With the draft behind us, the summer showcase and college summer wood bat league season is well underway as scouts turn their attention to the top talent available for the 2009 draft.

The Northwoods League actually began a week before the draft, starting in late May.

The league is truly unique in that the premise of the league is to emulate professional baseball, as the season length, number of teams, bats, balls, travel and many other key aspects are very similar to that of a short-season league.

Despite having most of the teams hailing from Minnesota and Wisconsin, the league spans from as far East as Battle Creek, Michigan to as far north as Thunder Bay, Ontario, as the Northwoods League offers a summer experience for college players that they can’t get a taste for anywhere else.

Much of the talent as listed on last year’s top prospect list is represented by underclassmen, as the more notable, draft eligible prospects that are about to enter their junior years often participate in the Cape Cod League, or even with Team USA, but the Northwoods League does continue to grow in popularity on all levels, which their impressive attendance figures can attest to.

Some of the top prospects from last year that were not eligible for this year’s draft include Victor and Tony Sanchez (no relation), Brett Jackson and Craig Fritsch. Those four players are playing on the Cape this summer.

Darin Ruf and Isaac Morales, who were eligible for this year’s draft but were not selected, also are playing on the Cape this summer.

Aaron Senne also fits in this conversation, although he is expected to report to Rochester as we was not selected to participate all summer long with Team USA despite hitting .286 with three home runs and a .762 slugging percentage during the trials.

His Team USA trials teammate, Bryan Morgado, is also expected to join the Northwoods League with the La Crosse Loggers.

Eric Thames, who was last year’s top prospect and was selected in the seventh round by the Blue Jays, would have gone much earlier, probably in the sandwich round, had he not suffered a torn hamstring late in the spring.

Other notable draftees include Long Beach State’s Dave Roberts, who went in the fourth round (Indians), Andy Dirks in the eighth (Tigers) and David Sappelt in the ninth (Reds).

The most notable returnees to the league include Nate Hanson (Mankato), Kole Calhoun (Eau Claire) and Brandon Wikoff (Madison).

Hanson was the league’s batting champ a year ago and was also named the MVP of the All-Star Game, although he has since signed with the Minnesota Twins as their 28^th round selection after playing 14 Northwoods League games this summer.

Calhoun was named the co-MVP of the circuit last summer as a talented two-way player that led the league in doubles and finished fourth in saves while also possessing the strongest arm in the outfield.

One scout I talked to last summer named Wikoff as the league’s most exciting player.

The biggest name making noise so far this summer is Mankato catcher Carlos Ramirez. He’s among the league leaders in nearly every single offensive category, currently leading the league in batting (.395), on-base percentage (.510), slugging percentage (.654) and is tied for first in home runs with four and extra-base hits with 13.

Ramirez is coming off an impressive sophomore year for Chandler-Gilbert Community College in which he was named a NJCAA Division I Gold Glove winner as a catcher. He has committed to play for Arizona State next year, where he should assume the everyday duties with Petey Paramore set to join the professional ranks. In two years at Chandler-Gilbert he hit .382/.487/.618, an impressive feat considering he is more than used to handling a wood bat the past few years.

Last summer saw two high school players listed among the league’s top prospects: Victor Sanchez and Kyle Blair. This year that trend continues as former Aflac All-American Andy Burns has joined the Duluth Huskies. The Fort Collins, Colorado native was drafted in the 25^th round by the Colorado Rockies, although it is expected that he will honor his commitment to play for the Kentucky Wildcats. With a polished offensive approach, so far he is more than holding his own playing against college players two to three years his elder, and like Sanchez and Blair, should figure prominently at the top of the league’s top prospect list when it is unveiled later this summer.

And if you blinked the past couple of weeks you missed that Wisconsin-Whitewater lefty Aaron Dott (La Crosse Loggers) already threw a no-hitter this summer, becoming only the eighth player to do so in the history of the Northwoods League.

Keep your eye on this column over the course of the summer as I plan to add updates on several notable Northwoods League prospects, including a first-hand report of the league’s All-Star Game.

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.