I'm stunned that Brian Foley and Co. included Skyler on this year's list, and so high (above guys such as UNC's Sky Bolt and Stanford's Alex Blandino-- both first team preseason all-americans), but well deserved as I've long project a truly breakout year for Skyler in 2014...
http://ht.ly/2CLWCo
Unfortunately, both Jordan Stephens and even Zech Lemond have been left off this countdown so far. Still a chance for Zech to make the cut, but it would appear that once again Jordan is being overlooked.
How hard does Stephens throw? Might be getting overlooked to the extent these lists are considering a player's MLB prospect status, even if he is a great college pitcher. Rice has certainly had a large share of great pro prospects (Niemann, Humber, Baugh, Skaggs, Savery, etc) as well as many excellent college pitchers who weren't elite pro prospects (Ramos, Herce, Berry, and many others).
(01-08-2014 08:56 PM)mrbig Wrote: [ -> ]How hard does Stephens throw? Might be getting overlooked to the extent these lists are considering a player's MLB prospect status, even if he is a great college pitcher. Rice has certainly had a large share of great pro prospects (Niemann, Humber, Baugh, Skaggs, Savery, etc) as well as many excellent college pitchers who weren't elite pro prospects (Ramos, Herce, Berry, and many others).
Last year, Jordan was hitting 90 MPH on his heater rather consistently; perhaps dropping off to the high 80s late in the game...but we've heard that he was topping out as high as 93 during Fall Ball. Velocity is less a factor when you have the killer curve that Jordan was flashing the latter part of last season...and I understand he has now added a changeup to his arsenal.