AIAA OPENING WEEK
Jiggs McGee is back with a regular look around the world of college baseball, the top source of talent for the 16 FABL teams. I will try and touch on how the different schools are performing and do a weekly top ten but the main focus will be on the players - particularly those that are draft eligible this year- are doing.
How many FABL scouts went racing back to their notebooks this week to see what they missed about
Chet McKenzie. The 18 year old outfielder was a three year starter for Baltimore High School but did not post overly impressive numbers: .261 with 23 homers in 124 games. He was undrafted in this past season's draft but caught on with the Central Ohio Aviators. The kid had a huge first week of college ball, batting .563 with 4 homers in his first four games and earned the Continental Region's player of the week award. I am sure he has a few teams wondering why their scouting director didn't use a 20th round pick or so on this kid. Let's see if it is just a hot week or if McKenzie has really figured things out.
Lincoln College's
Pug Bryan had a nice start to his season. Tabbed as one of the top draft eligible pitchers, the soon to be 20 year old is 2-0 after a pair of impressive outings. He went 7 and a third in each of his starts blanking Indiana A&M 4-0 on 5 hits while fanning 14. He fanned 10 the next start in a 7-3 win over Chicago Poly. The 14 strikeout game is pretty impressive considering not a single AIAA pitcher fanned 15 in a game a year ago. Lincoln is one of the preseason favourites this year and is off to a 3-1 start.
Dave Smith of Travis College also had a 14 k game this week and he only went 6 and two-thirds in it. A 1931 St Louis Pioneers 7th round pick who chose college over the minors, Smith won't be draft eligible again until 1934. He had an impressive freshman campaign with the Bucks, posting a 7-0 record and a 2.24 era. The 14 strikeouts equal his personal career best, set back in his days at Somerville High School.
A guy overlooked by the scouts last year was Coastal California's
Dick Martin. The 22 year old senior first baseman had a down year in his draft season, hitting .260 with 8 homers after his average was a hundred points higher as a sophomore so he is back with the Dolphins for his senior year. If the first week is any indication Martin seems bent on proving 16 FABL teams wrong, hitting .389 with 3 homers and 12 rbi's in his first 4 games and is a big reason why the Dolphins lead the AIAA in runs scored.
A week into the season and we are already down to just two unbeaten teams in Ellery and Rainier College. The Bruins had plenty of offense as they swept two game sets from Pierpont and Henry Hudson. Hudson was one of the preseason favourites and they started well with a pair of wins at Brunswick, another preseason top ten club, before dropping two at home to Ellery on the weekend. The Bruins got a pair of strong outings from 20 sophomore
Jim Buckles, who went 2-0 with just 1 earned run in 11 innings of work. He is another player who seems to be a late bloomer. Undrafted after pitching just 1 season at Syracuse High School, he joined Ellery a year ago and made 15 starts, going 5-5 with a 4.60 era. This season he is being counted on as the schools number one pitcher.
The other undefeated team is Rainier College which boasts a promising freshman and 2 pitchers with something to prove to the scouts. Freshman
Charlie Wheeler had a big start to his college career for the Majestics, fanning 13 while allowing just 2 hits over 8 and a third innings as they blanked Lubbock 3-0. Undrafted senior
Ed Perry and freshman
Jim Kitchens also had impressive starts to open the season. Kitchens did not get drafted out of high school, where he was used primarily in relief the last two seasons after blowing out his elbow in his first season of prep ball.
Here is the first top ten poll of the season. Last week's rankings in this case refer to where they stood in the preseason poll.
Code:
TOP TEN RANKINGS
# SCHOOL REC LW
1 Lincoln 3-1 1
2 Golden Gate 3-1 6
3 Ellery 4-0 nr
4 Rainier College 4-0 nr
5 Brooklyn State 3-1 nr
6 Central Ohio 3-1 nr
7 Bayou State 3-1 nr
8 Maryland State 2-2 2
9 Coastal California 3-1 nr
10 St Matthew's 3-1 nr