AIAA COLLEGE BASEBALL UPDATE
April 8, 1929
It may be hard to believe but the college season is already a quarter of the way done as teams have played 13 of their scheduled 50 games. At this point things are pretty balanced as no one has a better than 9-4 record, which is the mark held by the leading school in each division.
Here is a division by division break down:
ACADEMIA ALLIANCE: The Brunswick Knights have won 7 of their last 8 and, at 9-4, enjoy a 1 game lead on both Sadler and Ellery atop the division. It is a big turnaround for Brunswick, which finished 7th in the division a year ago with a 15-35 record. Brunswick has a big 2 game series with Sadler in Charlestown against the Bluecoats starting tomorrow.
NORTHEAST COLLEGIATE: Led by the top offense in the Northeast Conference and featuring a pair of likely high draft picks in outfielders Dan Fowler (.375,7,20) and Vic Crawford (.358,7,23), Commonwealth Catholic tops the Northeast Division at 9-4, one game up on fellow Boston rival St. Patrick's College. While much of the preseason draft hype was on the two Commonwealth Catholic outfielders, Liberty's Joe Jones is making a case for himself to be a first round draft pick. Jones, who turns 21 next week, is hitting .382 with an AIAA leading 9 homers and 21 rbi's through 13 games.
SOUTHERN COLLEGIATE: Opelika State remains in first but it was a rough week for the Wildcats as they dropped 3 of 4 games and fell out of the National #1 ranking, a spot they had held for the first two polls. The 9-4 Wildcats are being chased by Maryland State, which improved to 8-5 on the year after a very strong week in which the Bengals took a pair from Opelika State on the road and then split two with Georgia Baptist, also 8-5, at home.
MIDWESTERN COLLEGIATE: The tightest division in the AIAA right now with just 4 wins separating first place Wisconsin State (9-4) from three teams tied for last at 5-9. The Brewers dropped 2 of 3 to arch rival Chicago Poly and lead the Panthers by a single game. Whitney College (7-6) has the top two in the AIAA in terms of batting average with senior outfielder Bobby Many (.490,6,28) leading the way followed by 18 year old second baseman Al Haynes (.483,0,7). Many, who hit .326 a year ago, also leads the AIAA in rbi's and is 3 off the homerun lead which is co-held by Indiana A&M's Bill Tucker. Tucker(.264,9,17) played sparingly last season but the first baseman is starting to draw some attention from FABL scouts and may hear his name called in the first few rounds of the draft. The knock on him is he is sort of a one-trick pony as he strikes out a lot, has trouble getting on base and is barely an average 1B in the field...but he sure can give the ball a ride although there is some concern the Reapers field, which is very friendly to lefthanded power hitters, might be a factor.
WESTERN COLLEGIATE: The first place Rainier College Majestics are 9-4 because of the best pitching staff in the AIAA. The Majestics have allowed just 36 runs in 13 games - 15 less than the next closest team (Opelika State). Senior righthander Chick Stout's draft stock continues to sar as the 20 year old is 3-0 with a 0.82 ERA for the Majestics while freshman Walt Smith, an 18 year old lefthander, has been nearly as good at 2-0 ,0.50, however last year's ace Stan Merendino, has been awful for the Majestics. At the other end of the spectrum is the division doormat Boulder State Grizzlies (4-9). The Grizzlies actually lead the AIAA in runs scored but their pitching has been terrible.
Here are the updated top 10 rankings:
Code:
TOP TEN RANKINGS REC LW
1- Brunswick College Knights 9-4 5
2- Rainier College Majestics 9-4 7
3- Opelika State Wildcats 9-4 1
4- Commonwealth Cath. Knights 9-4 8
5- Wisconsin State Brewers 9-4 NR
6- Chicago Poly Panthers 8-5 9
7- Maryland State Bengals 8-5 NR
8- Georgia Baptist Gators 8-5 4
9- College of San Diego Friars 8-5 3
10-St Patrick's Shamrocks 8-5 10
[b]
DROPPING OUT OF TOP 10
Henry Hudson Explorers 7-6 2
Cumberland Explorers 7-6 6
Now that we have hit the quarter pole of the college season and the high schooler's have played a week's worth of games let's take a look at how the players I put in my preseason mock draft have performed. I will likely do a new mock draft in a couple of weeks but here is an update on the original list.
1- TOM BARRELL RHP - Georgia Baptist: As expected Barrell, who entered the season with 28 career wins, became the AIAA all-time victory leader last week. He now has 31 after going 3-1 with a 1.41 era for the Gators to start the season. Included in his efforts was a 21 strikeout performance in a win over Bayou State. As if that is not enough, Barrell is playing 1B when he doesn't pitch and is hitting .405 with 4 homers and 16 rbi's so, if anything he has enhanced his value as the first overall pick. The question might be is does he stay a pitcher or perhaps one day become the next Max Morris and switch to an everyday role. Or perhaps he does both?
