Pacific signed six players in the early signing period and I think that even though it is a small class, one of the players has a chance to be a cornerstone type of player.  Here is the list of players...

OF/RHP Gio Brusa, St. Mary's HS (Stockton)

SS/C Brett Sullivan, Lincoln HS (Stockton)

SS Drake Atlee, Foothill HS (started at Pleasant Grove HS) - BAWS 2010

2B Louis Mejia, Jesuit HS

P/3B Jake Jenkins, Legend HS (CO)

RHP Kevin Hammann, Chandler-Gilbert CC (AZ)

What I really like about the class is that Brusa and Sullivan are two of the top players from Stockton.  Stockton is a good baseball city and when a college program can get some of the best hometown kids, it is GREAT for a program.  As those kids and the team have success, future players will look at Pacific in a different way.  Brusa has a chance to be an impact player for three years.  The problem with him could be that he will be considered a prospect for the draft and keeping him could be tough if he has a great spring. 

I have heard of Sullivan but don't know much about him.  Atlee I saw at BAWS a couple of years ago and he is a lean, athletic kid who I think has good things ahead of him. 

Pacific has been fine in terms of scoring runs and they will be fine offensively year in and year out.  The ballpark is great for hitting, especially when the weather warms up and Coach Sprague and his staff do a good job of developing hitters.  The Tigers HAVE to get better at either developing pitching or identifying/recruiting/signing pitchers if they are going to consistently compete in the Big West, against traditionally strong pitching programs Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, UC Irvine, and Cal Poly.  In the near future UC Santa Barbara will join those programs as a strong pitching program, under the direction of new head coach Andrew Checketts, one of the best pitching coaches in the nation.

I thought I had posted the Fresno State class but looking at my listing of them, I failed to.  Their class was posted on the Fresno State baseball website on November 9th, so here it is again with any notes about players I have familiarity with.

Blake Quinn, RHP, Bullard High School (Fresno, Calif.)
Height: 6'4, 205 (R/R)

Preston Scott, SS, Hanford High School (Hanford, Calif.)
Height: 6'2, 185 (R/R)

Brody Russell, INF, Centennial High School (Bakersfield, Calif.)
Height: 6' 1, 180 (R/R)

Kevin Viers, INF, Esperanza High School (Anaheim, Calif.)
Height: 6'1, 185 (L/R)

Taylor Ward, Catcher, Shadow Hills High School (Indio, Calif.)
Height: 6' 2, 185 (R/R)

Connor Chase, LHP, Valencia High School (Valencia, Calif.)
Height: 6'4, 205 (L/L)

Louie Payetta, INF, Huntington Beach High School (Huntington Beach, Calif.)
Height: 5'11, 170 (L/R)

Luke Wiechec, RHP/1B, Los Altos High School (Los Altos, Calif.)
Height: 6'4, 210 (L/R)

In this class, which seems pretty well-rounded, I am most familiar with Wiechec, as he played in BAWS in both 2010 and 2011.  Wiechec has been viewed as a pitcher for most of his high school career but he started to change my view of him a bit at BAWS 2011 when I saw a really loose, live and powerful lefthanded stroke.  Combine that with his very projectable frame and I started to see him as a two-way guy, because frankly, there isn't a lot of legitimate lefthanded power to be found at the high school level.  On the mound he gets into the upper-80s and in time he will be in the low-90s. 

As for the other players, I really liked what I saw of Scott at the Area Code tryout and in the Area Code Games.  He is a physical hitting middle infielder and though I am not entirely sold that he will play SS in college, I do think he is going to be a force in the line-up and sooner rather than later.

Russell was on that same team and though he is listed as an infielder by Fresno State, he played in the outfield for the A's team.  I like his arm and I think he has a chance to be ok at the plate, with some power.  He looks the part and in time should be a nice contributing member of the team.

I don't know anything about the Southern California kid, other than Viers is from a high school that more often than not produces exceptional players who have excellent baseball IQ and on the field make-up.  Esperanza HS is, in my opinion, one of the best high school baseball programs in California and for that matter, in the nation. 

Rounding up the last few early signing period classes of the regional D1 programs, today is the posting of the Nevada Wolfpack.  I include Nevada in this region because Northern Nevada is part of this territory for MLB scouts and there are quite a few players who go there from Northern CA.

Now, I don't know a bunch or even much about the Wolfpack class because like other programs that aren't high profile and don't generally recruit the "namebrand" players (because it proves to be a waste of time), I just haven't seem most of these players even though all except one are from California, five of them from Northern CA.

