So Vandy has 3 of the top 20, all pitchers. No wonder they are so good every year, they can get pitchers.

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They're not stepping foot on campus but I have bad news for you Hawger. Neither is McKinney. That kid is awesome.

I am a little disappointed to not see Arkansas better represented on that list, but maybe they don't go after a lot of those players knowing they are going to be drafted. I will be curious to see how they do this coming year, they lost a ton of pitching.

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It's tough but I think Van Horn does a good job of getting talent on campus. They'll be fine pitching wise. You know they have plenty of arms in reserves. I read Brett Mcaffe was playing outstanding this fall. They need another offensive player to go along with Anderson and Spoon.

Their offense was abysmal last year, it was hard to watch with the pitching they had. They need a few players to step up this year, Anderson can really hit and hopefully with a little bit more power this year.

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Brady Aiken LHP Cathedral Catholic HS 6'4” 205: Aiken is a very projectable left hander with lots of polish and pitchability. Aiken throws from a ¾ arm slot and his above average fastball sits 89-91 and can touch 93 with late arm side run. Aiken's big slow 1-to-7 curveball flashes above average to plus but needs to show more consistency. Aiken's plus changeup shows excellent arm speed and good deception with plenty of late sink. Aiken's a very good athlete with a loose easy delivery that is very repeatable and features an advanced feel for pitching. Aiken projects as a top of the rotation starter.

Nick Gordon SS Olympia HS 6'0 170: Gordon (son of Flash) is a two way player and a tremendous athlete with the ability to stay in the middle of the infield. Gordon has an easy smooth line drive swing and the ability to consistenly barrell up the ball. Gordon is not a power hitter but with added strength could be a gap to gap doubles hitter. Gordon has natural defensive ability with soft hands and outstanding range. Gordon has a plus arm with good carry and accyracy. Gordon is a plus runner with very good base stealing instints which should produce high stolen base totals. Gordon projects as a middle infielder and top of the order hitter.

Braxton Davidson 1B TC Roberson HS 6'1”215: Davidson is the best pure prep hitter in the draft. The left handed hitting Davidson has a violent powerful swing with natural loft that generates tons of bat speed and plus raw power. Davidson has an advanced approach and feel for hitting which allows him to make consistent hard contact and the ability to drive to ball out to all fields. Davidson is just an average athlete with below average speed. Davidson has soft hands decent range and an above average throwing arm. Davidson projects as a first baseman and middle of the order hitter.

Aaron Nola RHP LSU 6'1” 185: Nola is a slender highly polished college pitcher with outstanding makeup and command. Nola's above average fastball sits 89-92 and can touch 93 with heavy arm side fade. Nola's above average hard bitting curveball shows depth and a two plane break. Nola's plus swing and miss changeup has excellent deception with good depth and arm side fade. Nola is a good athlete who throws from a low ¾ arm slot with a free and easy delivery which allows him to aggressively pound the strike zone with a nice three pitch mix. Nola projects to be a top of the rotation starter.

Kodi Medeiros LHP Waiakea HS 6'1' 190: Medeiros is the biggest wild card in the draft. Medeiros is flat out nasty who slings the ball with a low ¾ arm slot. Medeiros fastball sits 91-93 and can touch 95 with tremendous deception and late movement. Medeiros throws an unhittable bugs bunny slider with tight spin and an unbelievable amount of break. Medeiros rarely throws a changeup but at this point with two plus plus offerings why would he. Medeiros is a good athlete with an unconventional delivery and is still a little raw. Medeiros needs to work on consistency and command as he tends to over stride and overthrow. Medeiros projects to be an ace with an added third pitch or a shut down closer.

Here's a video of Kodi Medeiros. I love how the catcher has problems catching his warm up pitches and he's one of the top HS catchers in the counrty. The same thing happened in Jupiter. Check out the back to back sliders at 1:04. Filthy nasty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My0UF4Ow3fQ

Still feeling the sting of that Jason Stumm draft pick?

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Looks like the LOOGY from hell. I wouldn't want to be the umpire in that video.

Sign me up for that Davidson guy. Looks like a flat out masher: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkkXCxU2UXo

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That catcher didn't have "problems", he flat couldn't catch him

I wonder who was happier when that outing ended, the catcher or the (wide eyed) blue?

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He looks like Jim Parque

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1: Houston- Carlos Rodon LHP North Carolina St
2: Miami- Alex Jackson C Rancho Bernado HS
3: Chicago WS- Jeff Hoffman RHP East Carolina
4: Chicago Cubs- Trea Turner SS North Carolina St
5: Minnesota- Tyler Kolek RHP Shepard HS
6: Seattle- Braxton Davidson 1B TC Roberson
7: Philadelphia- Brady Aiken LHP Cathedral Catholic HS
8: Colorado- Jacob Gatewood SS Clovis HS
9: Toronto- Grant Holmes RHP Conway HS
10: NY Mets- Sean Newcomb LHP Hartford
11: Toronto- Touki Toussaint RHP Coral Springs HS

Florida HS baseball started last night and Touki was up to 96. Nice way to start out the year, Touk.

