Possibly goes top 10 but is a big, physical SP with ace potential. Moore and co. will be all over him if he slips a bit and could offer top 10 money at No. 16
OF Jarred Kelenic, Waukasha West HS, WI
Spoiler!
Kelenic is the top prep bat, toolsy OF. Royals would be ecstatic to have shot at him.
1B Triston Casas, American Heritage HS (FL).
Spoiler!
Tremendous raw power, best in HS bats. Royals typically like HS arms or HS bats with "special" tools. He qualifies.
RHP Carter Stewart, Eau de Gallie HS (Ga).
Spoiler!
Another big, physical specimen with huge upside. More likely to be available mid-first than Rocker.
ANY Any, Any (Any). Any current top projected pick who slides for injury concerns. Includes current top prospect prospect SP Brady Singer, U of Florida.
Current Prospects to Watch:
OF Seuly Matias - Huge tools. Hit 2 HR in Lexington (A) season opener.
1B Nick Pratto - Top pick in 17 has advanced approach and good glove; needs to start tapping into power in first full year in minors. Also at Lexington.
OF Michael Gigliotti - Good defender in CF, good OBP skills, plus baserunner. Next mainstay in CF for KC, IMO. Advanced college bat also starting at Lexington.
OF Khalil Lee - Probably has highest upside in Royals' system. Could hit 30 HR in majors, could steal 30 bases. Plus defensive ability in RF. Nice test at Wilmington this year.
3B Emmanuel Rivera - Really nice approach and good contact skills. Power is still developing. Also getting a good test at Wilmington.
SP Foster Griffin - Made nice strides in 2017. Needs to continue to progress in 2018. Could be a lefty version of Jakob Junis (good breaking ball that he can really manipulate, OK fastball, good command).
1B Samir Duenez - Duenez still is intriguing, hoping for a step forward in his power production this year at Northwest Arkansas, which would turn him into a legit prospect.
Others to keep an eye on:
SP Gerson Garabito (Wilmington), OF Marten Gasparini (Lexington), C MJ Melendez (Lexington), RP Tyler Zuber (lexington), RP Richard Lovelady (Omaha), SP Dan Tillo (Lexington), SS Nicky Lopez (NWA), SP Scott Blewett (NWA), OF Brewer Hicklen (Idaho Falls),
In general, Lexington and Wilmington are the most interesting spots to watch. Nice depth and a lot of interesting pieces at both. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Sure-Oz:
@BlairKerkhoff: Florida & Royals draft pick Jackson Kowar Ks side for 2nd time vs. Texas. Has 11 Ks, 103 pitches. Gators lead 5-0 T7
Originally Posted by Sure-Oz:
@BlairKerkhoff: Florida & Royals draft pick Jackson Kowar Ks side for 2nd time vs. Texas. Has 11 Ks, 103 pitches. Gators lead 5-0 T7
Re: Kowar - that’s a sick performance. I’m hoping for Michael Wacha sans the shoulder issue (and maybe a little better luck in developing he breaking ball).
Re: Herrera- with that level of competition, concern they sold low can be put to rest. [Reply]
Just watched the pregame show. Ryan was interviewing Dayton & they had a long discussion about Luke Heimlich. Dayton has known the kid for years. The tone of the interview made me think they might be interested in him.
Originally Posted by :
The CWS is our Fantasy Island. A two-week escape on our Field of Dreams, where we take one step into TD Ameritrade Park and magically go to a place of laughter, families, ice cream, baseball and innocence.
It’s our version of purity — with beer taps.
Today, in the first game of the CWS, the real world throws out the first pitch.
It will be thrown by Luke Heimlich, ace pitcher of Oregon State, one of the favorites to win the series. The No. 3 national seed Beavers are loaded, top to bottom.
And it starts with Heimlich, a senior left-hander who is 16-1 with a team-best 2.32 ERA and is a two-time Pac-12 pitcher of the year.
But there’s one thing about Heimlich that you won’t find in the stat sheet.
Heimlich pleaded guilty in 2012 to sexually abusing his 6-year-old niece. Heimlich, now 22, was 15 at the time.
In recent interviews with Sports Illustrated and the New York Times, Heimlich maintained his innocence and said he pleaded guilty to avoid putting his family through the ordeal of a trial and avoid jail time.
The victim and her family maintain that it did happen.
As a father of three daughters, this turns my stomach. It’s emotional and extremely hard to think about, much less write about. It’s hard to think about baseball and not about a little girl and what she may have to deal with the rest of her life.
