Anthony Ranaudo
Rumors

Jameson Taillon, a 6'6" RHP from The Woodlands High School in Texas, figures to be a high pick in June's draft.  Most early rankings of amateur players have him either #2 behind CSN's Bryce Harper or #3 behind Harper and LSUs Anthony Ranaudo.

Historically, espn.com's Jason Churchill points out, drafting a high school pitcher with the #1 or #2 pick is rare and often does not work out.  The only high school pitchers to be selected first overall were David Clyde by the Texas Rangers in 1973 and Brien Taylor by the New York Yankees in 1991.  Clyde did make his way to the major league club, but never amounted to much while Taylor's career never made it to the big leagues because of injuries. 

Of the seven high school pitchers taken with the #2 overall pick, only two, JR Richard and Josh Beckett, have ever made an All-Star team.

Could Jameson Taillon overtake Bryce Harper as the #1 pick?

On a more practical level, espn.com's Keith Law notes that due to drafting styles, it's unlikely that Taillon will be a Top 2 pick.  The Nationals, owner of the #1 overall pick, are headed by general manager Mike Rizzo, who typically favored college players when he was in charge of the Arizona Diamondbacks' drafts.  The Pirates have the second pick and last year passed on the top high school pitcher, Tyler Matzek, when he was available to them with the #4 pick. 

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LSU ace and presumed Top 5 draft pick Anthony Ranaudo will miss his first start of the season on Friday against William and Mary with discomfort in his throwing arm.  The injuriy is classified as a stress reaction that does not include ligament damage and should not have any long-term implications for Ranaudo.

Ranaudo's coach, LSU's Paul Mainieri said in a statement that "[Ranaudo] may just miss this start, or it may be another two or three weeks.  We don’t think it’s a serious problem, but we don’t want to put Anthony on the mound until he feels 100 percent."

Anthony Ranaudo will miss his first start of the season

Austin Ross will start the game for LSU in Ranaudo's spot.

A number of prospects for the 2010 draft, a few of them possible first-round selections, have already been sidelined for varying lengths of time just one week into the start of the D1 college baseball season.  Of greatest note is possible Top 5 pick, Anthony Ranaudo, but several others have been forced to the sidelines.

• South Carolina centerfielder, sophomore Jackie Bradley Jr., will miss 4-8 weeks with a broken right hand.
• The defending Big 12 player of the year, Kansas' Tony Thompson, fractured his knee cap and will miss the first few weeks of the season.  Thompson was also named a second-team All-American.

Last year's Big 12 player of the year will start the season on the shelf with a fractured knee cap

• Auburn's Trent Mummy will miss the beginning of the season with a sprained right ankle.
• Mummy's teammate, Casey McElroy, will also miss the start of the season after breaking a finger.  
• Two Florida State players: Mike Meschke and Devon Travis will each miss for four to eight weeks each.  
• A third-team All-American, Ryan LaMarre, has broken his thumb and will miss four to five weeks.

Keith Law of espn.com recently scouted Bryce Harper from the College of Southern Nevada and provides his analysis of Harper's professional prospects.

First and foremost, Harper has two undeniable abilities: outstanding raw power and a tremendous throwing arm.  Though he's currently working out some bad habits in his swing, even just a few weeks into his season he's already made noticeable improvement which will help his contact.  Even if he's not a player who hits for average, Law points out that if Harper can hit .250 at the major league level with 30 HRs and throw out 33% of base runners, he'll be a star catcher and thus worth taking with the #1 overall pick. 

Will the Nationals surprise everyone by taking someone other than Harper with the #1 pick?

Almost everyone Law spoke with agreed with his analysis except one scout who said Harper was not in his Top 10 because of concerns about his swing.  While his defense and catching are impressive, if the Nationals do not believe Harper will hit, they shouldn't take him, Law asserts.  More than anything, it's a big risk to take on someone who's going to command far more than his normal draft slot based on his leverage and advisor (Scott Boras).

Alternative to Harper with the number pick start with RHP Jameson Taillon out of The Woodlands HS in Texas.  However, Law points out that no team has taken a high school RHP with the #1 overall pick and does not expect the Nationals to buck that trend.  Collegiate pitching options would be Anthony Ranaudo from LSU or Deck McGuire from Georgia Tech, but both project as #2 pitchers, not #1s.  The Nationals need to make a splash with the #1 pick and Harper is likely their best bet to do so.

Jason Churchill of espn.com recently took a look at the top collegiate players that could end up first-round draft picks when MLB amateur draft gets started in June. 

