New videos of 2011 draft prospects have been uploaded to Baseball America's YouTube page. Click the links below to see videos of the following players. . .

• Taylor Guerrieri, rhp, Spring Valley HS, Columbia,  S.C. (National Rank: 10)
• Tyler Beede, rhp, Lawrence Academy, Groton, Mass. (National Rank: 35)
• Charlie Tilson, of, New Trier HS, Winnetka, Ill. (National Rank: 80)
• Johnny Eierman, of, Warsaw (Mo.) HS (National Rank: 84)
• Amir Garrett, lhp, Findlay Prep HS, Henderson, Nev. (National Rank: 200)

Earlier in the year, we posted videos of Bubba Starling, Josh Bell, Blake Swihart, Brandon Nimmo, Joe Ross, Derek Fisher and Carlos Rodon.

Guerrieri, Beede & Garrett video taken by Alyson Boyer Rode. Tilson & Eierman video taken by Matt Forman.

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. Follow CollegeSplits on Twitter @collegesplits. The list of players was selected before the season to include this year's top college talent for the draft.

Dallas Jesuit High outfielder Josh Bell wrote a letter to the Major League Scouting Bureau indicating that he does not want to sign with a professional team out of high school, Baseball America has learned.

Bell, who was originally verbally committed to Louisiana State, signed a letter of intent with Texas and would be a boon for the Longhorns.

He is being advised by the Boras Corp. and the letter may just be posturing for future contract negotiation purposes. But, sources indicate that Bell's family has been straightforward with scouts all spring and education is important to the family. Bell's mother, Myrtle, is a professor at Texas-Arlington.

He has a big league body already at 6-foot-3 and 206 pounds. A switch-hitter with the most usable power among high school players in the 2011 draft, he is a surefire first-rounder on talent, but this throws a wrench into that status.

Bell, seen here at the World Wood Bat event in Jupiter, Fla. in October, put together a very good season and was recently scouted by Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein.

Texas A&M righthander John Stilson, who likely would have been a first-round pick in the 2011 draft, will miss the rest of the season and faces surgery after being diagnosed with a SLAP (superior labrum from anterior to posterior) tear in his throwing shoulder.

Stilson first injured his shoulder May 5, when he pitched five shutout innings against Dallas Baptist. He missed a start, then returned against Texas on May 19. He was uncharacteristically wild against the Longhorns, walking seven over 6 1/3 innings in a loss to projected first-rounder Taylor Jungmann. After the Aggies scratched Stilson from his start in the first round of the Big 12 Conference tournament on Wednesday, an MRI revealed the labrum tear.

It's impossible not to wonder if the way Stilson has been used in his Texas A&M career played a role in the deterioration of his shoulder. Most jarringly, last year in the Coral Gables Regional, Stilson threw three scoreless innings of relief against Dartmouth—interrupted by an hour-long rain delay—and came back later in the day to throw 3 2/3 scoreless innings against Miami. The Aggies rode him hard as a relief ace in 2010—he threw 79 innings over 33 appearances. And it's worth noting that he threw an inning of relief in a Tuesday game against Texas-San Antonio on May 3, two days before his Thursday start against Dallas Baptist.

Stilson ranked No. 23 on Baseball America's Top 200 Prospects list before the injury. After spending his freshman season at Texarkana (Texas) JC in 2009, he led NCAA Division I in ERA (0.80) as a reliever in his first season with the Aggies. He moved into the rotation this spring and went 5-2, 1.68 with 92 strikeouts in 91 innings. When healthy, he threw a 91-94 mph fastball, a dynamic changeup and a hard breaking ball.

The 2011 draft's top overall prospect made news Thursday and Friday, as Rice's Anthony Rendon played second base for two games at the Conference USA tournament in Pearl, Miss.

