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?

Monday Recap

The last 6 regional games just got finished, so we now know which teams will be in super regionals. Here's what happened tonight:

Greenville Regional

East Carolina 10, South Carolina 9

OF Devin Harris's 4-for-5 night at the plate and clutch 9th-inning homer led ECU to furious comeback win over the rival Gamecocks. The Pirates trailed 6-0 in the 5th inning, but battled back to win in 10. These were two very evenly-matched teams who played a similar style of baseball; this slugfest was easily predictable. East Carolina moves on to face North Carolina this weekend.

Clemson Regional

Clemson 6, Oklahoma State 5

I gladly watched the Cowboys fall in this game because they didn't even deserve to be here. Clemson mounted a big comeback (5 runs over the 7th and 8th innings) and got a solid relief appearance from RHP Tomas Cruz notch the victory. They'll now get to travel all the way to Tempe to face Mike Leake and Co.

Louisville Regional

Louisville 5, Vanderbilt 3

The Cardinals advanced to their 2nd super regional in 3 years by downing the red-hot Commodores, 5-3. Louisville rode freshman Tony Zych (6 IP, 2 R) and Ryan Wright (2-for-4, 1 HR) to the win.

Atlanta Regional

Southern Miss 12, Georgia Tech 8

The Golden Eagles were a surprise at-large selection for regionals, so it is pretty much stunning that the edged the Yellow Jackets. They do deserve it though; they lit up Tech ace and ACC Pitcher of the Year Deck McGuire (albeit a not-fully-rested McGuire) for 9 runs en route to the win. This earns them a trip to Gainesville, where I expect Florida to smash them in the weakest super regional, talent-wise.

Houston Regional

Rice 13, Kansas State 4

Never count the Owls out in a home regional. The Owls staffed it (Mark Haynes, Matthew Reckling, Jordan Rogers, Ryan Berry) and got 3 or more hits from a number of batters (Anthony Rendon, Brock Holt, Michael Fuda, Rick Hague, Jimmy Comerota) to win big on Monday and complete a nice weekend comeback. The Wildcats were an impressive story this year (they had never been to regionals) even though they couldn't pull this game out. K-State coach Brad Hill has to be in serious contention for national Coach of the Year honors.

Oxford Regional

Ole Miss 4, Western Kentucky 1

Sophomore lefty Drew Pomeranz threw 9 innings, allowed 2 hits, 1 run (unearned), and punched out 16 to carry the Rebels to victory. That has to be considered one of the best individual pitching performances of the year, especially since the Hilltoppers have a great offense and Pomeranz had just tossed 8 one-run innings on Friday. Ole Miss will host Virginia for super regionals.

Here is the full super regional schedule.

Drew Pomeranz

*Photo courtesy of www.olemisssports.com