Garrett Richards

The state of Oklahoma is loaded with pitching prospects this year, and no one has stuff as unhittable or a performance as mystifying as Richards. He routinely sits at 93-95 mph with life on his fastball and touched 98 in a relief outing against Wichita State. He has a mid-80s slider with bite that peaked at 89 mph against the Shockers. And if that's not enough, he has a power curveball and flashes an effective changeup. He has a quick arm, a strong 6-foot-2, 217-pound build and throws on a downhill plane with little effort. Yet Richards never has posted an ERA lower than 6.00 in three college seasons, and opponents had batted .268 with 11 homers against him entering NCAA regional play. "It's unbelievable that he gets hit," one scout said. Outside of a stint in the Alaska League last summer, Richards never has harnessed his wicked stuff on anything approaching a consistent basis. He has trouble throwing strikes and flies open in his delivery, allowing hitters a good look at what's coming. He has the raw ingredients to become a frontline starter, and on the rare occasions when he has command, he looks like an easy first-round pick. He looked better than ever down the stretch and in the NCAA playoffs, fueling speculation that a team could gamble on him as high as in the first round.