Kyle Blair
Rumors

Unfortunately for teams, scouts, players and fans of baseball's amateur draft, the College World Series does not conclude until after June 7th draft.  However, we will be treated to a number of fun match ups this weekend in the College World Series Regionals.  Here's a look at some fun match-ups and top players to watch, broken down by region.

Tempe Region

If the higher teams advance, #1 Arizona State will face #2 San Diego.  That means Arizona State will face either Sammy Solis or Kyle Blair from San Diego.  Seth Blair will throw for Arizona State, but likely in their opening game against Milwaukee

Fayetteville Region

Top seeded Arkansas sports a likely Top 10 pick, Zack Cox, a likely first day pick, Brett Eibner, and a likely second round pick, Andy Wilkins.  Those three will dominate the conversation in this region

Auburn Region

Jimmy Nelson from Auburn faces off against Todd Cunningham from Jacksonville State in the opening round game.  Both could be Day 2 picks.  Other Day 2 picks include Auburn second baseman Brian Fletcher and first baseman Hunter Morris.

Atlanta Region

Possible Top 5 pick Deck McGuire and possible Day 1 pick Derek Dietrich will pace the Georgia Tech yellow jackets while Josh Rutledge hopes to keep Alabama's title hopes alive.

Charlottesville Region

Virginia is one of the best teams in the country and is headed by draft prospect Jarrett Parker.  Mississippi has possibly the top college pitcher in the country in Drew Pomeranz, someone expected to go in the Top 5.  St. John's sports a possible Day 2 pick, Daniel Burawa.

Norman Region

UNC's Matt Harvey seems likely to go in the first round while California's Dixon Anderson figures to be in the mix on Day 2.

Columbia Region

Pitching prospect Sam Dyson leads the top seeded South Carolina Gamecocks.  Likely first round picks Austin Wates and Asher Wojciechowksi lead Virginia Tech and The Citadel, respectively.

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More updates from prospect play during conference tournaments courtesy Jason Churchill of espn.com.

• A potential first day pick, UCLA's Dan Klein threw a scoreless ninth with a walk and two strikeouts.  Klein's K/BB ratio is now 48/8 and his ERA is 2.18 in 32 games.
• Virginia Tech's Austin Wates went 3-for-4 in a 9-8 win over Clemson in the ACC Tournament, improving to .376/.486/.600 for the year.
• San Diego's Kyle Blair went 8IP giving up just one run on seven hits and no walks while striking out 13.  Blair's K/BB ratio is now an impressive 118-28 in 90 1/3 innings.

• Blair's teammate, Matt Thompson, closed out the win and ran his K/BB ratio to 55/11.  Churchill feels he could be a Day 2 pick.
• Michael Kvasnicka had a single and two walks for Minnesota in an extra inning win over Michigan.  Ryan LaMarre had two singles and a double in the loss.  Both players are considered possibilities for the first day.
• Do-it-all specialist Kolbrin Vitek of Ball State threw five innings of relief along with going 1-for-5 from the plate.  Although Vitek pitches and plays second base for Ball State, his professional position seems to be centerfield.

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California is always known as a state/area rich in athletic talent.  From football to basketball to baseball, the number of quality amateur and pro athletes to come out of California is staggering.

As Michael Huang of The Sporting News writes, for the 2010 draft, the trend remains the same for college pitching.

Dixon Anderson, Cal, RHP

At 6-5 and 225 pounds, Anderson is an imposing specimen on the mound. His fastball's fringy average sitting anywhere between 89-93, with some good sinking action. He can get a good change of planes with an improving slider with good bite and velo around 78-92. He's not a big strikeout guy,  but he can, when he doesn't elevate his change-up and changes levels effectively with his slider, he can induce a fair number of ground balls.

Kyle Blair, San Diego, RHP

He recently came within one out of throwing a no hitter and had to settle for a 15K, CG shutout, one strikeout shy of the school record. "It helps to have everything working, my off-speed stuff was working, my fastball was unbelievable today, and everything just seemed to be clicking," Blair said to the team website.

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Although the much anticipated match up of Ole Miss's Drew Pomeranz against LSU's Anthony Ranaudo was delayed a day because of rain, a number of other top college prospects were in action Friday night.  Jason Churchill of espn.com provided his notes from the action.

