Top 20 College Players

Doing a good season preview is painstaking and laborious; I will only do a preseason top 25 and a list of the best players in the nation. The various college baseball sites out in the interwebs do a magnificent job putting out the preview content anyway. In particular, check out Baseball America, College Baseball Today, and Rivals for the lowdown on the 2010 season. Without any regard to draft status or professional future, here's my list of the best D-1 college players for 2010. (Keep in mind that this is an inexact overview of the college landscape, and there is a preponderance of great players beyond this list.)

Anthony Rendon, 3B, Rice

Sophomore is capable of hitting .400/.500/.800 with 20+ homers and solid defense.

Anthony Ranaudo, rhp, LSU

Top draft prospect with excellent size and stuff.

Christian Colon, ss, Cal State Fullerton

Gamer embodies Titan baseball, is dangerous on both sides of the ball.

Bryce Brentz, of, Middle Tennessee State

Hit an astonishing .465/.535/.930 with 28 homers last season.

Deck McGuire, rhp, Georgia Tech

Proven ACC ace with plus stuff.

Josh Spence, lhp, Arizona State

Crafty Aussie toys with batters and will be crucial for ASU this season.

Drew Pomeranz, lhp, Ole Miss

Has devastating fastball-curve combo, was great in the postseason in '09.

Chris Sale, lhp, Florida Gulf Coast

Talented lefty could help FGCU take the Atlantic Sun title.

Daniel Bibona, lhp, UC Irvine

The Anteaters are thrilled their dependable ace is back for his senior season.

Tyler Holt, of, Florida State

Leadoff man compiled .520 OBP and 34 SBs last season.

Jarrett Parker, of, Virginia

Lacks control of the strike zone, but is an all-around beast at the college level.

Daniel Renken, rhp, Cal State Fullerton

Steady righthander will be a key cog in Fullerton's weekend rotation for the third year in a row.

Danny Hultzen, lhp, Virginia

Primed to build on his phenomenal freshman season. Three solid pitches, nifty first baseman on the side.

Alex Wimmers, rhp, Ohio State

K machine with plus curveball. Watch out for the Buckeyes.

Trevor Bauer, rhp, UCLA

Long-toss freak with nasty stuff, deception.

Gerrit Cole, rhp, UCLA

Now that Stephen Strasburg has moved on to bigger and better things, Cole has the most electric arm in the nation.

Taylor Jungmann, rhp, Texas

Showed in Omaha last year why many think he's on the verge of superstardom.

Tony Thompson, 3B, Kansas

Will miss first several weeks of '10 with injury, but hit .389/.442/.753 with 21 bombs last season.

Zack Cox, 3B, Arkansas

Big-time power from the left side, strong arm suits him well at third and in the bullpen.

Sleepers

B.A. Vollmuth, ss, Southern Miss

Levi Michael, 3B, North Carolina

Preston Tucker, 1B, Florida

Sam Gaviglio, rhp, Oregon State

Todd Cunningham, of, Jacksonville State

Sonny Gray, rhp, Vanderbilt

Robert "Bullet Bob" Morey, rhp, Virginia

Mike McGee, of/rhp, Florida State

Gary Brown, of, Cal State Fullerton

Sammy Solis, lhp, San Diego

Who else do you think deserves a spot?

ASU, Arkansas Stave Off Elimination

ASU and Arkansas will both live to play another day. The Sun Devils just got done taking care of North Carolina, while the Razorbacks outlasted Virginia last night in the most riveting game of the CWS so far.

Arkansas freshman lefty Drew Smyly got the ball last night against a fellow southpaw, freshman sensation Danny Hultzen. Hultzen turned in a gem (6.1 IP, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K) to solidify a spot on the Frosh All-American Team. 1B John Hicks and OF Dan Grovatt both went deep, and the Cavaliers held a 3-1 lead in the 9th. RHP Kevin Arico, usually a reliable closer, had the Hogs down to their last strike with nobody on base. 3B Zack Cox singled up the middle to keep it alive, and then CF Brett Eibner launched an absolute moonshot to left. Eibner was hitting .220, but it was definitely not a soft .220. The sophomore has incredible tools, and the homer was his 11th.

The Cavaliers still had plenty of chances to redeem themselves. They had the bases loaded with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th, but Hultzen grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. (To be fair, he did hit the ball sharply.) In the 10th, Virginia runners got to 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. Jarrett Parker and Hicks both struck out to end that rally. The Cavs also loaded the bases in the 11th and got a leadoff double in the 12th to no avail. Credit LHP Dallas Keuchel, the Razorbacks' ace, for getting through 4 pressure-packed innings performing numerous escape jobs. OF Andrew Darr hit a go-ahead double in the top of the 12th to join Eibner as an offensive hero. Last night's game was definitely Virginia's to lose, and, boy, did they ever lose it.

Tonight's ASU/UNC rematch was really a tale of two games. Carolina led 4-0 in the middle of the 5th inning. Sun Devil OF Kole Calhoun (a breakout star of this year's CWS) blasted a game-tying grand slam to tie it in the 5th, then ASU poured on 8 more in a crazy 7th inning to run away with the "W". Josh Spence (7 IP, 3 ER) was spectacular on short rest. Calhoun, 2B Zack MacPhee, C Carlos Ramirez, and OF Jason Kipnis all had good offensive games, but UNC's normally-stellar pitching was the real culprit. Matt Harvey walked 5 and gave up 3 runs in an abbreviated start; Colin Bates, Patrick Johnson, and Nate Striz all gave up multiple runs; and Brian Moran surrendered the grand slam. It has to be incredibly disappointing for UNC to get knocked out again after being so close. The Tar Heels made it to Omaha 4 years in a row (with college baseball's best hitter and an All-American pitcher for the last 3 of those), but they still haven't captured the national championship. That just goes to show how elusive the title is.