• Ranked #2 on Keith Law's Top 50 draft prospects, Anthony Ranaudo is an obvious choice for the first round.  His LSU teammates, Micah Gibbs and Leon Landry are less likely.
• Arkansas teammates Zack Cox and Andy Wilkins are both considered first-round possibilities, but teammates Brett Eibner struggled in 2009 and would need a good 2010 to move up draft boards.
• The SEC is loaded with the names listed above and Drew Pomeranz from Ole Miss and Justin Grimm from Georgia, both who could go in the first round.  Kentucky's James Paxton is also a first round possibility after being drafted by the Blue Jays in the first round in 2009, but choosing not to sign.  He is currently ineligible to play, but fighting the charges, based on alleged violations of his amateur status.
• From the Big 12, Brandon Workman and Sam Dyson figure to go in the first round.

Brandon Workman figures to be a first round pick come June

• Alex Wimmers from Ohio State figures to be the lone Big 10 player taken in the first round.  Same for Dixon Anderson out of the Pac-10.
• The ACC is not as loaded as the SEC, but could put four names in the first round: Deck McGuire (Georgia Tech), Jarrett Parker (Virigina), Yasmani Grandal (Miami) and Matt Harvey (UNC).
• Bryce Brentz from Middle Tennessee State and Austin Wates from Virginia Tech figure to be two outfielders who could go in the first round.
• Christian Colon (Cal State Fullerton) might not have the speed that scouts want, but he's still a consideration in the first round. 

USA Baseball released its 50-player watch list for the 2010 Golden Spikes Award given to the top amateur baseball player in the United States.  On June 1st, 2010, the watch list will be reduced to the 30 official nominations for additional consideration.  Voters will be asked to nominate five players from the list and the five finalists for the award will be announced on June 8th, 2010.  Additional voting will take place on the 8th and a winner will be announced.  Interestingly, June 8th, 2010 is also the first day of Major League Baseball's amateur draft.  The winner will not be announced until July 13th, 2010.

Six players on the 2010 watch list were semi-finalists in 2009: Bryce Brentz, Alex Wimmers, Deck McGuire, Anthony Rendon, Addison Reed and Daniel Bibona.

A semi-finalist in 2009, Alex Wimmers has made the 2010 Golden Spikes Award Watch List

Bryce Harper from the College of Southern Nevada is the only junior college player to make list.  A junior college player has won the award just once, Alex Fernandez in 1990.

LSU leads all colleges with four players nominated (Blake Dean, Micah Gibbs, Leon Landry and Anthony Ranaudo) while Texas has three (Chad Bettis, Taylor Jungmann and Brandon Workman), and Alabama, Arkansas, Cal State Fullerton, Coastal Carolina, Florida State, Georgia Tech, University of Miami, Rice and Virginia have two apiece.

Division 1 NCAA baseball got underway this past weekend with a number of top prospects getting their seasons started.  Here's a quick look at some of the highlights. 

Pitchers

• Anthony Ranaudo from LSU had a strong outing going 5IP, 6K, 0ER along with just three baserunners.  His fastball was clocked at 93-89mph.
• From Ohio State, Alex Wimmers, gave up just one hit and one walk over six innings and struck out nine in his debut.  According to Jason Churchill at espn.com, A former AL West scout now working for an agent said "he'd have to fall apart not be a first-round arm, but for me he could be anywhere from 10 to 30."
• Deck McGuire out performed both Ranaudo and Wimmers, with a 7IP, 5H, 0BB 0ER, 10K performance.  Though he gave up more baserunners than Ranaudo and Wimmers, the control he demonstrated with no walks was impressive.
• Ole Miss's Drew Pomeranz struggled a bit, yielding two earned runs on four hits and two walks in four innings pitched.  He did manage seven strikeouts.
• Chad Bettis from Texas Tech also had a nice line, going 7IP, 6H and induced 14 groundball outs.

Deck McGuire was very impressive in his 2010 debut

Hitters

• Austin Wates squared off against a possible high 2011 pick, Alex Meyer, and had a very nice 2-for-3 line with 2BB and a triple.  One large negative, however, was that Virginia Tech played Wates at first base rather than in the outfield.  Wates draft status depends upon his ability to be an outfielder, not a corner infielder.
• Though he's been crowned the top pick of the 2010 draft multiple times, scouts are still watching Bryce Harper closely to see how he handles improved competition.  Unlike Stephen Strasburg last year who had three years against the top competition in the country, Harper is largely untested.  He struggled against one hard throwing lefty, but had some better swings against other high velocity fastballs later in the weekend.
• LeVon Washington showed improvement at he plate, but struggled in centerfield.  If he can't play the outfield, his draft stock will suffer.
• Zack Cox, Bryce Brentz, Yasmani Grandal and Christian Colon all had solid performances in their debuts.

Austin Wates had a nice debut to start the season

Keith Law of espn.com released his preliminary list of the Top 50 draft prospects for MLB's 2010 amateur draft in June.  Law pointed out that the ranking is extremely preliminary with so many schools having not even started play yet, or only just begun.  A number of players on this list haven't even played a game yet. 

Of note is Law's assertion that the talent in 2010, even with Bryce Harper, is well below the 2009 and 2008 drafts which included stars like Stephen Strasburg and Pedro Alvarez. Specifically, college position players and high school shortstops and catchers seem to be particularly thin in 2010.

Perhaps most telling is that word is only Harper and Anthony Ranaudo will be able to command signing bonuses above their typical draft slot based on their ability.  It should make for an interesting draft in terms of the worst teams being able to draft the top talent as players hopefully do not slide because of salary demands.

The list was split evenly between pitchers and position players at 25 a piece.  Besides Harper and Ranaudo, Jameson Taillon (3) is the highest ranked pitcher while Austin Wilson (5) is the highest ranked position player at. 

Law has 27 high school players on the list vs. 23 collegiate players.  Taillon is the highest ranked high school pitcher followed by AJ Cole (6), while Wilson and then Josh Sale (9) are the highest ranked high school position players

AJ Cole found himself #6 in Keith Law's preliminary rankings

After Harper and Ranaudo, Deck McGuire (4) is the highest ranked college pitcher while outfielder Bryce Brentz comes in at #7

Other players of note include Alex Wimmers  (8), Brandon Workman (16), Jake Hernandez (26), Vincent Velasquez (31) and Jarrett Parker rounding out the top 50.

Baseball America announced its pre-season collegiate All-America teams last week.  Below is a look at the first team.  We'll look at the second team later in the week.

C: Micah Gibbs, LSU - A switch-hitter who possesses power from both sides of the plate
1B: Hunter Morris, Auburn - Lefty bat with raw plus-power potential
2B: Ross Wilson, Alabama - A middle infielder that hits with power.  Draws comparisons to Dan Uggla
3B: Anthony Rendon, Rice - Obviously Anthony is one of the top players in college baseball. An outstanding defensive and offensive player
SS: Christian Colon, Cal State Fullerton - A very sure-handed and reliable middle infielder
OF: Bryce Brentz, Middle Tennessee State - Utilizes quick wrists and a short path to the ball to produce above-average power to all fields
OF: Todd Cunningham, Jacksonville State - Hit .339 with 10 homers and 47 RBIin 2009
OF: Jarrett Parker, Virginia Tech - An athletic kid with a strong, fundamentally sound swing
DH: Zack Cox, Arkansas - Combines his power potential with solid hitting ability and talent with the glove at third base
UT: Brett Eibner, Arkansas - A two-way player, Eibner will see time in center field and on the mound in 2010

Christian Colon                                          Jarrett Parker

SP: Deck McGuire, Georgia Tech - In just his first year as a weekend starter, he went 11-2 with a 3.50 ERA in 16 starts, striking out 118 while walking 41 in 100.1 innings
SP: Drew Pomeranz, Mississippi - Pomeranz is a big-bodied lefty with solid stuff across the board and two legitimate swing-and-miss pitches
SP: Anthony Ranaudo, LSU - Hard-throwing right-hander with mid-90s fastball who is considered one of the best pitching prospects in the country
SP: Chris Sale, Florida Gulf Coast - Sale's strength is throwing strikes with a 89-93 mph fastball, a good low-80s changeup and an above average slider
RP: Kevin Jacob, Georgia Tech - Has three pitches he throws for strikes, including a very good fastball

Jonathan Mayo mlb.com gives his Top 10 2010 MLB Draft prospects heading into the start of the baseball season.  Of most significant note is that Mayo does not have Bryce Harper as the #1 player available.

1. Anthony Ranaudo, LSU, RHP
2. Drew Pomeranz, Ole Miss, LHP
3. Jameson Taillon, The Woodlands High School, RHP
4. Bryce Harper, College of Southern Nevada, C
5. Dylan Covey, Marantha High School, RHP
6. Chris Sale, Florida Gulf Coast University, LHP
7. Jesse Hahn, Virginia Tech, RHP
8. Zack Cox, Arkansas, 3B
9. Manny Machado, Miami Brito High School, SS
10. Kaleb Cowart, Cook County High School, 3B

Anthony Ranaudo supplants Bryce Harper as the #1 available player according to Jonathan Mayo