Rendon made eight plays at second without committing an error in his first game, then made a first-inning error on a ball to his right in Friday's game. It was his first game in the field since March 25 against Central Florida, as a shoulder injury, usually described as a strain by Rendon himself, has limited him to DH duty.

Rice, which lost its tournament opener, won both games with Rendon in the field. One scout in attendance, who commented on condition of anonymity, said Rendon wasn't challenged in the game with a double-play pivot and handled his routine chances just fine.

"We were thinking about either first base or second base," Rendon said after Thursday's game, a 9-8 win against Memphis, "but I grew up playing second base. I was always one of the smaller guys growing up, so I always played second base.

"It felt all right. I haven't played there since the summer after my junior year. It was very important to be out there. You know how frustrating it is to be a DH. It's not fun at all being a one-way player. It's great to be able to help my team on both sides of the ball." [...] Continue Reading »

See Also: 2011 Draft Relatives Chart

In the dream, Aaron Nola stands on the mound in Omaha as fans rise to their feet. Louisiana State holds a lead in the ninth inning of the deciding game of the 2012 College World Series. He throws a pitch and the batter hits a ground ball up the middle, which is fielded by Aaron’s older brother Austin. Austin throws to first, ending the game, the season and his college career. For the second time in four years, the Tigers dogpile in Omaha, national champs once again.

The dream is LSU coach Paul Mainieri’s. At its core­—Aaron and Austin both wearing purple and gold next year—the dream is shared by the Nolas and presumably by the thousands of fans who pack Alex Box Stadium every time the Tigers play.
Mainieri has allowed himself to dream the perfect ending. Aaron, however, can’t think past the possibility that he might finally play on the same team as his older brother.

“I’ve thought about it all the time, us playing together,” Aaron said.

On the surface, it sounds like a pipe dream. Austin is a junior at LSU, and one of the top-rated college shortstops in a draft loaded on talent, but not on middle infielders. Aaron is the top-rated high schooler in Louisiana. As his brother did, he plays shortstop at Catholic High in Baton Rouge, but his real talent is as a righthanded pitcher. He entered the season ranked among the top 100 high school draft prospects in the country and has done little to lose that standing.

And, yet, maybe it’s not just a dream. Maybe they both really will play for the Tigers next year.

“We’ve always had that dream,” Austin said. “I never thought it would come true and now it’s right in front of us. Playing together would be really special.”

[...] Continue Reading »

We announced the first set of details about draft day a few weeks ago. MLB Network is trying to get some players in attendance for the big show, but that's been hit-and-miss in the past. Either way, Baseball America's Jim Callis will be there providing pick-by-pick analysis. Today, each team's representatives were announced and they are as follows. . .
 

Texas Christian lefthander Matt Purke will return to the mound May 19 at New Mexico, according to the Star-Telegram.

Purke, who entered the season as the No. 3 prospect, last pitched April 16 at San Diego State before going down with shoulder soreness. Purke was evaluated by Dr. James Andrews on April 20.

"We recently saw him because of some discomfort in the front part of his shoulder, which has been evaluated very thoroughly not only by myself but also by Dr. John Conway, who is the team physician for TCU in Fort Worth, Texas," Andrews wrote in his report. "We certainly don't have any reservations recommending him for being drafted as a professional lefthanded baseball pitcher. His prognosis looks good and he should respond to a minimum period of active rest and conservative treatment to get his shoulder built back up."

The plan is for Purke to pitch a couple innings, followed by righthander Kyle Winkler.

Because of his roller coaster of a season, Purke's draft status is up in the air—the situation is similar to what Anthony Ranaudo went through last year. Purke's stuff was noticeably down in his last start, so his performance tomorrow is critical. If his stuff looks like it did last year and earlier this year, it could help ease concerns that have developed the past couple months. If it's not good, he could continue to slip down draft boards.

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. Follow CollegeSplits on Twitter @collegesplits. The list of players was selected before the season to include this year's top college talent for the draft.

