USA Baseball's National High School Invitational is loaded with prospects. Watch the video below to learn a little more about the lighter side of Max Fried, Luke Sims, Joey Gallo, Courtney Hawkins, Ty Moore and Matt Olson. . .

Courtney Hawkins has been one of the stars of the National High School Invitational. The outfielder/pitcher for Corpus Christi, Texas' Carroll High hit a home run while also dominating on the mound on Thursday. Ranked as the No. 38 draft prospect in our February Draft Top 100 rankings, Hawkins has pro potential either in the field or on the mound.

But that's not all Hawkins can do. On Friday morning, he showed off his athleticism with an easy backflip, as you can see here.

Klein-Collins (Spring, Texas) shortstop C.J. Hinojosa will miss the rest of the season with an injured left shoulder and probably won't be healthy by the draft, which is scheduled for June 4-6.

"Back at USA Trials in the summer, I dislocated it and I didn't think much of it," Hinojosa said. "But I kept playing on it and I worked it out and everything to strengthen it and the first game of the season this year it popped out again. And then two weeks ago, I was going for a ball up the middle and I dove on it and it popped out and that was the third time. I had seen the doctor and he said after about the third time it can happen just about whenever."
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The second day of the USA Baseball's National High School Invitational had numerous highlights, but Carroll High (Corpus Christi, Texas) outfielder/righthander Courtney Hawkins stole the show.

In the team's first game against Gulliver Prep from Pinecrest, Fla., Hawkins was a one-man wrecking crew. He started the game on the mound where he threw 5 1/3 shutout innings, giving up four hits, walking two and striking out nine for the win. His fastball sat in the 90-92 mph range, topping out at 94, but it wasn't his only weapon.

"He's got a split and a slider," Carroll head coach Lee Yeager said. "He struck their four-hole guy out on a pretty good slider. They've got a good bunch of hitters so he did a pretty good job of keeping them off balance and giving us a chance."

The Tigers' only run of the game came from a Hawkins home run. The pitch was a little outside and Hawkins didn't even get all of it, but he's strong enough for it to still leave the yard nearly 400 feet to left-center. The home run was one of Hawkins' two hits during four at-bats on the day.

"I kind of got around it a little bit," Hawkins said. "It was a lefty and he had good movement, so the whole plan was to go the other way with it and he ended up running it into my bat. I got a good swing on it." [...] Continue Reading »

The first marquee mound matchup of USA Baseball's National High School Invitational certainly did not disappoint.

Nearly 100 scouts crowded behind the backstop to watch Brookwood High (Snellville, Ga.) righthander Luke Sims take on Highlands Ranch (Colo.) High and their ace righthander, Ryan Burr.

Sims dominated, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning. He wound up giving up one weak hit—a little dribbler past the mound—over six innings of work for the win. The Clemson signee walked three and struck out 11.

"Sims obviously is a very good pitcher," Highlands Ranch head coach John Cackowski said. "We got better by facing him today."

Sims sat in the 90-92 mph range with his lively fastball. He touched a handful of 93s and 94s, held his velocity deep into the game and threw his fastball for strikes to both sides of the plate, never afraid to own the inner half.
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MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Things didn't quite go as planned for Solon (Ohio) High lefthander Matt Smoral in his first game of the season.

Pitching in a spring break tournament March 26 against Westerville (Ohio) Central High at the Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Smoral didn't get hit hard but battled his control due to a couple of blisters flaring up on his middle finger. Over 3 1/3 innings before being pulled, he gave up three hits, walked five and struck out five.

"From the very beginning, I didn't feel like I had my best stuff, even in the bullpen," Smoral said. "My arm didn't feel that great, but it was a matter of making adjustments. The first inning I went out there and it was good and then the second inning I went out there and pounded the outside corner, but I didn't make that adjustment and didn't get inside on those guys and didn't get to where I could use my secondary pitches a lot and take advantage of those."

With about 30 crosscheckers and scouting directors on hand, Smoral sat in the 89-91 mph range with his fastball. His lack of control didn't allow him to get into his secondary pitches much. Of his 74 pitches on the day, 61 of them were fastballs. His slider wasn't as sharp as it's been in the past, sitting in the 81-82 mph range and he only threw one changeup.