The whole story is heart-wrenching and sordid, and now it’s on the mound, in the spotlight, of the first game of the College World Series.
And that’s the thing: The CWS does go on. But how does it react?
On Friday, Heimlich was asked how fans here might react and he said, “The fans can cheer me on. They can boo. They can do what they want. I’m here to play baseball.”
I honestly don’t know how fans will react when Heimlich takes the mound. I don’t think there will be boos. There might be light applause. Or silence. This is new territory for the CWS.
Some may say he deserves a second chance. Some may wonder what he’s doing here.
Ask Major League Baseball, which conducted its draft last week. There were 1,204 players selected. Heimlich, who has high first-round talent, was not chosen. For the second straight year.
If 30 MLB teams — which consist of good guys and bad guys, deadbeat dads and alcoholics and cheaters — decided they could not sell their fans on giving Heimlich a second chance, it raises a question.
Why is Oregon State?
This story came out a year ago, in the Oregonian newspaper, just before the 2017 super regionals. At the time, Heimlich took a leave of absence while Oregon State played for a trip to the CWS.
Oregon State President Ed Ray released a statement in which he said, “My heart goes out to the young girl in this matter, who was the victim of wrongdoing.”
Ray agreed that Heimlich taking leave was the right thing, citing the “disruption and distraction” to the team. But Ray also pointed out Heimlich’s good academic standing and his positive presence on the team.
And then he added, “If Luke wishes to do so, I support him continuing his education at Oregon State and rejoining the baseball team next season.”
So if the president of the school gives the green light, what’s a coach supposed to do?
OSU coach Pat Casey is a popular figure at the CWS and in Omaha. A man of integrity. His teams do things the right way. A lot of his fans in Omaha won’t understand this.
Casey does not say much on the matter. That’s been his policy all season. On Friday, I pulled the coach aside and asked if he wanted to explain his position on pitching Heimlich.
“There are many different thoughts and feelings that people may have there, and if I thought there was anything that I could say, that would help anybody that’s involved in the situation, I’d say it,” Casey said. “But there isn’t anything that I believe that’s been said that’s there to help everybody involved. That’s why I choose not to visit about it.”
When I asked him if he was trying to help Heimlich, Casey said, “I try to help all young men.”
And that was the end of the discussion.
There will be accusations that Casey is doing this to win, but I don’t believe that. The man has won two national championships. OSU fell short last year without Heimlich, and the thought is Heimlich could put the Beavers over the top this year. But that’s not how Casey is built. I don’t think that’s what is going on.
I have a theory, and it leads me back in time, to another emotionally charged story here at home.
That’s the Tom Osborne-Lawrence Phillips saga from 1995. It’s not a strict comparison, of course. This was college football, with a much wider spotlight, and Phillips was 20 when he physically assaulted a woman.
But some comparisons here work. Phillips was a star running back on a team with national title aspirations. He was suspended during the 1995 season and brought back toward the end by Osborne, who didn’t need Phillips to win the national title.
That decision brought the wrath of the national media on Osborne — and Nebraska. I disagreed with the idea that Phillips should play, but I believed then Osborne was acting for what he deemed the right interests. He didn’t want to “throw away” Phillips. He was afraid of what might have happened if he did. He thought the structure of remaining on the team would help Phillips deal with anger issues and move on.
Years later, after Phillips could not solve his issues and was back in trouble and out of the NFL, I asked Osborne if he learned anything from that episode. He said, “You can’t save everybody. But that doesn’t mean you don’t try.”
Osborne would stay in contact with Phillips, writing him letters and visiting him in prison before his death there in recent years. The teacher could not abandon his troubled pupil. That relationship put the 1995 decisions into focus.
Is that why Heimlich is here at the CWS? I don’t know. Maybe one day Casey will elaborate on this. Maybe not.
It will be something to watch the impact on this series. It might be minimal. Will ESPN make mention? Many fans who attend CWS games don’t follow college baseball closely. This is our party. There’s a game right after Oregon State-North Carolina. Then two more Sunday.
Heimlich won’t pitch every day, but if the favored Beavers hold chalk, he could potentially go three times, including in the championship series.
There are other storylines, of course. Mike Fox and North Carolina back to break through. Dave Van Horn with a national championship-caliber club and his old friend Texas in the way. Mississippi State passion. And the new, cool kid on the block, Washington.
We will keep track of game times and home runs, and the CWS always seems to show us something we haven’t seen.