The last time Villanova produced single-digit draft picks in back-to-back years was 1971-1972. But, after outfielder Matt Szczur went in the fifth round to the Cubs last year, the Wildcats could do it again this year thanks to righthander Kyle McMyne.

On Feb. 25, McMyne toed the rubber against Duke with 12 scouts in attendance, including at least one crosschecker.

McMyne, who opened the season with a win against Norfolk State, came out firing against Duke, setting the Blue Devils down in order.

The second inning was another story, however. McMyne gave up three hits, walked two guys and hit another, giving up six runs in the inning.

"I got behind in the count on the guy, threw a couple balls and walked a guy and it basically just unravelled from there," McMyne said. "You can't get behind batters and put them on base. We go over that in our meetings about walking or hitting guys. They stood right on the plate. When I hit that little lefty kid, he was right on the plate, you know? It could have went either way—it could have been a strike. I felt like they were just doing the right thing and they were just on the plate, squeezing the zone a little bit and I kind of got out of my game for a little bit with a couple walks and they got a couple timely hits."
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Here are the weekend stats for the nation's top draft-eligible college players, listed alphabetically by school. The stats were collected by CollegeSplits.com. CollegeSplits will begin collecting season totals for players on March 7. Follow CollegeSplits on Twitter @collegesplits.

Welcome to my first mailbag here at Baseball America. I decided to start a draft mailbag this year and I'll try not to step on the toes of Aaron Fitt's great College Mailbag or Jim Callis' weekly Ask BA. To submit questions for future installments, you can e-mail me at conorglassey@baseballamerica.com or hit me up on Twitter @conorglassey.

We have a lot of fun year-round here at Baseball America, but it's an especially exciting time of year with college baseball just getting underway, yesterday's release of our Top 100 Prospects and the beginning of spring training.

It's even better when you combine those things, and, for some reason, I've always loved when major league teams play college teams in spring training exhibitions. Florida State played the Phillies today. Tomorrow, the Pirates take on the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, and the Tigers go up against Florida Southern. On Saturday, the Red Sox split up their squad and half of them will take on Boston College, while the other half goes up against Northeastern.

In the same vein, the Canadian Junior National Team often goes to spring training in April and scrimmages against professional players. This year, the team will be in Florida from April 20-30 and will play eight games against pro clubs.

I will have a Draft Blog post up tomorrow spotlighting some of the Canadian Junior National Team's best players.

Let's get to the questions. . .
 

As the top-rated high school position player heading toward this year's draft, how does Bubba Starling rank and compare amongst these other toolsy prep outfielders from the past few drafts: Mike Trout, Donavan Tate and Aaron Hicks?

Joe LeCates

Easton, Md.

Great question, Joe. It's interesting that, of those three, Tate was the biggest deal in high school and he's had the toughest time as a pro so far. All of the players listed are obviously gifted athletes. Trout played three sports in high school, Tate was committed to North Carolina for baseball and football and Hicks was a promising golfer before he started playing baseball.

But none are quite on Starling's level. He's just a freak athlete. He's the best position player in this year's high school class and, while he's more raw as a pitcher, he can still throw 94 mph and would be highly-ranked even if he didn't have five-tool potential as a position player. He's the seventh-best high school quarterback in the nation, according to ESPNU's Top 150 of 2011, and he could play Division-I basketball too if he wanted. He's just the kind of kid that can do almost anything he wants athletically. Check out some of his YouTube football highlights, they're pretty incredible.

Starling may just stand out more to me because I've seen the most of him. He's the only player of that group that I've seen as an amateur and I've seen him the most of all four of those guys. So, to get a better perspective for you, I asked a scouting director to weigh in on the subject. The scout I spoke with said he didn't see a lot of Tate, but saw a lot of the other three. . .

"They're all toolsy, high-ceiling guys, but physically you were hoping that Hicks would gain a little more size and strength. Starling has a little more strength and Trout is kind of a combination of all of it. He has the size and the strength and the speed. I think Trout was probably the strongest and the closer product to what the finished product was going to be. Hicks was probably the furthest away as far as looking at some projection down the line and Starling's probably somewhere in the middle of that group—a little further ahead of Hicks, but man, I had a special place for Trout."
 

Aside from Ray Black, are there any Western PA draft prospects ('11 or future) that I should make an effort to see?

@loffridus

Twitter

You're right to be excited about Black—Aaron Fitt reported he was up to 96 mph last weekend! While most of the state's talent is located in the central or eastern part of the state, there are a few interesting players in your neck of the woods.