• Virginia Tech's Austin Wates hit a home run off of fellow top prospect Deck McGuire from Georgia Tech, but otherwise McGuire pitched very well.  The right handed pitcher went seven innings, giving up just one run on four hits and a walk while striking out eight.  The Yellow Jackets lost, however, in extra innings, 3-1.
• Georgia Tech shortstop Derek Dietrich struggled for Georgia Tech, going 0-for-4.
• Arkansas's draft prospect trio of Zack Cox, Brett Eibner and Andy Wilkins combined to go 3-for-13 with Cox doing most of the heavy lifting, going 2-for-5.

• Drew Smyly from Arkansas put his name on the map with a solid outing: 7IP, 8H, 1BB, 3ER, 10K.  According to Churchill "Smyly lacks front-line stuff but flashes an above-average fastball in the low 90s and uses a lot of cutter-style sliders and a changeup to keep hitters off balance."
• Phil Wonderlich from Louisville continued his solid season at the plate with two more doubles.  He's now hitting 362/439/716 with twelve home runs.
• Texas A&M's Barrett Loux continues to pitch well giving up just four hits and a walk in seven innings against Oklahoma.

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As the 2010 baseball season continues to move towards June's draft, the draft stock of the numerous amateur prospects will constantly rise and fall with their play. 

This week, Keith Law from espn.com takes a look at who is rising up draft board and who is falling

Rising

Matt Harvey, UNC, RHP: The North Carolina product has improved his deliver which has resulted in high velocity in his fastball, up to 97 so far this season.  Although he continues to struggle with his command, he continues to induce almost 80% of balls put in play on the ground.  He seems likely to be a first round draft pick.

Stetson Allie, St. Edwards HS, RHP: Although some still contend that Allie's future is as a positional player, he's touched triple digits on the radar as a pitcher and that will be hard to pass up.  Even if his velocity dips to 92-95 with improved command, he'll be in the discussion as one of the top prep pitchers taken in the draft.

Perci Garner, Ball State, RHP: A former quarterback for Ball State, Garner switched to baseball full-time in 2009 and the results have been promising.  Though he is still very rough around the edges as a pitcher, he's already throwing 91-94 and has the strong, athletic build that one would expect from a former football player.

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ESPN.com's Keith Law took in a double header between San Diego and San Diego State and filed a report about the draft prospects who played.

• Though teammate Kyle Blair has received far more attention since coming out of high school, Sammy Solis was the better pitcher of the two in San Diego's double header against San Diego State.  After missing the 2009 season with a herniated disc in his back, he appears to be suffering no linger affects and threw at 100%.  Though his fastball was only 91-88 mph, Law liked his off-speed pitches, a change up (mid-70s) and a slurve (anywhere from 72-78 with different action depending upon the speed.
• Blair struggled with his command, was not aggressive and did not have very good stuff.  Law was particularly concerned with Blair's unwillingness to attack the inner half of the plate, an indication that he's not confident in his own ability to pitch

Blair struggled again against San Diego State

• Casey Schmidt, a fourth-year junior due to an injury in 2008 and transferring in 2009, showed a nice fastball with a good change up and an mediocre curveball.  Schmidt figures to be a Day 2 (rounds 4 and up) draft pick this year.
• Law was not particularly impressed with former major leaguer Greg Vaughn's son, San Diego State's Cory Vaughn, but figures he'll be drafted higher than he should be because of his family pedigree.  Cory has too much of his weight on his front foot and has horrible plate discipline.
• Although he's not available until 2011, Brandon Meredith, figures to be a better offensive prospect than Vaughn.  He has a shorter swing and keeps his weight on his back leg.

Jason Churchill of espn.com continues his review of the opening weekend of D1 college baseball play.  For more on opening weekend, click here.

• After struggling in 2009 and falling to the 10th round, Sam Dyson from South Carolina started out 2010 on a high note striking out six in 3.2IP with just one walk and no hits.  Most importantly was that it only took Dyson 48 pitches to get the eleven outs.  Dyson struggled with high pitch counts in 2009.
• Leon Landry will need a big spring to get into the first round, but had a good start going 1-for-3 with a double in LSU's opening win.
• Cal State Fullerton's Christian Colon went 0-for-4, struggling against Pepperdine's Matt Bywater who threw a complete game shutout with 10 Ks, two walks and four hits.  Churchill feels that Bywater's questionable velocity does not make him a first-day draft consideration.

