for FSU, and what Lorenzen is doing for Fullerton this year). Seeing him pitch this year, though, makes me believe that he has great potential as a pro pitcher. All of his pitches have been tightened up and his stamina is obviously there. The main question now is if he can carry it through the entire season.
Yeah, the ARK vs. FL series last year was epic, too.
My son, Adalberto Mejia. He's got the goods - he just needs a cool nickname.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
by Fla-Giant on Mar 5, 2026 5:42 PM EST up reply actions
If I were a team
I’d look at making him a relief ace. He can comes in after the starter loses it and needs to shut down a team for 2-3 innings depending on the situation. He could be that guy and I think that is a valuable tool that teams are overlooking right now.
by Matt Garrioch on Mar 6, 2026 9:15 AM EST up reply actions
Even if that was your master plan, wouldn’t you still want to pitch him as a starter for at least his first 2 pro seasons? Stretch him out and force him to rely more on his secondary pitches.
My son, Adalberto Mejia. He's got the goods - he just needs a cool nickname.
"There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer." - Honus Wagner
by Fla-Giant on Mar 6, 2026 11:49 PM EST up reply actions
I used to like Buxton to the Mariners
But I am really starting to lean to Zunino now if he is available.
by tarheels24 on Mar 5, 2026 7:43 PM EST reply actions
ASU notes
I know I questioned whether Joey DeMichele was the real deal or not after last season in which he came out of no where to almost win the pac10 triple crown, but the guy has been a monster at the plate thus far. 6 doubles, 2 triples, 2 bombs in only ten games. he has also shown that he probably will be able to handle 2B in the pros with some more work. I now see him being similar to ASU product Eric Sogard except with more dynamite in the stick and less defensive ability. I could see him being an offensive minded 2B who has moderate power, hits for a decent ave, and has good plate discipline. Think along the lines of 280/340/430 with 15-20 homers and 50+ walks.
Deven Marrero has looked more comfortable with the new bats this year and just hit his 1st HR of the season. He has also just struck out once in our 10 games. On the bad side he still hasn’t shown much discipline and has made some careless errors. My opinion of him hasn’t changed: I see him being a solid regular at SS instead of a difference maker, batting in the lower 3rd of the order and being a SS that can make the highlight play but miscues on the occasional routine.
Brady Rogers, as I said before, is basically a slightly lesser version of Mike Leake and will be a guy that fills a #3 or #4 spot in someone’s rotation for a long time. Doesn’t throw a real out pitch but has excellent command of his FB, SL, CT and CH. He’a now 3-0, hasn’t let up a run all year and has 2 walks in 24 innings. Not the stuff of a front end guy but with a low 1st round or a supp pick I wouldn’t hesitate on him.
The Jake Barrett experiment as a starter is already over as he is our closer again. He hasn’t pitched much yet either (3 of our 10 games) leading me to believe they may be something wrong
by ScottAZ on Mar 5, 2026 9:20 PM EST reply actions
Good stuff
Haven’t watched ASU yet this year, but those observations jibe with how I view each of them (Marrero/Rogers/Barrett at least, haven’t got a handle on DeMichele yet).
by Jeff Reese on Mar 5, 2026 9:58 PM EST up reply actions
just curious about the story on a couple local guys
martin agosta and patrick wisdom. what’s the report on them?
Snoochies
by guessatomo on Mar 6, 2026 3:14 AM EST reply actions
I haven't seen
either play. I have heard good things though.
by Matt Garrioch on Mar 6, 2026 9:16 AM EST up reply actions
same here
i’ve heard wisdom has a better shot at staying at third (i honestly can’t remember where) and from a short video i watched of agosta, mechanics seem clean enough, just dunno how hard he throws or anything
Snoochies
by guessatomo on Mar 6, 2026 9:57 AM EST up reply actions
Is that "Abe" Stroman?
Sausage King of Durham?
"Hosmer right in between Carter and Alvarez…. what is this list based on? height?" -- okteds, visionary (1/28/10)
by criminal type on Mar 6, 2026 9:38 AM EST reply actions
I'd draft anybody called Damien Magnifico in a heartbeat.
There are no apostrophes in plurals.
A lot is two words. Allot can be one word but it has another meaning.
The only time you really want to use "myself" is when you are the recipient of your own action. Usually you're better off using "me."
Your is not the correct contraction of you are. The word you're looking for is you're.
It's anyway, not anyways.
But if you only remember one thing...
There are no apostrophes in plurals.
by Since1993 on Mar 6, 2026 11:09 AM EST reply actions
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