Crack of the Bat

by Patrick Ebert

College Closers
The relatively instant success of college closers drafted early the past several years, including Chad Cordero and Huston Street, has made the idea of taking such a player en vogue in baseball.  This year’s group of college closers is one of the strongest sub-categories of players available, with four to six pitchers that could find themselves being selected in the first round of the draft.

Below I will profile a baker’s dozen of the more recognizable college closers that are available for this June’s draft.

Andrew Carignan
Carignan’s pure stuff isn’t as nasty as many of his fellow college closing peers listed here, but his low-to-mid-90s fastball and solid curveball are good enough to get the job done.  He has an aggressive approach on the mound, and commands the strike zone extremely well.  The Tar Heel probably isn’t a first-rounder, but his name should be off of the board by the end of the third.

Brett Cecil
The first of three lefties on this list, Cecil may throw consistently the hardest with a fastball that lives in the 92-96 range that he complements with a nasty mid-80s slider.  That one-two punch makes him tailor-made for a late inning role, as does his max-effort delivery and somewhat questionable mechanics.  As an always-coveted hard-throwing lefty, this Maryland Terrapin could sneak into the first round.

Sam Demel
Demel has bounced between the bullpen and the starting rotation during his first two years at TCU, but found his niche as a closer last summer pitching for the Cape Cod League, finishing second in the circuit in saves to Joshua Fields (profiled just below).  He has drawn a few Roy Oswalt comparisons since his high school days given his smallish stature yet imposing arsenal, highlighted by one of the better curveballs available for the 2007 draft.

Blair Erickson
By this time next week Erickson may be college baseball’s most prolific closers of all-time, as he is three saves away from holding the all-time mark.  A possible first-round pick a year ago, Erickson’s low-to-mid-90s velocity dipped to the 87-90 range, and while he maintained his powerful slider and overall effectiveness, his dip in velocity caused him to slide in the eyes of scouts.  He continues to succeed during his senior year at UC Irvine.

Joshua Fields Arguably the most electric closer available this year, Fields uses a mid-90s heater and nasty mid-80s slider to record his outs.  While Fields has been knocked around a little bit so far this spring pitching for the Georgia Bulldogs, opposing hitters had no chance catching up with his stuff last summer on the Cape .

Cory Gearrin
Pitching for relatively obscure Mercer College , Gearrin is yet another pitcher on this list that proved his wares on the Cape last summer.  While his fastball sits right around 90 mph, he has a very good slider, and changes the batters eye by pitching from a near-sidearm delivery that makes him especially difficult for right-handed batters to hit.  He may be more of a specialist a la Chad Bradford at the next level.

Paul Koss Koss re-established himself on the Cape Cod League last summer after having a rough junior season, and he has carried that success into his senior year.  Similar to Carignan, Koss isn’t the most dynamic of closers, but his low-90s fastball and plus slider get the job done more often than not for the USC Trojans.

Eddie Kunz
Kunz has one really, really good pitch:  A hard, sinking fastball that sits in the 92-95 range.  He has yet to show a consistent breaking pitch, but so far he hasn’t really needed one, succeeding both for the College World Series Champion Oregon State Beavers and on the Cape last summer.

Daniel Moskos
While many of the names on this list starred on the Cape last summer, Clemson’s Daniel Moskos served as Team USA ’s closer, and wowed scouts with a fastball that touched 96.  His repertoire is balanced enough that some teams may choose to try and develop him as a starter, as he also knows how to repeat his delivery well and can sustain low-90s velocity deep into ballgames.

Wynn Pelzer
The Gamecocks have tried to use Pelzer’s live arm in a variety of ways since his freshman year, but he entered the 2007 season entrenched as the team’s closer.  With a very athletic frame and effortless delivery, he has no problems pounding the strike zone with mid-90s fastballs.

Cole St. Clair
St. Clair served as Moskos’ primary set-up man for Team USA last summer, an interesting luxury for the national team to have as they are both hard-throwing lefties with good, overall repertoires.  St. Clair has yet to pitch this season for Rice due to a shoulder injury, but when healthy he is very hard to hit given his unorthodox delivery that creates a good deal of deception.

Brant Rustich
Rustich is similar to Kunz in that he has a big, durable body and excellent life on his low-to-mid-90s fastball.  Also similar to Kunz, Rustich hasn’t had made much progress developing his secondary offerings, but he hasn’t needed to.  While he has four saves on the season so far for UCLA, his ERA is over 6.00 at this point in time, so he’ll need to find a way to get that down to go early in June.

Casey Weathers
Weathers starts his college career as an outfielder at Sacramento City College , and when it was quickly determined that he probably wouldn’t do much with the bat, he was converted to the mound to take advantage of his amazing natural arm strength.  He has since transferred to Vanderbilt, and he has approached the triple digits with his fastball, and has an equally dominant slider.  Weathers has been nearly un-hittable so far this spring.

Other Candidates

There are a few other college pitchers that may profile best as short relievers at the professional level.

Golden Gopher Gary Perinar spent his first two years pitching out of Minnesota ’s bullpen, which is where he also thrived in high school competing in numerous Perfect Game showcase events.  After Minnesota lost a couple of key arms, they determined Perinar was needed more in their weekend rotation.  He has always been about his fastball, and his limited repertoire will call for a move back to the bullpen at the professional level.

Miami (Ohio) RHP Connor Graham is built like an ox, tall and strong, and while he currently starts for the Redhawks, his size, fastball-slider combo and suspect mechanics may be best suited in the ‘pen.

LSU LHP Charlie Furbush has great stuff, but is somewhat refined.  His fastball and curveball are two very good pitches that could help him succeed in short relief.

A few other pitchers that are currently closers that don’t have the scouting profiles as the players listed above include right-handers Jason Dominguez (Pepperdine, who replaced Ben Hunter when he was moved to the rotation), Enrique Garcia (Miami) and Jess Todd (Arkansas) as well as lefty Daniel Schlereth, son of ESPN NFL analyst Mark Schlereth.  Schlereth in particular has a power arsenal and has pitched well so far this year, although he has walked 15 batters in 14.1 innings of work.

The thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those of Perfect Game USA .  Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.