At Peters Township High in McMurray, there's outfielder Justin Bianco. He's not overly impressive physically at 5-foot-11 and 195 pounds, but Bianco has some strength in his frame. He's a plus runner with a knack for putting the bat on the ball and a little bit of pop.

And then there's Zac LaNeve at Pine Richland High in Gibsonia. He's a shortstop that's on the smaller side, but he's a good athlete with good defensive fundamentals and some feel for hitting. LaNeve is committed to North Carolina.

There's also an interesting outfielder just over the border in Youngstown, Ohio, named Boo Vazquez. He's a physical specimen at 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds. There's definitely some rawness to his game, but there are some things to get excited about too. Vazquez is committed to Pittsburgh.

The summer showcase circuit can do many things for high school baseball players. It can give players exposure they wouldn't necessarily get by staying near their hometown. It serves as a good test for players to pit their talents against the best players in the country. It can help a player earn a scholarship or put their name on a scout's follow list for the spring, but it can also expose their weaknesses.

For righthander Carson Baranik from Parkway High in Bossier City, La., it inspired him to take his game to the next level and he's touched 95 mph recently.

"During the summer I'd be out there playing and I'd look around the field and I just noticed how, honestly, how much weaker I was than a lot of the other guys out there and how much more in shape they were," Baranik said. "So I started putting the pieces together that I wasn't, physically, where I needed to be really. After Jupiter I got home—and I didn't throw as well in Jupiter as I wanted to—so me and my dad started talking and just thought about maybe trying some new things. Because I had the strength to throw hard, I just wasn't putting everything together."
[...] Continue Reading »

Here are the weekend stats for the nation's top draft-eligible college players, listed alphabetically by school. The stats were collected by CollegeSplits.com. CollegeSplits will begin collecting season totals for players on March 7. Follow CollegeSplits on Twitter @collegesplits.

Scouting directors have been busy preparing for this June's draft since the summer. While some high school and junior colleges have already started their seasons, things get into full swing today when college baseball season starts.

With just a little more than three months until the draft starts on June 6, scouting directors really have to carefully plan their schedules and finding the season's best matchup games—where two or more top prospects are playing against each other—is key.

"You always sit down at the beginning of the year and look at all the Friday games and try to pick out the good matchups," an American League scouting director said. "Because there's only so many Fridays in the season, so they're definitely important."

With that said, let's look at some of this year's best college matchups from a draft perspective. . .

Feb. 18-21 — Hawaii vs. Oregon / Feb. 25-27 — Hawaii vs. Texas
Scouts who want to see Hawaii second baseman Kolten Wong against good pitching will need to get out to Hawaii early in the season. He'll face the best pitching he'll see all year the first two weeks of the season, when Hawaii hosts the Ducks and the Longhorns on back-to-back weekends.

The same can be said for Utah catcher C.J. Cron. The Utes go on the road against California Feb. 18-20, then out to face Arkansas Feb. 25-27 and then to the Houston College Classic March 4-6, where they'll face Texas A&M, Baylor and Kentucky. The first three weeks of the season will be huge for Cron, and he'll have some easier matchups before his final exam vs. Texas Christian lefthander Matt Purke on May 13.
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COMPTON, Calif.—On Feb. 12,  the Major League Scouting Bureau sponsored the Southern California Invitational Showcase featuring 50 of the most talented high school seniors from Southern California. With no other baseball on the docket yet, more than 200 scouts showed up to the event, which included batting practice, followed by a 60-yard dash, pregame infield/outfield and a simulated 12-inning game.

This was the last chance for area scouts, crosscheckers and scouting directors to evaluate the best players in Southern California before the high school season begins and it's always easier to line players up when they're playing alongside each other on the same field.

The player who played himself into the upper echelon of high school middle infielders was Brandon Martin from Santiago High in Corona, Calif. The normal names showed well, including Christian Lopes and Phillip Evans, but Martin played himself into this elite class. It's easy to see why he belongs in the middle of a baseball field. He ran very well, clocking in at 6.75 in the 60-yard dash. In the field, he doesn’t have the natural fluidness of Lopes or Evans, but he shows a quick first step with good range and plenty of arm to stay at shortstop. During batting practice, he was one of the few players who showed a good feel for his barrel, a consistent flat stroke and kept the ball out of the air. He showed a good approach and discipline in his at-bats by running deep counts and looking comfortable and balanced in the box. An Oregon State signee, Martin shows exceptional presence and demeanor on the field.

[...] Continue Reading »