National college notes: April 5

 



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Thursday Recap: Sheffield electric to open series
Friday Recaps: Busfield in command | Webb returns favor, evens series | Gators take game one from Aggies
Saturday Recaps: Faedo, Alonso come up big
Sunday Recap: Gators rally big, late to sweep

Cal Quantrill (28) did not pitch

Read about the performance and watch video of Buddy Reed here.
Read about the performance and watch video of Nick Banks here and here.
Read about the performances of Bryan Reynolds here and here.
Read about the performance of A.J. Puk here.
Read about the performance of Logan Shore here.
Read about the performance and watch video of Jordan Sheffield here.
Read about the performance and watch video of Ben Bowden here.





Lucas Erceg, 3B/RHP, Menlo College (NAIA)

Lucas Erceg has been drumming up some significant draft interest at the NAIA level this year after spending his first two years in college with the Cal Bears. Academic reasons forced him out of Berkeley and forced him to look for somewhere else to play, and after enjoying a big season at the plate a year ago he’s putting up even bigger numbers this year.

And 6-foot-3, 205-pounds, Erceg has a lean and long athletic build, with an overall physical presence similar to that of Blake Rutherford. Erceg’s frame also has the ability to add more weight and muscle, as he could maintain his loose, athletic actions with another 15-20 pounds.

Defensively at third he moves well laterally and displays good instincts with solid first step quickness and reactions. Since he also serves as one of his team’s closing options out of the bullpen he has more than enough arm strength for any position on the field, including third base, but he may be a better fit on an outfield corner with right field being the more likely destination.

At the plate Erceg has a smooth, rhythmic and overall good looking lefthanded swing, incorporating a big leg kick to generate power from his lower half. He takes big boy hacks at the plate and does a nice job incorporating his BP swing into games. There’s a lot of movement between his lower half and in his hands pre-swing, but he gets all of those parts where they need to be on time and shows very good strength and extension in his swing.

With his big lefthanded stroke most of his contact, and power, is to his pull side. He’s having a big year at the plate, with a .325/.364/.669 triple slash line, and 26 of his 53 hits (11 doubles, 15 home runs) have gone for extra bases. Additionally, he continues to make extremely good contact as he has only struck out 12 times in 163 at-bats, although he has also only walked nine times.

The level of play is a big question, and how well his talents will translate against higher level pitching, but the swing and overall offensive potential is legitimate. He was named the top prospect last summer in the California Collegiate League and continues to draw big scouting crowds with reports that he could be selected among the top 15 overall picks of this year’s draft.

Menlo starter Jason Alexander also has some pro potential and could be drafted this year. He began his career at Long Beach State, and likely profiles as a reliever at the next level. He’s a 6-foot-2, 190-pound righthander that has gone 4-1 with a 2.25 ERA so far this year.




Alexander is primarily a two-pitch guy, with a 89-92 mph fastball with late arm-side life and a slurvy breaking ball in the 69-72 mph range. On Saturday his stuff played well the first time through the order but started to get hit hard after that, largely due to the lack of an established third pitch. In shorter stints his velo could play up, although he will need to firm up his breaking ball no matter how he is used at the next level.

National Notes

• Another player with significant helium this spring is Dallas Baptist center fielder David Martinelli. A lefthanded hitter with a 6-foot-1, 210-pound frame, Martinelli is a two-year starter who has always shown intriguing power potential but also had significant swing-and-miss concerns in his profile. This year he has altered his swing approach and the results have been impressive, as he has only struck out nine times while walking 12 times in 63 at-bats. He is a very good athlete, posting 4.12-4.18 second home-to-first times with a solid average arm from the outfield. He can play all three outfield positions in addition to first base and even played shortstop in high school. He missed the first 10 games due to a hamstring issue but is hitting .365/.456/.635 in 17 games and looks like a candidate to go in the top 4-6 rounds of the draft.

• Seward County CC (Kan.) lefthander Jakob Hernandez has been posting some ridiculous strikeout numbers so far this season. He struck out a Jayhawk Conference-record 19 in a seven-inning game two weeks ago and followed that up with another 17 strikeouts (in another seven inning game) the weekend that followed. Between those two games he recorded 27 straight outs via a punchout, and returned to earth this past weekend, fanning nine in five innings of work. On the year he has a 1.92 ERA over 56 1/3 innings, with 108 strikeouts, an average of 17.25 per game. At 6-foot-4, 230-pounds Hernandez has great size, and hides the ball extremely well from an unorthodox delivery. His fastball sits in the upper-80s and can touch 91 mph. His slurvy breaking ball hovers right around 80 mph and his mid- to upper-70s changeup might be his best pitch and has received interest from Oklahoma, Miami and Texas Tech, among a few others.

• After starting the year 0-8, Saint Louis has done a nice job turning around their season, currently sitting with a 15-13 record as they have won nine of their last 12 games. Of most importance is their 6-0 record in Atlantic 10 play over the past two weekends, which important to note for the Billikens as they entered the 2016 season as a potential upstart team with legitimate postseason aspirations.