OVERVIEW:
What originally looked like a down year in the state turned out pretty well,
especially after the University Nebraska rebounded quickly from a poor 2007
season and rose as high as fifth in the national rankings late in the spring.
The emergence of junior-college transfer Aaron Pribanic as a legitimate top
5-round prospect helped draw scouts to Cornhusker games, and the re-emergence
of four-year starter Johnny Dorn gave the team some mental toughness and
leadership. Led by that pair, it’s possible that the first four Nebraska
players drafted could be Cornhusker pitchers.
Scouts also showed a rare interest
this spring in a Nebraska high school player for the first time since Kansas
City Royals third baseman Alex Gordon, the second pick in the 2005 draft, was
an undrafted senior at a Lincoln high school six years ago. Grand Island High
two-way player Kash Kalkowski is a legitimate prospect, but whether the
hard-throwing righthander is actually signable may be another matter as he is
committed to Nebraska, and only one Nebraska high school player has gone
directly from high school to professional baseball in the last 20 years. A
Nebraska high school player hasn’t even been drafted since 2004.
In an indirect way, Nebraska can
also stake a claim in this year’s draft on wayward righthander Jason Jarvis,
the ex-Arizona State pitcher who dropped out of college in March, became
eligible for the draft and has since been pitching with the Lincoln Saltdogs of
the independent American Association. For the purposes of our state-by-state
preview, Jarvis was grouped with Arizona.
This might be as good as it gets
in Nebraska for a few years. The Cornhuskers have not recruited high-profile
talent to the Upper Midwest for a couple of years, and while Creighton runs a
quality program and annually contends for Missouri Valley League championships,
it leans heavily on local talent that is fundamentally strong but not
necessarily pro-type material.
Of course, no one had ever heard
of Joba Chamberlain, either, before he transferred to Nebraska as a sophomore
from Division II Nebraska-Kearney in 2005.
STRENGTH:
University of Nebraska’s veteran team.
WEAKNESS:
High-school/small-college talent
OVERALL RATING
(1-to-5 scale): 3.
Best Out-of-State Prospect,
Nebraska Connection:
Conor Gillaspie, 3b, Wichita State U. (Attended high school in Omaha).
Top 2009 Prospect:
Mike Nesseth, rhp, U. of Nebraska.
Top 2010 Prospect:
David Stewart, of, U. of Nebraska.
Highest Pick, Draft History:
Darin Erstad, of, U. of Nebraska (1995, Angels/1st round, 1st
pick).
Highest Pick, 2006 Draft:
Joba Chamberlain, rhp, U. of
Nebraska (Yankees, 1st round, 41st pick).
Highest Pick, 2007 Draft:
Drew Bowman, lhp, U. of
Nebraska (Reds/5th round).
Best
College Team: Nebraska.
Best
Junior College Team:
Western Nebraska.
Best
High School Team:
Grand Island.
TOP PROSPECTS /
By David Rawnsley
GROUPS (College, Junior
College, High School)
1 Premium-round draft (Rounds 1-3)
2
High-round draft (Rounds 4-10)
3
Mid-round draft (Rounds 11-25)