Crack of the Bat
By David Rawnsley
Early Season College Freshman Update
We've said many times how difficult it is for freshman to step in at top college programs and contribute right away. But every year there are numerous Perfect Game/WWBA alumni who do just that, help their college teams win from February of their first year.
Here are some who have stood out early in the 2006 college season
NOTE: If you know of a freshman who is off to a fast start, please email the information to wwba1@aol.com. It's impossible to review every team and we'd like to include as many youngsters as possible in future updates.
1B Justin Smoak, SS Reese Havens and RHP Mike Cisco were key players, along with Georgia Tech sophomore All American Matt Weiters, on the Diamond Devils team that won the 2004 WWBA 18U championship from the 16th seed position. They are now at South Carolina and off to solid starts for the 8-1 Gamecocks. Smoak is hitting .333, 1, 7 with 9 walks and 2 K's. Havens is hitting .250, 0, 7 while starting at shortstop. Cisco has throw 8 innings out of the bullpen, allowing only 1 walk and 1 hit while punching out 9.
Defending National Champion Texas also features three freshman whose names are very familiar to PG/WWBA fans. Brad Suttle, the MVP of the 2004 WWBA 17U National Championships, is starting at third base and hitting .298, 0, 10 with a team leading 6 doubles. OF Jordan Danks is at .250, 0, 11 with 3 triples and a co-team leading 11 Rbi's. He shares the Rbi lead with fellow freshman outfielder Kyle Russell, who is hitting .481, 11 in 9 starts after hitting a dramatic game winning pinch hit home run in his college debut.
When Suttle was named MVP of the 2004 WWBA 17U National Championship, his team, the South Texas Sliders, made an unexpected run to tournament semi-finals. Looking back at that team, not only did they have Suttle, who shined as much on the mound as he did at the plate, they had another 2-way star in Kyle Thebeau. Thebeau has been nails on the mound for new Texas A&M coach Rob Childress and the Aggies are 10-1 with a team ERA of 1.66. Thebeau is 1-0, 1.17 with 15 innings pitched, 7 hits allowed and 18 K's.
A third school with a trio of stud freshman leading the way is Arizona State. Ike Davis leads the team in innings pitched (26 1/3) and K's (27). Davis is hitting .288 with a team leading 16 Rbi's while playing first base. C Preston Paramore is hitting .280, 1, 8 with 10 walks and only 4 K's. Brett Wallace is making a run for more playing time while hitting .409, 2, 4 in only 18 at bats. All three were AFLAC All-Americans in high school.
LHP Jeremy Bleich of Stanford is having no problems with college hitters and is an early candidate for Freshman Pitcher of the Year consideration. Bleich has appeared in 8 of The Cardinal's first 13 games and is 1-1, 0.77 with 5 saves. The key stat: 0 walks in 11.2 innings.
Another pitcher excelling at a West Coast school is Tyson Ross, who has stepped right into the California starting rotation behind potential top draft pick Brandon Morrow. Ross threw a 5 inning rain shortened shutout this past weekend and is now 2-1, 3.38 and shares the team strikeout lead with Morrow at 22.
Two West Coast position players are helping their teams get off to fast starts. SS Danny Espinosa has started all 13 games for Long Beach State and is hitting .306, 0, 8 and leading the team with 9 runs scored. OF David Cooper started off as a pinch hitter for Cal State Fullerton, but his bat was too good to keep out of the line up. Cooper is hitting .424 with a team leading 12 Rbi's despite starting only 6 games.
A West Coast player who moved across the country, 1B Allan Dykstra, is batting clean up for Wake Forest as a freshman. Dykstra went 5-8 last weekend in Wake Forest wins over then #1 Florida and #12 Missouri and is now hitting .290, 1, 5 with 7 walks in 9 games.
When Buster Posey was playing in PG and WWBA events, including the 2004 Perfect Game National Showcase, the focus was almost all on his talents as a pitcher, which included a fastball that would touch 93-94 mph. With Florida State having a staff full of veterans on the mound, Posey has been the Seminoles starting shortstop and might never make it back to the mound. Posey is hitting .341, 0, 11 with 10 walks and 12 runs scored.
A two-way player who is making an impact on both sides of the ball is Houston's Luis Flores. Flores has started 11 games behind the plate for the Cougars and his hitting .285, 0, 2. On the mound, Flores is 1-1, 3.18 and has 15 K's in 11 innings.
RHP Jordan Muir's BYU team struggled at the start of the season, starting up to 6 freshmen at once in starting the season 1-8. Maybe the solution is to have Muir pitch more; he's 0-0, 0.00 after 10 innings, with 10 K's.
The Tennessee Volunteers have been making lots of noise with their recruiting in the State of Florida. In the case of their two top freshman this spring, they've looked closer to home and to the north. SS Tony Delmonico, the son of the Vols coach, skipped his senior year in high school to start his college career for dad and hasn't missed a beat, hitting .333, 0, 7 with a team leading 9 runs. RHP Josh Lindblom, who didn't sign after being a 3rd round pick out of an Indiana high school, is 2-0, 3.98 on the mound with 28 K's in 20 innings.
This column represents the thoughts and opinions of the author and are not necessarily those of Perfect Game.