Preseason College All-American Team
Happy New Year! I hope everyone out there had a very nice holiday season. Santa was kind enough to leave some season tickets in my stocking, so I’m guessing I was on his “nice” list.

And that of course has me thinking baseball, and thankfully we don’t have to wait long before players at the professional, college and high school levels start taking the field.

Pitchers and catchers at the big-league level don’t report for another month and a half, right around when the college baseball season will begin. 2008 is the first year that the NCAA will be implementing the universal starting date, with all teams scheduled to take the field on February 22. And the Perfect Game showcase season quickly gets into swing at the beginning of the New Year with the annual World Showcase.

PG Crosschecker over the next several weeks will be previewing the upcoming college baseball season by identifying the top teams and players to go along with other features. I am going to preview the upcoming college baseball season in a variety of ways as well during the month of January. I’ll start this week by naming my own preseason All-American team, with the same caveat I made the past two years: Only players that have previously participated at Perfect Game showcase events are eligible.

Catcher
Buster Posey – Florida State
Posey is the first of five members from the 2004 Aflac All-American Classic to make this list. His athleticism and arm strength have allowed him to excel as a pitcher and at shortstop, and last year he made the move to behind the dish. With quick, strong hands, Posey makes very good consistent contact and has hit well two summers playing on the Cape. His arm strength allows him to neutralize the opposing running game, and he runs very well for a catcher. Despite not having much power potential, he profiles as a legitimate first-round pick come June in a weak class for catchers.

Honorable mention: Petey Paramore, Arizona State.

First Base
Brett Wallace – Arizona State
Another former Aflac All-American, Wallace is a pretty good athlete despite not having the most perfect picture body, but he has one of the best approaches to hitting. He wears pitchers down by rarely swinging at bad pitches while crushing mistakes. A patient eye allows him to get on base at a very high clip, and he’s not afraid to hit with two strikes. He has very good power to all fields and excellent plate coverage. He profiles very similar to Scott Hatteberg who has enjoyed a very long career as one of the game’s finer professional hitters.

Honorable mention: Allan Dykstra, Wake Forest

Second Base
Jemile Weeks – Miami
This marks the second year in a row Weeks has been on this list. He profiles as a prototypical leadoff hitter, with very good speed, a patient eye and a switch-hitting bat with a little bit of pop. He along with first baseman Yonder Alonso form one of the more impressive infield duos in all of college baseball. Weeks 2007 season was slowed due to injury, as he looks to pick up where he left off after his sensational freshman year.

Honorable mention: David Adams, Virginia.

Third Base
Pedro Alvarez – Vanderbilt
This is also the second year in a row that Alvarez has been named to this list, and he like his Commodores teammate from a year ago, David Price, Alvarez enters this spring as the favorite to be taken first overall in the draft. An imposing left-handed hitter, he has the potential to be an impact player at the highest level for a very long time. His 55 doubles and 49 home runs during his college career, which includes two stints with Team USA, show what kind of power he possesses.

Honorable mention: David Doss, South Alabama.

Shortstop
Ryan Flaherty - Vanderbilt
Flaherty may not have the ideal range to play shortstop at the next level, but the right organization may be willing to trade off range for his heady and steady play. As a left-handed hitter, he hits for contact and drives the ball from gap to gap as evidenced by his 55 collegiate doubles. He hasn’t hit extremely well during the summers the past two years, but received praise from coaches and scouts for the adjustments he made as he became more acclimated to using a wood bat.

Honorable mention: Danny Espinosa, Long Beach State.

Outfield
David Cooper - California
Cooper has always been a very good hitter, and he posted some very impressive numbers last spring at Cal after transferring from Cal State Fullerton. Once a talented two-way player, he is expected to focus on hitting moving forward with a very solid approach. He doesn’t strike out much, although he hasn’t consistently tapped into his power stroke either up to this point in time, but he has consistently hit over .300 as a left-handed hitter. He’s at his best at first base, but depending on how his power evolves, he may be a better fit in left field.