This offseason, Smoral worked to get stronger and improve his secondary pitches. He did some of his training in Houston with David Evans, who was a sixth-round pick by the Mariners in 1989 and spent 11 years in professional baseball. Now he conducts pitching lessons and coaches for the Houston Heat travel team.

"The biggest thing this offseason was I wanted to get stronger and get my body in the best possible shape I could," Smoral said. "I came out very confident and I really felt good about my mechanics and stuff. I felt really good about what I did this offseason and preparing mentally, as well."

Smoral said he worked to use his legs more in his delivery and focused on not letting his hips leak open early to get the most out of his size. It was during his training last year when he met a new friend in fellow gargantuan pitching prospect Mitchell Traver from Houston Christian High.

"We met the first time I went down to Houston, which was about a year and a half ago, last February," Smoral said. "Then we saw each other a lot last summer at the showcases and I started to develop a friendship with him. I went back down to Houston in December and stayed at his house. Ever since then, we've been real close friends. We talk after each one of our starts and it's good to have a guy you can relate with and a real good friend who also knows a lot about pitching."

Below is a video of Smoral's outing today. . .

• Texas A&M righthander Michael Wacha is rising on draft boards as he continues to carve teams up this spring.

• Oklahoma State lefthander Andrew Heaney continues to dominate. In his start against Missouri this weekend, Heaney threw a complete game, giving up two runs on seven hits with no walks and 13 strikeouts. Heaney got the win, improving his record to 5-1 and is second for Division I pitchers with 65 strikeouts this season.

• The pitcher with the most strikeouts so far this season (66) is Missouri State righthander Pierce Johnson, who took the lead this weekend after posting 16 strikeouts in a comple-game shutout against Creighton. Johnson gave up five hits and one walk in the effort, picking up his second win of the season and lowering his ERA to 1.94.

• Catcher Dane Phillips continues to rake for NAIA Oklahoma City. This weekend, he went 6-for-13 with five doubles, raising his season line to .416/.500/.850. Phillips' Stars are now 25-6 on the year.

• Florida State senior outfielder James Ramsey has been red-hot all year for the Seminoles. This weekend against Wake Forest, Ramsey went 4-for-11 with a double and three home runs. He's now hitting .427/.564/.890 with five doubles and nine home runs.

• Florida catcher Mike Zunino only had two hits on the weekend, but they were both home runs against South Carolina, helping the Gators win the series over the Gamecocks.

Here are all of 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. . .

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Third baseman Rio Ruiz from Bishop Amat High in La Puente, Calif. recently had a blood clot broken up in a vein near his clavicle by his right shoulder. The news was first reported by Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times.

According to Sondheimer:
 

Ruiz began complaining about a dead arm two weeks ago. He had swelling in a biceps muscle in his shoulder, [Bishop Amat head coach Andy] Nieto said. A blood clot was discovered and the procedure took place on Friday.

Ruiz also hyperextended his left knee playing football last fall.

The Southern California commit ranked No. 34 on Baseball America's preseason ranking of the Top 100 prospects for the 2012 draft. He is a physical third baseman with big hands and present strength. He has a knack for making good contact and figures to develop good power with his frame. He also has profile arm strength for third base, sitting 90-93 mph when he gets on the mound.

Outfielder Fernelys Sanchez from Washington High in New York will miss the next four to six weeks after leaving yesterday's game against Grand Street High with an injury.

Sanchez was sliding into a base when his cleat got caught and he fractured his fibula, above his left ankle. There was no tendon damage and Sanchez is currently wearing a cast and using crutches.

There is a chance Sanchez will be able to play in the team's final couple games in mid-May, but he will be out of action as the Trojans come to Cary, N.C. for USA Baseball's inaugural National High School Invitational presented by Town of Cary and Baseball America, March 28-31.

When healthy, Sanchez's speed is his best tool. He's at least a 70 runner on the 20-80 scouting scale, which obviously helps on both sides of the ball. A switch-hitter, he can be inconsistent at the plate, but has a good frame (6-foot-4 and 200 pounds) and shows some power potential. Sanchez was ranked No. 58 on Baseball America's Top 100 high school prospects entering the season.

MALIBU, Calif.—We've written this spring about San Francisco righthander Kyle Zimmer and Duke righty Marcus Stroman establishing themselves as strong candidates to be drafted inside the top 10 picks. Stanford's Mark Appel and Louisiana State's Kevin Gausman projected as top 10 picks in our preseason Top 100 draft prospects list, and both remain top candidates to be drafted first overall.

In recent weeks, Texas A&M junior righty Michael Wacha has generated more and more buzz as another candidate for the top pick, just as Zimmer has. After allowing nine runs on 11 hits against Kansas State last week, Wacha bounced back in overpowering fashion, allowing just two hits in a complete-game shutout at Pepperdine, as the Aggies won 4-0 on Friday.

Wacha carried a perfect game into the eighth inning and struck out Tony Cooper to lead off the eighth—but a passed ball and an errant throw to first allowed Cooper to reach second base, ending the perfect game bid. The next batter, Aaron Brown, broke up the no-hit bid with a comebacker off Wacha's glove. The Waves loaded the bases with two outs, but Wacha escaped by inducing a pop-up to center, then worked a 1-2-3 ninth to end it. He finished with eight strikeouts and no walks, improving to 4-0, 1.84 on the season.

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See Also: Naquin Swings His Way To First-Round Prospect (subscribers)

Tyler Naquin isn’t the only player from the 2009 Klein Collins High (Spring, Texas) team who could be a premium draft pick in June. C.J. Hinojosa was a 5-foot-9, 150-pound freshman who played for the varsity that year.

“It was a no-brainer because of his skill level,” former Klein Collins head coach Kent Meador said. “He just had a knack for the game. He just knew, instinctively, so many things that make a player of his caliber. . . He didn’t play like a freshman, I’ll tell you that.”

Hinojosa is a natural shortstop, but the team had seniors manning the middle infield. Still, he beat out a junior for the starting third base position.

“I’ve always had the mentality that I’m going to be the best I can be,” Hinojosa said. “So I wasn’t really intimidated. I was ready to go out there and take my spot because it wasn’t given it to me. So I went out there and, as everybody says in Texas, I took the bull by the horns.”

Hinojosa is used to being one of the younger players on his teams. He played above his age group growing up, made varsity as a freshman and was the second-youngest player on Team USA’s 16-and-under gold medal team in 2009. If he had it his way, he’d be the youngest player at Texas this spring. Hinojosa was trying to graduate early to skip his senior year of high school, but even with his seven classes at school and three more online courses at night, he couldn’t finish everything in time.

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• Duke ace Marcus Stroman continues to deal. In a home start against a ranked Miami team, Stroman gave up one run on six hits over seven innings while walking two and striking out 13.

• San Francisco righthander Kyle Zimmer went to Hawaii and threw a complete-game shutout against the Rainbows. Zimmer gave up three hits and four walks in the outing while also striking out 11.

• Monmouth righthander Pat Light dominated Fairleigh Dickinson, giving up one run on six hits over nine innings. Light walked two and struck out 13. Light is now 3-1, 3.71 on the season with 27 strikeouts and eight walks over 34 innings.

• Florida lefthander Brian Johnson pitched well against Vanderbilt, throwing six shutout innings for the win. Johnson gave up two hits, issued one free pass and struck out nine.

• Miami catcher Peter O'Brien had a day to remember on Sunday and Baseball America was in attendance. Click here to read about the game and watch video of his at-bats.

• Stony Brook outfielder Travis Jankowski went 6-for-10 this weekend against Yale. Jankowski had three doubles and three stolen bases on the weekend while also hitting his first home run of the season.

• Connecticut second baseman L.J. Mazzilli played well in the Coastal Classic tournament this weekend against Michigan, Coastal Carolina and Alabama-Birmingham. Mazzilli went 6-for-13 on the weekend with a double and three home runs—one each day.

Here are all of 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. . .

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DURHAM, N.C.—Catcher Peter O'Brien has been a force for Miami this year. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound senior is leading the team in nearly every offensive category, hitting .389/.483/.792 for the 16-4 Hurricanes with eight doubles and seven home runs.

O'Brien grew up in Miami and attended Braddock High before spending his first three college years at Bethune-Cookman. He broke out as a sophomore, hitting .386/.445/.748 with 20 home runs, but stepped back a little last year (.304/.382/.557). The Rockies drafted O'Brien in the third round in 2011, but could not come to an agreement.

O'Brien decided to transfer to Miami for his senior season, but his homecoming with the Hurricanes almost didn't happen. He applied for an eligibility waiver from the NCAA because he transferred to be closer to his family—specifically his mother, who was battling health problems. The first batch of paperwork was sent to the NCAA in August and he found out he was denied in December. O'Brien appealed the decision with a conference call and had to wait the entire winter break before hearing the good news that he'd be eligible to play. O'Brien never let the process bring him down.

"I'm a confident guy, so from day one I said I'm going to be playing at Miami this year, for my senior year," O'Brien said. "I gave it 100 percent and knew I was going to be on the field come season time."

From the get-go, O'Brien has been a difference maker for the Hurricanes, both on and off the field.
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Twitter and baseball go hand-in-hand. Baseball fans can use Twitter to get breaking news, interact with other fans and get a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of their favorite players. Follow @BaseballAmerica, @jimcallisBA @JohnManuelBA @aaronfitt @ConorGlassey & @BAHighSchool for all your #mlbdraft news. You can also click below for a chart with links to the Twitter accounts of some of the top prospects for the 2012 draft. . .

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It is believed that bad things often happen in groups of three and that's been the case with high school injuries lately. First, Lucas Gioloto sprained his elbow, then Matthew Crownover had Tommy John surgery.

On March 12, Albuquerque Academy shortstop Alex Bregman broke the tip of his right middle finger and will likely miss the remainder of his high school season, Baseball America has confirmed. The injury was first reported on Twitter by Ben Collman, the director of high school coverage for Perfect Game.

Bregman said he will have surgery on his finger March 14 and will be ready to play again by the summer.

"There's a slight possibility of being back by the end of the year, but I'm just going to make sure I'm 100 percent before I do anything," Bregman said.

Bregman, who is committed to Louisiana State, was taking pregame ground balls when one took a bad hop and flew up by his face. As he tried to deflect it, it hit the tip of his right middle finger and broke the bone. He played in the game and went 2-for-4 at the plate.

Bregman put his name on the map by leading the 2010 USA Baseball 16U team to a gold medal by hitting .564/.596/.846. He followed that up by returning for the 2011 18U gold medal run and hitting .378/.500/.459. Bregman also broke New Mexico's single-season home run record with 18 jacks last year.

While he said he was disappointed about the injury, he's ready to move on and use the time to get better in other ways.

"It's baseball. . . that's life," Bregman said. "I'm just going to have to heal and get better from this and just work my butt off even more. I've still got three other limbs I can be working out, so I'm going to be doing that."

There seems to be one nearly every year—a top-notch quarterback who is also highly-touted on the baseball diamond. Casey Kelly. . . Bubba Starling. . . Jameis Winston. Next year, the player in that spotlight will be Cord Sandberg from Manatee High in Bradenton, Fla.

Sandberg has good physicality at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds. He bats and throws lefthanded, shows some power at the plate and covers a lot of ground in center field with above-average speed.

"He's super athletic," Manatee head coach Dwayne Strong said. "He's one of the better guys I've coached in 25 years of coaching. He's got a pretty good toolset."

Sandberg's father, Chuck, was a first baseman at Florida and was drafted by the Red Sox in the ninth round of the 1979 draft. He spent three years in the minor leagues before a knee injury cut his career short. Now, Chuck Sandberg has been a football coach at Manatee for 25 years.

Sandberg passed for 2,187 yards this season with 19 touchdowns and rushed for another 813 yards and 10 touchdowns. As far as colleges go, Sandberg is still getting recruited and weighing all his options. He has not made a verbal commitment yet but said the schools that have shown the most interest are Auburn, Clemson, Mississippi State and North Carolina.

He's not sure about playing both sports at the next level, though.

"It's fun playing both in high school, but I'm sure it'd be pretty difficult, at the college level, to be successful in both," Sandberg said. "I think I'd probably just focus on one."

The state of Oregon hasn't had a high school player selected in the first round since lefthander Matt Smith, who went 16th overall to the Royals in 1994.

While Carson Kelly probably won't go that high, he's likely to be the highest Oregon high schooler drafted since righthander Steve Bechler went in the third round to the Orioles in 1998.

Kelly, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound third baseman and pitcher, is one of the draft's top two-way talents and Northwest scouts are divided on where he fits best. As a hitter, Kelly shows a nice line-drive swing with good loft and power potential. He's a below-average runner, but has good mobility at third base with quick actions and a strong arm. On the mound, he sits in the 89-91 mph range with a heavy fastball. His secondary stuff needs to be tightened up, including a 78-82 mph changeup and a 73-76 curveball. Kelly has excellent maturity and will be a leader on and off the field. He is young for the class and won't turn 18 until the day after the signing deadline.

Kelly's season with the Westview Wildcats kicks off today.

He hasn't played in games that count since November, when he was a key part of Team USA's 18-and-under squad that won gold medals at the COPABE Pan Am Championship in Cartagena, Colombia.
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As first reported by Lindsey Young of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Ringgold (Ga.) High lefthander Matthew Crownover will miss the rest of the season after having Tommy John surgery, Baseball America has confirmed.

Crownover's surgery was performed March 9 by Dr. James Andrews.

"It stinks, but last year's opening day rosters had 163 pitchers who have had Tommy John surgery," Crownover said. "So, there's basically two kinds of pitchers—pitchers who have had Tommy John and pitchers who are going to have Tommy John. . . I was pretty down earlier in the week, but I'm just looking forward to rehab and heading to Clemson."

Crownover, who just turned 19, throws his fastball in the 88-91 mph range, topping out at 93. His changeup is his best secondary pitch and he ranked No. 87 on Baseball America's preseason list of the Top 100 high school players for the draft.

• Georgia Southern ace Chris Beck lost against Elon on Friday night and did not show the same stuff he did in the Cape Cod League this summer.

• Buffalo catcher Tom Murphy is off to a hot start. This weekend, he raked against Coppin State and Long Island, going 5-for-12 with two doubles, a triple, two home runs and 11 RBIs. On the season, Murphy is now hitting .381/.481/.786.

• Purdue third baseman Cameron Perkins went 10-for-18 this weekend against Murray State. He had a double and a stolen base and is now up to .426/.458/.537 on the year.

• Stanford ace Mark Appel was spectacular against Rice on Friday night, giving up two runs on four hits while walking two and striking out 14 in the complete-game win.

• Louisiana State righthander Kevin Gausman continues to dazzle for the Tigers. The draft-eligible sophomore blanked Michigan Friday night. Over eight innings, he only gave up two hits, didn't walk anybody and struck out 11. On the season, Gausman is now 4-0, 1.32 with 31 strikeouts and just two walks over 27 innings.

• Oklahoma State righthander Andrew Heaney dominated Alabama A&M on Friday. He threw a complete game while giving up just three hits and no walks while striking out a career-high 13.

Here are all of 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. . .

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Georgia Southern entered the year with high hopes. After all, the Eagles had two first-team All-Americans in outfielder Victor Roache and righthander Chris Beck. But ever since Roache injured his wrist, the team is 2-5 and that includes two losses by Beck. Last week, he gave up seven runs against North Florida. Friday night against Elon, Beck—ranked No. 7 on BA's preseason Top 100 draft prospects—was better but definitely did not look like one of the top pitchers in the country.

With about 15 scouts on hand, including several crosscheckers and a pair of scouting directors, Beck sat at 90-91 mph for the first few innings, touching 93 once (his first pitch of the game). Later in the game, his fastball dropped to the 88-90 mph range. The pitch didn't haven much movement, either—occasionally he got a little run and sink, but overall it was pretty true. Beck mostly pitched away from hitters and one scout said he gets under his pitches, which leads to the fastball being straight and the inconsistency with Beck's 83-85 mph slider. Beck's best pitch of the night was his 80-81 mph changeup that showed good fade.
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