2011 midseason positional rankings: top 50 pitchers

Nick J. Faleris
April 28, 2011
 

Presented below are the DiamondScape Scouting midseason positional rankings for the 2011 draft class. We will be rolling out our top 15 catchers, first basemen, second basemen third basemen and shortstops, our top 30 outfielders, and our top 50 pitchers as of mid-April 2011. This series will culminate with our overall midseason top 300 draft prospects, which will post April 25-27, 2011:

Positional Rankings:  c  |  1b  | 2b  |  3b  |  ss  |  of  | p 
Midseason Top 300:  1 - 100  |  101 - 200  |  201 - 300

Stable of hurlers deep and dominant...
 
Clearly the strength of the class entering the spring, the arms have not disappointed thus far in 2011 and there is a chance as many as 20 or more arms could come off the board in the 1st Round in June.  Gerrit Cole (Univ. of California - Los Angeles) continues to lead the pack, bringing big stuff early and still offering the best overall blend of stuff, physicality and projection.  Sonny Gray (Vanderbilt Univ.) is right there with Cole when it comes to a fastball/breaking ball combo, but lags behind the UCLA ace in the refinement of his off-speed and overall command.  Matt Purke (Texas Christian Univ.) has been shelved with bursitis in his throwing shoulder -- a recent diagnosis that followed eight starts worth of solid stats but heavily diminished stuff.  Jed Bradley (Georgia Tech), Danny Hultzen (Univ. of Virginia) and Tyler Anderson (Univ. of Oregon) are all suitable heirs to the title of "top collegiate lefty" should Purke's setbacks stretch to the draft, with any of the three capable of coming off the board in the top five overall.  Trevor Bauer (Univ. of California - Los Angeles) has simply dominated the opposition this spring, but questions remain as to what extent that success will translate at the next level.  While he shows an excellent feel for the art of pitching, and backs it up with good pure stuff, he is generally imprecise with his offerings and draws some raised eyebrows due to his unorthodox mechanics and high pitch counts. Daniel Norris (Science Hill HS, Knoxville, Tenn.) maintains his hold as the top high school arm in the class, showing the potential for three plus or better offerings, an even demeanor on the mound and advanced approach to pitching.  Rushing up on him quickly, however, is Texas commit Dylan Bundy (Owasso HS, Owasso, Okla.), who came out this spring and quickly alleviated concerns over some down (by his standards) summer performances by showing perhaps the best raw stuff in the class behind Cole.  Jose Fernandez (Alonso HS, Tampa, Fla.) continues to impress with big velocity, good command and improving secondaries, and Taylor Guerrieri (North Augusta HS, North Augusta, S.C.) has put himself into position to jump into early-1st Round consideration off the strength of a velo jump to the 93-96 mph range and a curve that flashes plus at its best.  The April 28 DSS Draft Blog entry explores twelve of the below pitchers in more detail via a midseason stock up/stock down/stock hold piece.  The rankings below represent DiamondScape Scouting's midseason positional ranking for 2011 Rule 4 Draft-eligible amateurs only, with their preseason rankings in parentheses (green indicating a rise, red a fall and blue a hold in position):
  1. Gerrit Cole | Univ. of California - Los Angeles (1)
  2. Sonny Gray | Vanderbilt Univ. (3)
  3. Daniel Norris | Science Hill HS, Knoxville, Tenn. (4)
  4. Jed Bradley | Georgia Inst. of Tech. (Georgia Tech) (7)
  5. Taylor Jungmann | Univ. of Texas - Austin (5)
  6. Danny Hultzen | Univ. of Virginia (11)
  7. Dylan Bundy | Owasso HS, Owasso, Okla. (12)
  8. Archie Bradley | Broken Arrow HS, Broken Arrow, Okla. (6)
  9. Jose Fernandez | Alonso HS, Tampa, Fla. (13)
  10. Tyler Anderson | Univ. of Oregon (16)
  11. Trevor Bauer | Univ. of California - Los Angeles (14)
  12. John Stilson | Texas A&M Univ. (9)
  13. Matt Barnes | Univ. of Connecticut (8)
  14. Dillon Howard | Searcy HS, Searcy, Ark. (10)
  15. Alex Meyer | Univ. of Kentucky (25)
  16. Taylor Guerrieri | North Augusta HS, North Augusta, S.C. (29)
  17. Henry Owens | Edison HS, Huntington Beach, Calif. (17)
  18. Robert Stephenson | Alhambra HS, Martinez, Calif. (19)
  19. Michael Kelly |  West Boca Raton Comm. HS, Boca Raton, Fla. (20)
  20. Anthony Meo | Coastal Carolina Univ. (23)
  21. Hudson Boyd | Bishop Verot Catholic HS, Ft. Myers, Fla. (26)
  22. Kevin Comer | Seneca HS, Tabernacle, N.J. (38)
  23. Andrew Chafin | Kent St. Univ. (32)
  24. Jake Cave | Kecoughtan HS, Hampton, Va. (22)
  25. Kyle Winkler | Texas Christian Univ. (27)
  26. Tyler Beede | Lawrence Academy, Groton, Mass. (30)
  27. Logan Verrett | Baylor Univ. (21)
  28. Josh Osich | Oregon St. Univ. (NR)
  29. Joe Ross | Bishop O'Dowd HS, Oakland, Calif. (NR)
  30. Matt Purke | Texas Christian Univ. (2)
  31. Dillon Maples | Pinecrest HS, Southern Pines, N.C. (44)
  32. Sean Gilmartin | Florida St. Univ. (NR)
  33. Noe Ramirez | California St. Univ. - Fullerton (28)
  34. Tony Zych | Univ. of Louisville (18)
  35. Nick Burdi | Downers Grove HS, Downers Grove, Ill. (34)
  36. Bryan Brickhouse | The Woodlands HS, The Woodlands, Texas (33)
  37. Cody Kukuk | Lawrence Free State HS, Lawrence, Kan. (50)
  38. Carson Smith | Texas St. Univ. (31)
  39. Mason Hope | Broken Arrow HS, Broken Arrow, Okla. (39)
  40. Adam Conley | Washington St. Univ. (35)
  41. Matt Price | Univ. of South Carolina (41)
  42. Philip Pfeifer | Farragut HS, Knoxville, Tenn. (43)
  43. Jack Armstrong, Jr. | Vanderbilt Univ. (49)
  44. Andrew Gagnon | California St. Univ. - Long Beach (45)
  45. Adam McCreery | Bonita HS, La Verne, Calif. (42)
  46. Jerrick Suiter | Valparaiso HS, Valparaiso, Ind. (47)
  47. Rookie Davis | Dixon HS, Holly Ridge, N.C. (NR)
  48. Sam Stafford | Univ. of Texas - Austin (48)
  49. Ryan Carpenter | Gonzaga Univ. (37)
  50. Scott McGough | Univ. of Oregon (36)
 Dropped Out:  Austin Wood | Univ. of Southern California (15); Derek "Bubba" Starling | Gardner Edgerton HS, Gardner, Kan. (24); Madison Boer | Univ. of Oregon (40); Brett Mooneyham | Stanford Univ. (46)
 
