Matt den Dekker

Den Dekker was recruited as a pitcher and hitter at Florida, and he has a strong arm that helps make him one of college baseball's better defenders in center field. He has plus range, tracks balls well and plays hard. He was a preseason second-team All-American in 2009 after playing for Team USA the previous summer, but he never quite got going for the Gators and wound up falling to the 16th round of the draft after his junior season. He didn't sign and returned for his senior season, and has a chance to be one of the first seniors drafted. As one scout put it, "He still has the tools everyone talked about last year." Den Dekker is an excellent defender with plus speed (he's still a strong basestealer) and center-field range. He has made more consistent contact as a senior, leading Florida in batting (.361 entering the SEC tournament) and ranking second with 11 home runs. He has the bat speed for scouts to project him to have solid-average power as a pro. He still swings and misses more than he should and has some pitch recognition issues, and at times his swing gets choppy. He has played with more confidence as a senior and may just have had a bad case of draftitis in 2009. Den Dekker could go out in the first five rounds as a budget-oriented senior sign.