Lawrence Academy (Groton, Mass.) righthander Tyler Beede impressed scouts on the showcase circuit last summer, playing in events like the Tournament of Stars, Area Code Games and Aflac All-American Classic. Beede has only helped his stock this spring, going 5-0, 0.50 with 71 strikeouts in 36 innings pitched while walking five and allowing only seven hits.

Beede is one of several high-school hurlers from The Bay State, which one talent evaluator called “The Arms Race of Massachusetts,” and is one of the best in recent memory. Those pitchers include, among others: John Magliozzi (rhp, Dexter School), Pat Connaughton (rhp, St. John’s Prep) and Adam Ravenelle (rhp, Lincoln-Sudberry HS). [...] Continue Reading »

Within the next couple weeks, we'll be releasing our position-by-position rankings for the draft and then scouting reports on the Top 200 players and then we'll start rolling out our state-by-state reports. While 200 is an arbitrary number, it gets us through the middle of the sixth round this year and it shouldn't come as a surprise that a vast majority of big league regulars that were drafted were picked within the top 200 picks.

With that in mind, here is a handy team-by-team breakdown of the top 200 picks in this year's draft. . .

See Also: 2011 Draft Order

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. Follow CollegeSplits on Twitter @collegesplits. The list of players was selected before the season to include this year's top college talent for the draft.

The two top shortstops in the 2011 draft class, Florida preps Francisco Lindor and Javier Baez, started their seasons playing against each other in front of more than 100 scouts, probably the most heavily-scouted high school game in the country this season. Now, with the draft a bit more than a month away, both are done playing in the Sunshine State for the year.

Lindor's Orlando-area Montverde Academy team wrapped up a 13-4 season Friday but isn't eligible for the postseason. Lindor will work out to stay in shape between now and the draft and will have private workouts with clubs, but he doesn't intend to play at the state's high school all-star event in Sebring, Fla., at the end of May.

Baez of Jacksonville's Arlington Country Day is done with his regular-season schedule as well. His club will play in Dayton, Tenn., at a private-school national tournament, according to coach Ron Dickerson. Baez, who has excellent bat speed and more offensive potential than Lindor, also has a new college commitment to Jacksonville. He'd previously been reported as a Chipola (Fla.) JC recruit.

The biggest difference between the two comes defensively, where Lindor is more polished and more likely to stay at short. Baez has shortstop tools but a bigger frame that may necessitate a move to third down the road. The other difference stems from scouts' assessments of their makeup, a broad term but a clear factor in Lindor's favor according to scouts contacted by BA over the past several months. While Baez has his backers, others point to bouts of immature behavior and difficulty in managing his emotions. "You just don't know what you're getting," is a common refrain. Dickerson, who is also Baez's legal guardian, said Baez "plays with a chip on his shoulder, plays with that edge . . . but he's a quiet, conservative, stay-at-home kid."

Lindor, who like Baez moved to Florida from Puerto Rico at a young age, regularly is described as having "makeup that's off the charts." Lindor factors into the first 10 picks.

Providence High in Charlotte was the place to be Monday night as the Panthers matched up against rival Ardrey Kell High. Hundreds of fans packed the stands and foul lines for Senior Night, but they weren't the only ones watching the game intently.

At least two dozen area scouts, crosscheckers and scouting directors were in town to see Brett Austin as he faced righthander Chris McCue. With the draft a month away and this being Austin's last regular season game, scouts are getting what looks they have left.

Austin, Providence's switch-hitting catcher and a North Carolina State signee, has a nice frame at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds and has shown an ability to hit from both sides of the plate. He was a clear Top 200 prospect heading into the season, but he may have solidified himself last night as someone that could go in the first two rounds next month. He grounded out in his first three at-bats, but still made consistent, hard contact despite seeing mostly offspeed pitches. [...] 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. Follow CollegeSplits on Twitter @collegesplits. The list of players was selected before the season to include this year's top college talent for the draft.