 Top tools
 Fastball (Velo): Gerrit Cole | Univ. of California - Los Angeles

 Fastball (Overall):

 Gerrit Cole | Univ. of California - Los Angeles
 Curveball: Sonny Gray | Vanderbilt Univ.
 Slider: Gerrit Cole | Univ. of California - Los Angeles
 Off-speed: Danny Hultzen | Univ. of Virginia
 Future RHSP:
 Gerrit Cole | Univ. of California - Los Angeles
 Future LHSP:
 Daniel Norris | Science Hill HS, Knoxville, Tenn.
 Future Reliever:
 John Stilson | Texas A&M Univ.
 

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Rankings/RankingsArticlePCole.JPG
Gerrit Cole (photo by Nick J. Faleris)

Top Prospect:  Gerrit Cole | (UCLA)
Scouting Report Summary (full scouting report here):  
Cole has everything you want in a potential ace -- big, durable build, loud stuff that includes three plus or better pitches, an aggressive but under control demeanor on the mound and a desire and ability to attack hitters with his arsenal.  While he has not racked-up the strikeouts this spring of his rotation mate Trevor Bauer, Cole has shown legit ML "power stuff", better overall command in the zone and a less troubling, cleaner delivery.  Cole should be in the discussion for #1 overall, and is still the top arm in the draft two months in.  Coming out of high school there were some make-up concerns floating around, as well as mechanics to clean-up, consistency issues with his secondaries and spotty control.  He has addressed each and every one of these issues and has put himself in a position to follow in the footsteps of David Price (Tampa Bay Rays) and Stephen Strasburg (Washington Nationals) as a quick-to-rise Major League front-end starter.
Preseason Rankings
Positional Rankings: 
c  |  1b  | 2b  |  3b  |  ss  |  of  | p 
Top 300: 
 

 
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