Corbin Burnes

A Bakersfield product, Burnes wasn't highly recruited and wound up at Saint Mary's, where he has thrived under the tutelage of head coach Eric Valenzuela, who mentored big leaguers such as Brian Matusz, A.J. Griffin and Sammy Solis in his time at San Diego. Burnes came to school armed with a solid fastball but has improved its velocity and his ability to command it after gaining confidence in the Cape Cod League last summer, when his heater reached 97 mph. Burnes typically sits 91-93 with life down in the zone, touching 95. He got off to a slow start this spring but started to hit his stride as he threw his curveball with more power, getting more swings and misses with it and avoiding high pitch counts that drove him out of games early. His secondary stuff, including his changeup, remains inconsistent, but he's shown the durability and has the solid 6-foot-3, 200-pound frame to handle a starter's workload.