2016 Perfect Game College Baseball Preview Index
The 2016 college baseball season at the NCAA Division I level is just one week away and we thought it would be nice to have a taste of what you can expect during the season. As always our focus will be on the players and their respective value at the next level and in relationship to the MLB Draft.
While the D-I season has yet to begin, the Division II season has been underway in some of the nation’s warmer climates for a couple of weeks. The top-ranked prospect at the D-II level, Cal Baptist’s Tyson Miller, entered the season ranked as Perfect Game’s 163rd overall draft-eligible prospect and had a strong showing last summer on the Cape where he was named the league’s 34th best prospect.
California Baptist will play a lot of Thursday through Saturday series this year giving Southern California area scouts an opportunity to do their due diligence on Miller. The same is true for our own SoCal scout, Steve Fiorindo, who was at Miller’s most recent game, a dominant 12-strikeout shutout of CSU Dominguez Hills.
The first thing that stands out with Miller is his size, as he has a great and perfectly proportioned 6-foot-5, 200-pound build that still offers some room for future projection. He’s athletic, his arm works well and he uses his size well to get downhill toward home plate.
His fastball sat in the 89-91 mph range, hitting 93 a few times. The pitch is fairly straight although he does get some arm-side run at lower velos. His 82-84 mph changeup is his second-best pitch, as he did a nice job maintaining his arm action with the pitch showing some fade and downward action to it.
He threw two different variations of a breaking ball, although the two often morphed into one another. His curveball was thrown in the mid- to upper-70s and he also showed a 79-84 mph slider. The slider gets more swings and misses of the two pitches and he may be best suites focusing on that pitch at this point in time as it currently is his distinct third-best pitch.
Miller commanded all of his pitches well and most importantly maintained his velocity through his appearance. And that appearance was one of the best of his college career, tossing his third career complete game and his first career shutout while fanning a career-high 12 batters while allowing only four base hits and one walk.
He is now 1-1 on the year after suffering a loss in his first start. In that game he worked seven innings and gave up five runs (only three were earned) on seven hits and a walk while striking out three in an 8-2 loss to Cal State LA.