While Arizona is not a pre-season pick by Baseball America to be selected for the regional NCAA tournament, they do have some interesting players. 2B Scott Kingery was a 3rd team pre-season AA pick, hitting .354 with .456 OBP, 26 rbi's and 19 sb's. Kingery is also considered the 11th best 2015 draft prospect from the PAC-12. Arizona also has SS Kevin Newman ranked #2 for the 2015 draft, and 2 players in the top-10 for 2016's draft. RHP Bobby Dalbec is #6 and RHP Morgan Earman is #9.
SS Newman - 2014, .304 BA, 34 RBI
RHP Dalbec - 2014, 3-5, 2.13 ERA, 2 saves, 38 IP, 24 SO
RHP Earman - 2014, 2-1. 5.31 ERA, 20.1 IP, 12 BB, 16 SO, .181 BA (must have quite an arm, raw though)
David Ernst pitching, Bison down 4-0 to Arizona in the 3rd.
Video available at U of Arizona site. Green grass looks kindagood right about now.
http://www.arizonawildcats.com/ViewA...CLID=209895393
hope it's just a combination of some of our pitchers getting back in rhythm and playing better competition. the pitching staff needs to be strong this year if the team is going to have a chance.
a lot of new faces on offense
Hard to look at the glass half full with a 1-8 record but I will take a crack at it. Guys like Funk and Fearing have played good all around so far. The double play Funk started and fed to fearing in the last game was ESPN worthy. The bats need to come around and we need to execute when we get runners on base. The pitching staff will look better when the defense improves. Nothing kills a pitcher faster than botched fielding. The shut out of very good Kansas team is the highlight of season so far. Two North Dakota products Ernst and Flaa combined for the shut out. Big hit being a grand slam by Gamez.
See if things start to improve in Northern Colorado this weekend.
On a follow-up to NDSU opponent Arizona and its MLB draft prospects, ESPN's Keith Law had put SS Kevin Newman
all the way up to #2 on his entire draft board as of an April 13th ESPN Insider update.....
(Not that it will stay this way this far out from June's draft)
Another writer, Eric Longenhagen, also had nice things to say about Newman's DP partner, 2B Scott Kingery.....2. Kevin Newman, SS, Arizona
He stays at short, has hit everywhere he's played (including two summers leading the Cape Cod League in batting average) and is a plus runner. He doesn't have any power, but his wide stance may be the reason, and closing it could unlock some doubles power in no time.
• Scott Kingery, Newman's double-play partner at Arizona, has the quickest wrists of any hitter I've scouted in this draft outside of first-overall-pick candidate Brendan Rodgers.....
.....He's a future above-average defender in my eyes. Power-wise, Kingery gets about as much out of his frame as he can, altering the way he uses his lower half when the ball is mid-flight to add loft to his swing. It's probably average, pull-only power, but with the amount of contact Kingery projects to make, it should be enough. He's an early-second rounder for me.