The only player I know on this list is Collin Theroux.  He attended BAWS Futures in October of 2010 and I thought he was one of the top two players there, quickly identifying him as a major D1 prospect.  I also have gotten to know Collin a bit in the last year as he was on the team I coached in North Carolina at the NTIS tourney.  He is a really hard-working kid, he is respectful and has a great personality.  His teammaters like him, his coaches like him, he gives all he has in games and seems as though he really wants to work to be the special player I think he can be. 

Here was my report on Theroux from Futures 2010, followed by my report from BAWS 2011...

BAWS Futures 2010

6'2" 194 R/R * 60 yard – 7.65 * Best pop-time - 2.01

Showed plus arm & accuracy during workout, workout pops translated well to game throws, shifted & blocked well, strong hitter w/chance to be physical presence, plus bat speed & legitimate power potential.

BAWS 2011

R/R / 6'2" 195

60 yard: 7.59

Theroux is one of the more talented and projectionable catchers in the 2012 class in Northern California.  Yes, there are some things he needs to work on and get better at, but I love what he starts with.  Theroux plays hard and likes to play.  Effort or desire are not issues for him.  He is a good athlete too, with the type of frame that is going to fill out and be powerfully athletic.  His size is perfect for catching but I don't see him getting too stiff or too big to be agile and athletic behind the plate.  His arm doesn't always show up as good as it really is and that is because his footwork and how he comes out of the crouch need to improve.  You get a much better glimpse of his arm on snap throws to 1st base as opposed to when he stands straight up and overstrides on throws to 2nd base.  Offensively he has some raw power and projects to have near average raw power on the pro scale.  He can use the whole field and should be a contributing member of a good college line-up and someday in pro ball too.  He is a catcher who has a chance to be above average on defense and no worse than average on offense.  In all reality, I thought he should have been on the Area Code team and I didn't think it was hard to see that.

Though they entered the CCS playoffs with a 3-6-1 overall record, St. Ignatius Prep got a bid to the CCS DIII playoffs (#7 seed) and will face their LONG TIME rival Sacred Heart Cathedral (#5 seed, entered with 5-5 record) in the final on Saturday night at AT&T Park.  The game is expected to draw over 10,000 fans, which is why it got moved to AT&T.  Apparently playing in the powerful WCAL earned both SI and SHC enough credibility with the people who select the playoff teams and because they are in the final, the selection committee must have gotten it right.

Now, what am I doing writing about a football game?  Good question.  The reason is that if you saw the Sports Focus clip of interviews and highlights from SI's thrilling 43-42 victory over Valley Christian (also a WCAL team that entered at 5-5) then you saw highlights and interviews with senior TE Travis McDow and junior QB Jack Stinn.  Both McDow and Stinn are also baseball players, and talented ones at that.  Stinn is a OF/LHP and McDow is a powerful OF/1B and both played in BAWS 2011. 

Because he is a senior, I want to discuss McDow for a bit.

McDow is an interesting athlete.  He is big, strong, and I have seen him show flashes of raw power that looks like it will be a plus tool at the college level.  I also know he is a strong student (1810 SAT, GPA 3.66) and from that interview you can tell he has humility and energy and appears to have it together as a kid.  He is also the football team captain and I am told he has outstanding leadership qualities.

As good as McDow the tight end appears to be (in those highlights he looks outstanding) he has hopes of playing college baseball.  He is big (6'5" 215) and strong and looks to be quite athletic.  He is also the back-up QB at St. Ignatius, all of which really speaks to his overall athleticism and well-roundedness as a young athlete.  In an era when so many kids have peaked in baseball at an early age because they specialized so early, McDow is the rare multi-sport athlete who at this time has given more attention to football than baseball.

In my opinion, because he wants to play baseball full time after high school, his "ceiling" is higher than many of his peers who at present time are more polished or further along the development curve.  To me, McDow is the type of player who can and will surpass many of his peers on the diamond.  Yes, he will have to work hard in college (he is already known to be a tremendously hard worker at SI) and yes, he will need to be with a coaching staff that excels in developing players (not all college coaching staffs fit that description). 

As the early signing period is now closed and college coaches are looking to round out their recruiting classes with specific needs or commodities (such as kids with legitimate power potential), an exceptionally well-rounded student-athlete like Travis McDow might be just who they are looking for.

There are other high school baseball players who excelled all fall in football but yet remain under the radar of the baseball world.  I am going to highlight a few of them in the coming weeks in the hopes of getting them some exposure.  Feel free to drop me a line or a note if you know of some football players who hope to play baseball in college but might be under the radar. 

It is very hard for the football kids who don't yet stand out on the baseball field because their expected commitment to football makes it hard for them to be exposed and developed in baseball.  They have football drills and practice in the summer and then in the fall, they play each weekend, getting beat up physically.  They do not play baseball regularly, if at all in the fall, and when they do attend a showcase or maybe a camp, they are well-behind in reps, on top of just not being in baseball shape and being banged up too.  Sometimes they don't show well in those settings vs the baseball only kids who don't face the same challenges.

Are those excuses for the football kids?  I really don't think so and I am one who doesn't believe in excuses (my 5-year old would agree).  I think those are legitimate things to consider for the college coaches who are looking for diamonds in the rough.  I know that when I worked for the Braves we were encouraged to find multi-sport athletes, in particular, kids who played football.  The toughness, the discipline, the intensity, the raw athleticism, the leadership (for team captains and quarterbacks), those were the traits we were looking for and I would think those are the same traits college baseball coaches are looking for.

If you are a hardcore baseball fan then you are aware that there is a new collective bargaining agreement in place for MLB and many of the changes have to do with the draft.  I honestly haven't been able to sort out and make sense of ALL the changes as there are lots of new provisions for gaining and losing draft picks due to compensation for free agents and though I believe there is some sort of cap that teams can spend in the draft, there is A LOT to digest. 

I saw a couple notes of interest today at the MLBTradeRumors.com site...

• The draft has been reduced from 50 rounds to 40 rounds, and any attempt to circumvent the draft pool (i.e. an under-the-table agreement) is strictly prohibited.
• Teams get an extra year of protection for compensation picks, meaning if a team fails to sign the player they took with a pick they received for failing to sign a previous pick, they will get another compensation pick the following year.

To me the reduction of the draft by 10 rounds is a GOOD thing.  For that matter, if it were reduced to 25 rounds I would be fine with that too.  Too many players are drafted who have no intention of signing and too many are drafted who frankly just aren't good enough.  Thin out the number of rounds and you narrow the focus of the scouts.  To spend 10 months scouting and learning about a kid who is committed to Stanford for instance, and WILL not be signing is a waste of time.  Because here are too many rounds, teams have been drafting those kids in the 47th round and "hoping" they change their mind... but they don't, haven't, and won't.  Waste of time.

Another reason I like the reduction of rounds (and hope for more) is to put more pressure on the high school kids to be much more up front and clear about their intentions to sign or not sign. I think that can also limit a lot of the involvement of the agents who merely posture for more money.  Hey, either a kid wants to sign and is ready for pro ball or he isn't.  If he is talented enough and if his make-up checks out, he will go high enough in the draft where the money is good. He will be drafted where he SHOULD be not where the agent can force him up to by jacking around with the signability question. 

If the player isn't good enough or isn't ready in terms of make-up, then no amount of money makes signing a good idea.  No amount of money will make him ready.  Any agent who uses a player that ISN'T ready for financial benefit is just not doing his client a good service.  If the player will only sign when the money gets to a certain point (for some that is millions, for others it is thousands) and it is ONLY about the money, well, that player doesn't want to play, he just wants to get paid and in those cases, there is usually an agent in the background with his hand in it for 4-5% of that bonus.  You can basically count on that player being out of pro ball in three years or so (I know... I signed one... good kid, wasn't ready but the money changed his mind... no agent was involved).

I know a little about a couple of the SJSU early signees.  Slaney was on the team I was with in North Carolina for the NTIS tournament and Chavez played in BAWS a few years back.  I also saw Chavez last spring against Solano College.

Ross Slaney, RHP, Homestead HS

Daniel Chavez, RHP, College of San Mateo (Serra HS)

Dane Lund, C, Mt. Hood CC

Matthew Cole, INF, Grant's Pass HS (OR)

Willy Reel, INF, Bellevue CC (WA)

Gary Acuna, LHP, Alhambra HS (SoCal)

Slaney has a good CB, sneaks into mid-upper 80s and has a fairly projectable frame.  He tends to pitch backwards too much for my tastes.  Chavez lowered his arm slot in junior college and should be able to come in and throw quality innings for SJSU.  He is slightly built so I am not sure if he will hold up as a starter but he does have enough pitches for that role.

You are not going to find a Stanford early signing period class on their website and usually have to wait until the following winter to know about the class they signed the previous year, at least on the Stanford website.  I knew of the local kids from just being around the area and knowing what I know.  The kids from out of the area I got off the Perfect Game site.  Like they have in recent years, the Cardinal has done a good job in getting most of the best local players who were also Stanford caliber students. 

RHP Freddy Avis, Menlo School

C Austin Barr, Camas HS (WA)

RHP Marcus Brakeman, Shorecrest Prep (FL)

RHP Gabriel Cramer, Santa Rosa HS

SS Drew Jackson, Miramonte HS (BAWS 2010)

LHP Logan James, Jesuit HS

OF Jonny Locher, Highline HS (WA)

RHP Daniel Starwalt, Granite Hills HS (Southern CA)

SS Bobby Zarubin, Santa Fe Christian HS (Southern CA)

I have seen Avis, Barr, Cramer, Jackson, and James and this is a talented group, even without knowing anything about the others.  Avis reminds me of big league RHP Jake Peavy and if he wasn't committed to Stanford you can bet he would be an extremely hot commodity in the scouting community as he has a loose live arm and gets into the 94 mph range with more in the tank (he is also a nice looking lefthanded hitter and a good athlete).  Cramer has a chance to have plus stuff too and I have seen him up to 92 with flashes of a very good curveball.  His strikeout stats last year were ridiculous and if he can gain better command he could be a weekend starter for the Cardinal at some point. 

Jackson is the younger brother of former Cal star and 1st round pick Brett Jackson and as a high schooler, Drew is further along than Brett at this stage of development.  Jackson can really run and he is an explosive athlete, with a chance to be a top of the order hitter and impact defensive player (I like him at 2nd base).  Though I am not a big fan of James' delivery, he certainly has a good arm and should develop nicely into a three-pitch mix starter in the Pac-12.  I saw Barr at the Area Code games and really liked his combo of defense (very good arm) and hitting potential.  I think he could be another in the long line of pro catchers to come out of Stanford.  

As it is with all incoming Stanford classes, it is always a longshot that a big league team will be able to sign them away from going to school but that won't stop the scouts from doing their homework on this group.  If signability were not a factor, you can bet that Avis would be getting top two round consideration, Cramer top five round interest and Jackson would also be highly sought after.  I have no idea about the signability of any of these players.

The Gaels have posted their class on their website and I am familiar with two of the five players, both local infielders from the East Bay.  Here is the group:

RHP Gary Cornish - Arcadia HS (AZ)

INF Connor Hornsby - Acalanes HS

C Ralston Hughes - Foothill HS (Southern CA)

UTL Ian McLoughlin - Mira Costa HS (Southern CA)

INF Anthony Villa - San Ramon Valley HS (BAWS 2010/2011)

I have seen Hornsby play quite a bit, both for Acalanes and for the NorCal program.  He is the type of pesky, hard-hosed, yet talented player who seems to THRIVE in college baseball and the best college teams seem to have at least one player like Hornsby.  He has ability but the best way to describe him is to say he is a player each team hates to play against yet they would love to have him on their team.

As for Villa, I think SMC sees his future potential as a hitter, which would make him a projection type of player for them.  I have seen Villa twice at BAWS and I do like him and do see him as a solid future player. 

You can obviously read about the others on the SMC website. 

From pitching coach Thad Johnson...

Sutter McLoughlin- RHP - Rio Americano High

Justin Dillon- RHP - El Dorado High

Alex Fitchett- LHP/ OF/1B - Oak Ridge High

Scott Blumer- RHP - Troy High (Fullerton, CA)

Shawn Wheeler- C - Cosumnes River College

I have only seen McLoughlin, at the Area Code Games and though I wasn't all that thrilled with what I saw, it likely wasn't his best showing and he is a big, strong, durable looking kid.  Obviously he did something right to make the Area Code team.

From USF recruiting coordinator Troy Nakamura...

Michael Kathan, SS, College of San Mateo
Peter Dempsey, UTL, Jesuit HS (OR)
Derek Atkinson, OF, Clackamas CC (OR)
Mitchell Rowan, OF, Willamette University (transfer)
Josh Ehrlich, OF, Calabasas HS
Matt Narahara, LHP, Chabot College
KJ Edson, RHP, Glendale College (CA)

I don't know a thing about any of the Dons' signees.  Obviously heavy on the JC players and interesting how many are from the Northwest, where pitching coach and associate head coach Greg Moore spent a year as the pitching coach at Washington.