2-BEN BERNARD RHP - Mobile HS: The high school righthander does not have a decision yet this season but started two games, throwing 6 shutout innings each time. He has allowed 6 hits and struck 19 while walking 7 in 12 innings of work after going 6-1, 0.78 a year ago.
3-JOHN COLLINS OF - Liberty College: Collins has been overshadowed by Bells outfield teammate Joe Jones (.382,9,21) but has still had a decent start to the season, hitting .306,2,12. At this point he is likely dropping perhaps even out of the first round but in his defense the 1927 All-American he has been hobbled by a sore ankle.
4-VIC CRAWFORD OF - Commonwealth Catholic: Unlike Collins, who Crawford has been often compared with, the Knights outfielder has continued at the hot pace that he set his first two seasons of college ball and earned him a first team All-American nod last year. Crawford is batting .358 with 7 homers and 23 rbi's though 13 games and has his team at the top of their division.
5-TOM BLALOCK RHP - Chicago Poly: No let down from the righthander, who is now 13-0 going back to the start of the 1927 season. A second team All-America selection as a junior, Blalock is 3-0 with a 0.91 era in 4 starts (also 2 relief appearances) for the Panthers this season. His walks are up a bit this year but overall his WHIP is right on track with last season.
6-SAM ORR 2B - Henry Hudson University: Hasn't duplicated his freshman season when he hit .425 but numbers are very consistent with what he put up last year. Presently .345,5,13 while playing strong defense. Also has speed with 5 stolen bases in 13 games.
7- STEVE STUDER OF - Frankford State: The Owls have been awful this season but you can't blame Studer (.280,5,15). There is some concern as his batting average is down and, after stealing 26 bases a year ago, he has just 1 theft so far this season. Performance of others and slight drop in his production has likely removed him from the first round at this point.
8- DAN FOWLER OF - Commonwealth Catholic: Like his teammate Crawford, Fowler has had a very strong start to the season (.275,7,20). Between the two Knights players and Liberty's Joe Jones (who did not make the mock draft first round) the NE Collegiate division is loaded with outfield talent.
9- CLAY JACKSON RHP - Detroit City College: The first guy on my mock list you can say has definitely dropped a long ways based on the start to his draft year. Jackson was 10-2 1.40 last year but fell to the 5th starter on Detroit City College and spent most of his time in the pen where he has been bad. 1-3 with a 6.60 era and 7 homers allowed in 30 innings of work. His WHIP, 0.74 a year ago, is now just a shade under 2.
10- HERMAN SMITH RHP - Frankford State: Assessing young pitchers is a tough business and Smith was just as good as Jackson a year ago but just as bad this season. He is 1-1 with an 8.53 era and has already allowed 7 homers in 19 innings, the same number he surrendered in 83 innings a year ago when he went 10-2, 1.84. Like Jackson, if the trend does not reverse he will likely not hear his name called before the 10th round, and perhaps not at all. A big drop off for both of them considering each won 10 games a year ago, something that has only been done in the AIAA 35 times.
11- STAN MERENDINO LHP - Rainier College: I am sensing a trend as another college arm who looked great last year (6-1, 0.81) but has been just awful (2-1, 7.84) so far this season. Despite Merendino's numbers the Majestics pitching has been great with fellow senior Chick Stout pitching his way into first round consideration as Merendino has pitched his way out of it.
12- JAKE JOHNSON 1B - Lubbock State: On pace to be very comparable with last year's numbers when he won a National Championship. Johnson is hitting .385 with a homer and 6 rbi's through 13 games but it had been hoped he would show more power this season than last (4 homers), and be more in line with his freshman year (.386,19,66). Likely not done enough to remain in the first round.
13- BILLY SMITH OF - Greensboro HS: Smith made the list on the strength of a .417 season a year ago. It is still early in the high school season but he has started slowly with a .259/.344/.444 slash line through 7 games. Needs to step it up as there is plenty of other outfield talent in ths draft.
14- JIM BRIGHT OF - Syracuse HS: Bright hit 14 homers and batted .402 a year ago but like Smith, is off to a very slow start with just 1 homer and a .235 average through 7 games.
15- OTIS ADAMS OF - Cleveland HS: Injuries derailed his 17 year old season after a dominant rookie campaign that saw Bright hit .447 with 18 homers as a 16 year old. I put him here based on the expectation he would regain his form once healthy. Adams is healthy but so far he is homerless with a .333 batting average.
16-DON HALLAM 3B - Somerville HS: Hallam also had a huge rookie year with a .446 and 19 HR performance but dipped to .365, 6 homers a year ago. He is dipping again with a .259 average while homerless through 7 games.
SUMMARY:
So as you can tell there will be some big changes at the bottom half of my first round mock draft (as it said in the title of the original piece it was a WAY-TOO EARLY MOCK DRAFT. I will have an updated list in a couple of weeks and perhaps there is hope that some of the high school players struggling early will get back on track.