ASU's Seth Blair and Mike Leake will be counted on to beat Texas the next two days. Meanwhile, Arkansas will be a longshot against LSU, which hasn't lost since May 20 in the opener of the SEC Tournament. The Razorbacks have burned their 3 weekend starters, plus T.J. Forrest and Mike Bolsinger in the bullpen. Dave Van Horn will have to cobble together some pitching if his team wants to have a prayer against a rested Tigers team.

Brett Eibner was super-pumped after his 9th-inning bomb knotted the score at 3

*Photo courtesy of collegebaseballtoday.com

Standout Performances: Regionals

This weekend was even more chock-full of great performances than usual because of the amount of games played in regionals. Here are some of the most notable:

Mike Leake, rhp, Arizona State

Again? Leake posted another ridiculous outing in the Tempe Regional, throwing his 3rd consecutive complete game, surrendering just 1 run, and striking out 15. If you think about it, Leake has perhaps had a better year than Stephen Strasburg: 15-1, 1.23 ERA, 7 CGs, .169 OBA, and a 143-20 K-BB ratio in an incredible 124.2 innings.

Sonny Gray, rhp, Vanderbilt

The freshman utterly dominated a red-hot Indiana team on Saturday to send the Hoosiers home winless. Gray threw 8 scoreless innings and struck out 10.

Matt Cerione, of, Georgia

I'm not a big Matt Cerione fan, but I do have to acknowledge the great game he had on Friday. The junior went 5-for-6 with 2 homers.

Rich Poythress, 1B, Georgia

Even better for the Bulldogs was the drubbing Poythress laid on Ohio State on Friday. He crushed 3 homers as part of a 4-for-4 afternoon. That pushed the junior first baseman up to .376 with 25 dingers.

Tom Belza, ss, Oklahoma State

Friday was a night of multi-homer games, and Belza was one of many who did the trick. Although the Pokes shouldn't even be in the NCAA tourney, they took a game from Alabama as Belza drilled 3 home runs. He drove in 6 and drew 2 walks for good measure.

Bennett Davis, 2B, Elon

The senior second baseman cracked 3 homers against Southern Miss in a wild 17-15 loss on Friday. The Phoenix hit 5 round-trippers total, and Davis went 4-for-4. OF Bo Davis powered 2 homers for the Golden Eagles.

Brandon Meredith, 1B, San Diego State

Meredith clocked 2 homers against Fresno State on Saturday as the Aztecs sent the defending champs home early. SDSU starter Tyler Lavigne also did well, throwing 7.2 innings and allowing just 1 run.

Shaeffer Hall, lhp, Kansas

The crafty lefthander staved off elimination against Dartmouth on Saturday, tossing a complete-game shutout. He allowed 5 hits and fanned 6 in a 16-0 Jayhawks win.

A.J. Morris, rhp, Kansas State

I don't care if he gave up 6 runs and 13 hits, Morris had a valiant effort to beat Rice. The junior righthander threw 143 pitches over 9 innings to propel the Wildcats into super regional contention.

Danny Hultzen, lhp, Virginia

I really liked Virginia as a dangerous sleeper, but winning the Regional of Death? That's impressive. Hultzen led the Cavs to a Game 2 victory over #1 seed UC Irvine on Saturday with a dazzling, 7.1 shutout inning performance.

Anthony Ranaudo, rhp, Louisiana State

Ranaudo (8-3, 3.09) was magnificent against Baylor in a winner's bracket game on Saturday night in Baton Rouge. He completed 9 innings, allowed 1 earned run on 3 hits, and struck out 14 Baylor batters. The 6-7 sophomore is one of the main reasons why LSU is such a dangerous threat in the postseason.

Chad Cregar, of, and Wade Gaynor, ss, Western Kentucky

Cregar (.325 with 19 HRs) and Gaynor (.375 with 25 HRs) led the Hilltoppers, an offense-crazy outfit, to an excellent showing in the Oxford Regional. WKU has to be considered one of the nation's premier mid-majors.

Caleb Cotham, rhp, Vanderbilt

Cotham was just ridiculous against a hard-hitting Middle Tennessee State offense on Sunday. He threw a complete-game shutout (the first Commodore ever to do so in the postseason), struck out 8, and didn't walk a batter. He even held MTSU superstar Bryce Brentz hitless!

Florida State Offense
The Seminoles scored 37 runs on 38 hits (including 15 doubles), so I think the whole team deserves to be here. Rather than listing the bevy of amazing individual feats, I'll just direct you to the box score.

Others:

Austin Wood, lhp, Texas

Justin Bloxom, 1B, Kansas State

Griffin Benedict, c, Georgia Southern

Daniel Bibona, lhp, UC Irvine

Kyle Gibson, rhp, Missouri

David Gutierrez, rhp, Miami
Scott Weismann, rhp, Clemson
Chris Dwyer, lhp, Clemson

Taylor Wall, lhp, Rice
Drew Smyly, lhp, Arkansas

Mike Leake

Sonny Gray

*Photos courtesy of vucommodores.cstv.com and thesundevils.cstv.com