Wrapping up the first weekend of college baseball, we take a look at Sunday’s action, plus some videos of note. If you missed Saturday’s recap, you can find that here. The draft begins on June 8th and the Pittsburgh Pirates have the 19th and 32nd overall picks.
TCU left-hander Alex Young made his first start on Sunday against Southern Illinois. He threw six shutout innings, allowing three hits and a walk. He threw 75 pitches and struck out four batters. You can read more about Young in our college pitcher preview, which includes a video.
Florida shortstop Richie Martin went 1-for-4 with a solo homer on Sunday against Rhode Island. He hit just one homer in his first two seasons. The Pirates likely saw a lot of Martin, who is known more for his defense, when they scouted his teammate Taylor Gushue last year before taking him in the fourth round.
Florida State’s DJ Stewart went 2-for-3 with two walks on Sunday. He reached base five times in his debut on Friday. Stewart also picked up his second stolen base on Sunday, though he rates as a below average runner.
Cincinnati outfielder Ian Happ homered twice in the first three games of the season. On Sunday, he went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. For those that follow college baseball standings, Mississippi State looked great against Cincinnati this weekend, beating them three times by a combined 41-13 score.
LSU shortstop Alex Bregman went 0-for-4 with an RBI on a sacrifice fly. He went 2-for-12 with two singles and no walks in the first weekend. LSU next plays on Wednesday.
In 2013, the Pirates drafted Carson Cross from UConn in the 24th round. They were unable to sign him and he returned to college for his senior season. Before he could pitch a game, Cross needed shoulder surgery that cost him the entire year. He returned as a redshirt senior this year and made his first start on Friday against Florida Atlantic. Cross threw five innings, allowing three runs(two earned) on eight hits and one walk, while striking out nine batters.
MaxPreps recently gave their list of the top ten high school prospects in this draft. All of the players were covered in our draft previews.
Here is a great video from Perfect Game, from the PG All-American Classic. It’s Justin Hooper pitching to Daz Cameron and Brendan Rodgers. All three will be first round draft picks this year. Hooper was covered in our prep pitcher preview, while Cameron and Rodgers led off the prep hitters preview.
On Friday night, Josh Staumont made headlines by hitting 100 MPH in his start against Cal Poly Pomona. His mound opponent was Cody Ponce, who will likely go in the first round, but Staumont has a chance to get himself in the same range if he can display some better control. He doesn’t have the cleanest delivery out there, but he is effective when he is on, so it should be interesting to see how high he can go in the draft. Here’s a video from that start courtesy of Prospect Pipeline:
