LOS ANGELES — MLB Network will televise the first and first supplemental rounds of the draft on Monday, June 7. Once the cameras have been switched off and the pundits depart, the final stages of the draft will take place on June 8 and 9.

In Southern California, playoffs are continuing for both Division-II and junior college programs. Over the past two weeks, Baseball America bird dog scout Dave Perkin has hit the road to get a peek at several talented but relatively unknown players who, if selected, will probably be chosen in the non glamour rounds: 7 through 50. Here are some reports on small-school players making some noise. Make sure to check out Baseball America's Draft Tracker on May 26 for a look at some under-the-radar high school and Division-I prospects from Southern California this year.

Josh Thompson, OF, El Camino JC
A lefthanded-hitting center fielder, Thompson has tremendous speed and is a wonderful defensive outfielder, tracking down drives from gap to gap. Thompson has swiped 28 bases this year, and his bat has shown marked signs of improvement. A late-round draft prospect, Thompson may not be ready for pro ball just yet, but his skills fit comfortably at the D-II, D-III, NAIA—and possibly D-I—levels.
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We're putting Part I of BA's Draft Preview issue to bed. We're lining up the top 200 or so players by position, with 100 or so scouting reports, before the Part II blowout later this month and before the state-by-state scouting reports start going online in about 10 days. We've also got a four-man Deluxe Podcast that goes a bit more into some of the draft's bigger issues.

In the course of gathering all that information, we've got a few tidbits to share, from all our staffers covering the proceedings:

• James Paxton has started throwing for Grand Prairie in the independent American Association in two exhibition games. While there's one report of Paxton flashing his mid-90s stuff from his peak in 2009 at Kentucky, one scout told BA that he sat 88-90 mph and had quite a bit of rust to shake off. On Sunday, he retired the first seven batters in an exhibition against Shreveport-Bossier before tiring, and didn't make it out of the third inning. The regular season begins Friday against Pensacola.

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The theme in Georgia this spring is that none of the top arms for the 2009 draft are at Georgia and Georgia Tech. That doesn’t mean those teams lack arms; Tech’s Zach Von Tersch will go in the single digit rounds despite an inconsistent season, sophomore Deck McGuire will be a first-rounder next year if he keeps it up, and burly righty Kevin Jacob has a chance to be an early round pick if he shows more mid-90s heat and more consistency next season. Georgia has Dean Weaver and Alex McRee throwing in the low 90s and pushing the first few rounds as well (signability pending).

But for ’09, the big arms are at Kennesaw State (as previously written here) with Chad Jenkins and Kyle Heckathorn. And the state’s pop-up guy for the year is sophomore-eligible Daniel Sarisky, who was at Division III Oglethorpe this spring. Oglethorpe’s season has ended (hey, it’s D-III), and scouts are sure to work out Sarisky individually to get a look at one of the state’s hardest throwers. [...] Continue Reading »

What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas . . .

One of the names continually popping up during my four-corners calls is Danny Reynolds, a righthander at Durango High in Las Vegas. Over his first seven games with the Trailblazers this season, Reynolds is 3-3, 2.26 with 60 strikeouts and 13 walks over 40 innings, blazing his own trail right up teams’ draft boards.
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BA staffers have started their draft calls in earnest, bearing down for our mid-May Draft Preview issue, and conversations with scouts and college coaches always reveal interesting information that need not be held until the Preview issue. So we’ll be dropping some of these short updates between now and mid-May, when our full reports really get started online and in the print edition of the magazine.

• We just posted an updated Top 50 for subscribers, and we’re already receiving plenty of feedback on it from industry types. One player it looks like we’re a little light on is Georgia prep righthander Zack Wheeler, who is likely to go much higher than our No. 32 listing. One front-office official said he didn’t think Wheeler would get out of the first 10 picks; the top 20 certainly seems reasonable.

Wheeler pumps his fastball into the 90-94 mph range, touching 96, and does everything with ease, while sporting a 6-foot-4, 170-pound frame that scouts love to project. As one source put it, 2008 High School Player of the Year Ethan Martin—a Georgia prep righty whom the Dodgers picked in the first round last year, 15th overall—had better present stuff, but Wheeler’s is comparable, with more mound savvy and control and consistent, dominant performance. [...] Continue Reading »

BA’s own bird dog, Dave Perkin, checks in from the inaugural Big 3 of the West college showcase.

LONG BEACH—The dream, rarely fulfilled, of every baseball scout and recruiter is to attend a game or showcase and discover a premium talent that almost no one has seen previously.

Such was my experience last weekend at the inaugural Big 3 of the West college showcase, which inadvertently served as an extended coming out party for Nick Cuckovich (COO-kuh-vitch), an athletic and powerfully built 6-foot-2, 190-pound infielder from Lambrick Park Secondary School in Victoria, British Columbia. He’s the rare Canadian who bats righthanded. [...] Continue Reading »

Another high-profile draft-and-follow signed Wednesday. Delgado (La.) Community College outfielder Lee Haydel didn’t match the seven-figure bonuses righthanders Matt Latos (Padres) and Jordan Walden (Angels) got on deadline day, but he did receive $624,000 from the Brewers. Milwaukee drafted him in the 19th round out of a Louisiana high school last June. [...] Continue Reading »

The rise of Devin Mesoraco was easily the most exciting story of amateur baseball in Pennsylvania this year. While Mesoraco, a senior catcher from Punxsutawney, made his move early this spring, the last month of the season saw a college prospect from the Keystone State make a push, albeit not nearly as high in draft stock as Mesoraco. [...] Continue Reading »

Neither T.J. McFarland nor Chris Province made our Top 200 Prospects list that we put together early last week, but both pitchers would make it if we were updating it today. [...] Continue Reading »

ANAHEIM–As luck would have it, the best games in Tuesday’s quarterfinal action were all held at one location, so I saved some gas money and settled in for a couple of intriguing matchups.

One of the benefits of the National Classic is seeing the different styles of play from teams from different parts of the country, and hitting has prevailed over pitching for the most part this week. [...] Continue Reading »

FULLERTON, Calif.–The first day of a busy week in Southern California is winding down. I’m at the nightcap of the first round of the Phil Nevin National Classic, where Riverside High (Greer, S.C.) and Esperanza (Calif.) High are tied at 2 after one inning at Goodwin Field on the campus of Cal State Fullerton.

The National Classic is a 16-team tournament held today through Thursday, and the Anaheim Lions Easter tournament is also being played here in Orange County this week. We’ve got 47 high school teams from California and five other states playing from sunup to well after sundown, all in a 20 mile radius. Is this heaven? [...] Continue Reading »