Christian Colon struggled in his season debut

• In his first two games Tyler Holt from Florida State reached base five times and is solidifying himself as a viable leadoff-type hitter.  He is very fast and had a great BB-K ratio in 2009: 54-47.
• Bryce Brentz from Middle Tennessee State was 2-for-5 in his debut. 
• Another top collegiate bat, Zack Cox, went 1-for-5 for Arkansas against Ball State.  Kolbrin Vitek an intriguing prospect from Ball State had three singles and a triple against Arkansas.
• Miami's Yasmani Grandal was 1-for-3 with 2BB against Rutgers, but his teammates Chris Hernandez and David Gutierrez really impressed.  Hernandez struck out five batters in four innings while Gutierrez struck out the side in the ninth.

Yasmani Grandal's teammates overshadowed his opening performance

• Kyle Blair struggled in his debut, inconveniently in front of espn.com's Keith Law.  Despite eight strikeouts, Blair walked four in four innings against a moderate Indiana lineup.
• Similar to Blair, Brandon Workman of Texas also struggled, but didn't get much help from his defense.  Workman allowed nine hits and three earned runs in six innings, but did have seven strikeouts.

Baseball America announced its pre-season collegiate All-America teams last week.  Below is a look at the third team.  We did a review of the first team on Tuesday and the second team yesterday.

C: Cameron Rupp, Texas
1B: Cody Hawn, Tennessee
2B: Chris Bisson, Kentucky
3B: Rob Segedin, Tulane
SS: BA Vollmuth, Southern Mississippi
OF: Ryan LaMarre, Michigan
OF: Leon Landry, LSU
OF: Austin Wates, Virginia Tech
DH: Jedd Gyorko, West Virginia
UT: Mike McGee, Florida State

            Leon Landry                               Jesse Hahn

SP: Jack Armstrong, Vanderbilt
SP: Kyle Blair, San Diego
SP: Jesse Hahn, Virginia Tech
SP: Brandon Workman, Texas
RP: Addison Reed, San Diego State

The 2010 MLB Draft class might not have the star power at the top that the 2009 MLB Draft class did (Stephen Strasburg, Dustin Ackley) or be as loaded as the 2011 draft class (Sonny Gray, Alex Meyer, Anthony Rendon, Gerrit Cole and Danny Hultzen) but there's plenty of talent to track.

College Bats

• Bryce Brentz, OF, Middle Tennessee State
• Christian Colon, SS, Cal-State Fullerton
• Derek Dietrich, SS/3B, Georgia Tech
• Yasmani Grandal, C, Miami
• Josh Rutledge, SS, Albama
• Ross Wilson, 3B, Albama
• Blake Forsythe, C, Tennessee
• Leon Landry, OF, LSU
• Andy Wilkins, 1B, Arkansas
• Micah Gibbs, C, LSU

College Arms

• Anthony Ranaudo, RHP, LSU
• Justin Grimm, RHP, Georgia
• Drew Pomeranz, LHP, Mississippi
• Nick Tepesch, RHP, Missouri
• Matt Harvey, RHP, UNC
• Kevin Rhoderick, RHP, Oregon State
• Josh Osich, LHP, Oregon State
• Kyle Blair, RHP, San Diego
• Chris Hernandez, LHP, Miami
• Brandon Workman, RHP, Texas
• Chad Bettis, RHP, Texas
• Alex Wimmers, RHP, Ohio State

High School Bats

• Trey Griffin, OF, Martin Luther King HS, GA
• Austin Wilson, Harvard-Westlake School, CA
• Kris Bryant, SS/3B, Bonanza HS, NV
• Krey Bratsen, OF, Bryan HS, TX
• Nick Castellanos, 3B, Archbishop McCarthy HS, FL
• Yordy Cabrera, SS/RHP, Lakeland HS, FL
• Reggie Golden, Wetumpka HS, AL
• Taylor Lindsey, OF, Desert Mountain HS, AZ
• Marcus Littlewood, SS, Pineview HS, UT

High School Arms

• AJ Cole, RHP, Oveida HS, FL
• Jameson Taillon, RHP, The Woodlands HS, TX
• Stetson Allie, RHP/SS, St. Edward HS, OH
• Zach Lee, RHP, McKinney HS, TX
• Justin O'Connor, RHP/SS, Cowan HS, IN
• Kevin Gausman, RHP, Grandview HS, CO
• Rudy Acosta, RHP, Mt. Miguel HS, CA
• Cam Bedrosian, RHP, East Coweta HS, GA