Gerrit Cole & Jackie Bradley Jr.

I noted in the comments that other day that two guys likely to be in the vacinity of where the Ms will draft have been advancing in the College World Series, and it turns out they will meet in the finals starting tonight.

UCLA RHP Gerrit Cole will get the start for the Bruins in the opening game of the best-of-three final.  In his earlier start, he whiffed 13 in 8.0 IP, and earned an interview with Erin Andrews (yes, there are baseball highlights on there, too): http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5313322

Cole is a big guy who can crank it up to 98 and also has two solid offspeed offerings.  Reportedly was throwing 97 in the 8th inning the other day.  He was a first-round prep pick by the Yankees in 08, but opted for UCLA.

My guess is that Cole will be gone by the time the Ms draft, assuming no further utter collapses.  Nevertheless, I looked at a few sites that had him dropping down to the lower half of the top 10 (Ms would pick 6th if the standings don't change.)  And he could drop due to signability even if he is top-5 in talent.

Here is more video from his 09 season: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO7K_CjX2Mw

More likely to be around in the bottom half of the top 10 is South Carolina CF Jackie Bradley Jr., but one site I saw was projecting him to go #2.

In my comment, I said he reminded me of Figgins, but with more power.  Then, when I was doing more research, I come across this scouting report -- http://baseballbeginnings.com/2009/11/13/jackie-bradley-video/ -- that says he's like Figgins but with more power.  Freaky.  (He is not, however, a switch hitter like Figgins.  LH only.) 

Here is a good video feature: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r9h0ZlXK2U.  Definitely seems like a "character" guy who will appeal to Z.  Check out the arm and the speed.  And that's before you get to the hitting numbers.  He walks more than he strikes out and hit a legit (well, legit with metal bats) 13 HR.  Here's the highlight of his shot to deep left-center vs. AZ St: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5317356

Regardless of whether he ends up with the Ms, he is a fun guy to watch, and a good reason to check it out.

Add comment

Filtered HTML

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd><p><br>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

shout_filter

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.