College National Team Roster Set



Following a week-long trials process, USA Baseball announced the 22 members of the 2010 college national team late Sunday night, a roster that includes UCLA righthander Gerrit Cole, Vanderbilt righty Sonny Gray and Clemson shortstop Brad Miller, all of whom are repeat members from the 2009 club. Baseball America College Player of the Year Anthony Rendon also earned a spot on the roster.

Utah coach Bill Kinneberg will coach the national team this summer, in a schedule that starts Monday in Gastonia, N.C., with a game against the Coastal Plain League's Gastonia Grizzlies, followed with a five-game series in North Carolina this week against Korea. The schedule also includes a one-game international friendly against Japan's college all-star team at Rosenblatt Stadium on July 21. The summer ends in Japan at the FISU World University Championships from July 30-Aug. 7, an event the U.S. has won in 2004, '06 and '08.

A pair of Oregon pitchers help headline the rest of the 11-member pitching staff in lefty Tyler Anderson and righty Scott McGough. Other pitchers include lefties Brett Mooneyham (Stanford) and Brian Johnson (Florida), and righthanders Matt Barnes (Connecticut), Noe Ramirez (Cal State Fullerton) and Kyle Winkler (Texas Christian).

While Johnson isn't listed as a two-way player, he both hit and pitched at Florida, and two two-way players join him on the roster in Sean Gilmartin (Florida State) and Nick Ramirez (Fullerton)—both lefties.

Shortstop Nolan Fontana (Florida) and outfielder George Springer (Connecticut) give their two schools a pair of players on the roster. Drew Maggi (Arizona State) and Ryan Wright (Louisville) round out the infield, while College World Series MOP Jackie Bradley Jr. (South Carolina), Alex Dickerson (Indiana) and Mikie Mahtook (Louisiana State) fill in the outfield. The team's catchers are UCLA's Steve Rodriguez and Bethune-Cookman's Peter O'Brien.

"This was a great week of baseball," said Kinneberg. "It was a tough decision to get the team down to 22 players, but I feel that we selected a special group of guys that will give us the best chance to win the FISU World University Baseball Championships."
 
Joining Kinneberg are pitching coach Dave Serrano (Cal State Fullerton), and assistant coaches Ed Blankmeyer (St. John's) and Nino Giarratano (San Francisco).



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This is a deep, balanced roster with parts that seem to complement each other well. The pitching staff has six righties and five lefties. It's a nice blend of big power arms (Cole, Gray, Barnes, Mooneyham, McGough, Winkler) and bulldogs with excellent feel for pitching (Anderson, Johnson, the Ramirezes, Gilmartin). And it helps that the power pitchers also have good feel for the most part, and the "pitchability" guys also have firm stuff.

Miller, Fontana and Maggi are all natural shortstops, but all are athletic enough to play all over the diamond (and Maggi has played plenty of outfield and some second base for ASU in addition to shortstop). Wright also has played shortstop for Louisville, though he wound up at second base for most of the spring, and that's where he fits best for Team USA. Rendon will be the everyday third baseman. The major question facing this team will be which of the three shortstops wins the starting role, and will one of them beat out Wright for the starting second base job? Miller is the best hitter of those three shortstops, but he’s also the least consistent defender of the three. Maggi might be the best combination of defense and offense, but I envision him playing a super-utility role. It’s certainly nice to have some versatility with the infield, but Kinneberg and his staff will have some lineup juggling to do.

Bradley, Mahtook and Springer are all elite athletes with true five-tool ability, and all three could be first-round picks next year. That's an explosive, exciting group of outfielders. Dickerson is one of the best power bats on this team, and he figures to see playing time at DH and perhaps first base.

B-CU coach Mervyl Melendez raved about O'Brien's all-around game this spring, and he made a nice impression during trials, showing both power and solid defensive skills. He has more offensive ability than Rodrigurez, a catch-and-throw specialist.

Dickerson was batting .500 (17 for 34) in the Cape Cod League this summer — he will be a huge offensive weapon for team USA.

.419/.479/.805 for IU this spring.  What a man.

Indiana has a developed a recruiting pipeline from Bloomington to San Diego. Look out for Indiana if they remain the only team in the BIG TEN to recruit Southern California.

What happened to Purke?  He was on the tryout roster originally…Cape or shut it down?

Purke shut it down for the summer after his substantial workload this spring.


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  • Aaron Fitt is the lead college writer for Baseball America. If you have questions or comments about college baseball you can e-mail him at collegeblog@baseballamerica.com.

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