I just hope he didn't throw 30-35 pitches an inning.

He was/is electric, but I still remember zero control.

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He was on a pitch count and only went 2.1 innings so he got there pretty quick but that's ok, Reader. He has plenty of time to learn command/control.

I would bet an indoor field would be a huge money maker in this city. I know there are places with reduced infields and outfields, like Frozen Ropes near my house. However, I am talking about a full size field with reasonable outfield. You could have high school teams fighting for time from November to March...run holiday tournaments to extend the season. I bet it would be as popular as Icehouse or Windy City Fieldhouse are for other sports.

Do you know of anything like that around here Keyser?

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There is a place up in Appleton that is like what you are talking about, but really has no outfield per se. They have 90 ft base paths so the infiled is fine but the walls are short in the outfield and they have netting above with specific rules of how it is played. Now, you can still get the live hitting and infield work so it is better than nothing.

It is called Players Choice and you can see photos here:

http://www.pcappleton.com/

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The best one I know is The Max in McCook. It's absolutely enormous and all the best showcases are held there. They held the Super 60 on Sunday. The top 60 (64 this year) high school players from 11 midwest states. There was easily over 100 scouts there.

Full infield including catchers and outfielders can field semi flyballs and make all their throws. BP is great because the net is about 200 ft away (that's because they were playing a soccer game on the other side) so you can really see how the ball comes off the bat.

I'm not sure if they rent it out to individual teams but it would be a tremendous advantage to anyone who can afford it.

Tyler Kolek topped at 99 in his spring debut. Lots and lots and lots of choices at the top of the draft.

Jeff Hoffman (E. Carolina) pitched 6.2 innings gave up 3 earned runs and struck out 6. He sat 94-97. Not a bad start.

Beede went 5 innings gave up 0 runs 1 hit 1 walk and 7 k's. He sat 90-94 topped at 96 and retired 13 in a row. This was a huge start for him.

Carlos Rodon had his first start of the season yesterday and sat 92-94. He went 6 innings 4 hits 2 ER 1 BB 6 K's 3 HBP. Sounds like he fought his command all day especially with his slider.

I've always wanted to look into why Frozen Ropes was taken into bankruptcy within the last year or two. Back in the little league days, I remember having to settle for really crappy times to get work in out there....and settling. But it worked for 8-11 year olds.

What's also happened is that certain elite travel programs basically have their own space with at least one if not two infields, 6-8-12 cages and a few mounds. Bo's dome, McCook, we have one mammoth space in Lynwood. They're all around now.

Btw, you can't legally hold high school practices (with actual hs coaches) until later next week. IHSA rules. Technically get caught & coach X is gonna lose some game time. So they settle for "conditioning", other work & get pissed at the travel players who are with their travel teams until Feb. 24th.

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During an intrasquad game HS RHP Grant Holmes was sitting 94-96 and topped at 98.

Tyler Beede with another inpressive performance last night. 6 IP 1 H 1 ER 1 BB 11 K's.

Last season in 101 innings he had 63 BB's and 103 K's. Thru 11 innings this season he has 2 BB's and 18 k's while surrendering only 2 hits.

From the end of the 2013 season thru his first two starts this season LSU RHP Aaron Nola has thrown 40.2 consecutive scoreless innings. In his last outing he pitched 7 hitless innings issuing 1 walk and striking out 8.

Thru 8 games Wichita St switch hitting 1B Casey Gillaspie, Conor's not so little brother (6'4" 240) is hitting .594 with 3 home runs 15 RBI and an OPS of 1.721.

Carlos Rodon sat 93-95 and had much better command of his wipeout slider during 2-0 loss to UCLA. His line read:

7 IP 3 H 1 ER 3 BB 8 K's

Jeff Hoffman was dominate in his Friday start sitting 94-96 and topping at 97 while showing his hammer curveball and plus change.

8 IP 5 H 0 ER 1 BB 14 K's

Tyler Beede continued his excellent start of the season with another very good outing Friday night. Beede sat 92-95 while featuring an above average curveball and plus change.

7 IP 3 H 1 ER 3 BB 6 K's

HS RHP Jack Flaherty made his season debut tonight. He sat 88-92 and showed a much improved slider. Flaherty had 13 K's and 0 BB's.

HS RHP Jonah Patten (Norwell HS) has been suspended for the season due to possession of chewing tobacco. Patten is an Arkansas recruit and one of the top prospects in Indiana.