Jordan Danks – Texas
Yet another player making his second appearance on this list, Danks is also a former Aflac All-American and is the younger brother of John Danks, who is now with the Chicago White Sox. Jordan could have been a first-round pick coming out of high school with an exciting blend of power and speed, but he made it very clear early that he fully intended to honor his commitment to play for the Longhorns. The power hasn’t emerged in two years with the Longhorns (six home runs) but he’s been extremely efficient on the basepaths (26 swipes in 26 attempts).

Ike Davis – Arizona State
This former Aflac All-American was actually named the MVP of the 2004 event, hitting a solo shot down the right field line that turned out to be the difference in that contest. Similar to David Cooper, Davis came to college as a talented two-way star, but his future is best as a left-handed hitter with promising power potential. He has hit in several talented Sun Devil lineups the past few years, but like Cooper hasn’t put up gaudy power numbers yet.

Honorable mention: Gabe Cohen (UCLA), D’Vontrey Richardson (FSU) and Devin Shepherd (Community College of Southern Nevada).

Utility
Zach Putnam - Michigan
Big things were expected of Michigan when Putnam decided to forego professional baseball as one of the top prospects for the 2005 draft, and they opened a lot of eyes a year ago by knocking out Vanderbilt at their home park in the regionals before being swept by the eventual national champion Oregon State Beavers in the super regionals. Putnam was a big part of that as a two-way talent, going 8-5 with a 3.87 ERA on the mound as the team’s Friday ace while hitting .330 with eight home runs as the team’s DH.

Honorable mention: Luke Greinke, Auburn.

Starting Pitcher
Jacob Thompson - Virginia
Thompson has been nearly unbeatable in his first two years at Virginia, compiling a 21-4 record with an ERA just above 2.00. With a tall and lanky, projectable build, he profiles as a mid first-round pick given his success alone, as he doesn’t overpower batters. He has a low-90s heater and a very good curveball, and commands the strike zone well, but his delivery does put some stress on his pitching shoulder, which has drawn a few concerns from scouts.

Tyson Ross – California
Similar to Thompson as a tall and lanky righty, Ross was Team USA’s best and most reliable starter last summer considering Thompson, Brian Matusz and Lance Lynn all left the team mid-summer. Ross doesn’t have an overpowering fastball, but he commands it very well, and many wonder how hard he would throw if he got more extension in his follow-through, as he remains almost completely upright throughout his entire delivery. His 12-10 record at Cal isn’t completely indicative of how well he has pitched as he hasn’t exactly received the best run support.

Preston Guilmet – Arizona
Guilmet went 12-2 last spring with a 1.87 ERA serving as the Wildcats staff ace against some very tough Pac-10 lineups. Similar to both Ross and Thompson, Guilmet relies more on guile and command than raw, pure stuff, as he controls the strike zone very well by changing speeds and hitting his spots with his three-pitch repertoire. Guilmet doesn’t factor into conversations for the first-round when it comes to the draft very often, but could be taken early based on his success alone, similar to Pepperdine’s Barry Enright a year ago.

Honorable mention: Jeremy Bleich (Stanford), Brett Jacobson (Vanderbilt), Scott Barnes (St. John’s).

Relief Pitcher
Bryan Shaw – Long Beach State
In two years at Long Beach and the two summers in between, Shaw has quietly compiled 30 saves. He has done so commanding a low to mid-90s fastball that has some sink to it as well as a pretty good slider. He doesn’t profile as well as some other closers that could be in the mix for first round consideration since he doesn’t throw near triple digits, but he has been one of the more successful late inning stoppers for one of the nation’s better baseball programs. In that regard, he profiles in a similar fashion to last year’s representative at this position, Andrew Carignan.

Honorable mention: Aaron Weatherford, Mississippi State.

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.