Posted on by Will Geoghegan

Recruiting Classes

Baseball America posted its rankings today of the top 25 recruiting classes in college baseball. I make note of this because it’s good stuff for college baseball followers, but also because the players in these classes are likely to have a big impact on the Cape in 2010.

Among the players in the BA’s top 25 recruiting classes last year, 41 of them were on Cape League rosters. Almost all were freshmen — as opposed to JUCO transfers — so they represented about half the number of freshmen in the league.

You can get a feel for some things from the article I linked to. Commitment lists, scouting reports and further details are subscriber content, but I’ll throw out some notable stuff. Aaron Fitt’s chat is also a good read.

  • Florida’s top-ranked recruiting class already has two guys on a Cape roster. Catcher Michael Zunino and pitcher Steven Rodriguez are on Hyannis’ early roster. Hyannis also has Tennessee’s Cody Stubbs, Oklahoma’s Drew Verhagen and North Carolina’s Cody Stiles. All those schools have classes among the top 16.

  • Also of note in Gainesville is catcher Austin Maddox. He was a 37th-round pick but is one of the highest-ranked players who didn’t sign.

  • Virginia sent a ton of guys to the Cape last year and they’ve got a big new wave of talent that will probably hit Cape shores soon enough. Their ninth-ranked class includes Boston’s sixth-round pick, Branden Kline.

  • TCU’s Matt Purke (First Round) is the highest-drafted pitcher and Stanford’s Kenny Diekroger (Second Round) is the highest-drafted position player to enroll in a four-year school. Purke is part of a TCU class that’s ranked fourth. Stanford is rated second.

  • As usual, North Carolina had an impressive haul, led by outfielder Brian Goodwin.

  • Six of Vanderbilt’s eight recruits last year were on Cape League rosters. This year, the Commodores are bringing in the 13th rated class, filled with nine players. It includes New Englanders Regan Flaherty and Mike Yastrzemski. Flaherty is the brother of former Commodore and Cape Leaguer Ryan Flaherty. Yastrzemski is Carl’s grandson.

  • One of the reasons Tennessee’s class is rated 14th is the presence of the most unique recruit on the list, Matt Duffy. The ’09 Chatham Angler left the University of Vermont when the program was cut.

  • Oregon’s newly-revived program hasn’t yet had a big Cape impact, but I have a feeling it’s going to happen sooner rather than later. Last year’s class was ranked 10th. This year’s is 24th.

  • There are two Jordan Coopers on this list (one at Kentucky, one at Ole Miss). Neither of these Jordan Coopers is the Wichita State Jordan Cooper who played for Falmouth last year. I’m really pulling for three Jordan Coopers in the Cape League next year. Someone make this happen.

    • RELATED POSTS

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *