National college notes: March 29

 



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Thursday Recaps: Jackets squeeze past Tar Heels | Rose sharp as Utah stuns ASU
Friday Recap: Bukauskas electric Friday night
Saturday Recap: Georgia Tech claims series

Here is a Soundcloud snippet of Perfect Game's College Baseball program on Monday night on SiriusXM College Sports (channel 84):

Cal Quantrill (28) did not pitch

Read about the performance and watch video of Colby Woodmansee here.





Nick Senzel, 3B, Tennessee

Junior third baseman Nick Senzel continues to fly up MLB draft boards with his hot start to the season. He entered the year as Perfect Game’s 21st best draft prospect and is projected to be selected in the first round of this year’s MLB Draft.

As a freshman he played in 53 games and hit .315 with one home run, 37 runs scored and 39 RBI. Then in his sophomore season he hit .325 with four home runs, 28 RBI and 33 runs scored. So far in his junior season he has hit .341 with two home runs, 30 runs scored and 29 RBI.

This weekend he continued his campaign against Alabama in Tuscaloosa. On Friday night he got things going early with a home run in the first inning. He finished the night going 3-for-4 with that homer, but Tennessee lost 7-3.

The two teams played a doubleheader on Saturday, and in the first game Senzel was 1-for-4 at the plate, but hit the ball hard every time. He was also hit by a pitch in the first inning of game one as the Volunteers lost 11-3. Tennessee escaped the weekend with a 6-3 win in the finale, but Senzel was 0-for-4 with a walk and a run scored.

The most impressive thing about Senzel is that he makes consistent, hard contact, and does so with ease to the opposite field. In the first game on Saturday all four balls that he put in play were to the opposite field.

Senzel starts with a wide, open stance and basically has no stride as he simply picks his front foot up and puts it back down. He has a very nice, compact swing that should make for an easy transition to the big leagues.

The one thing about his swing that might be a concern is that he starts with his arms and hands up high, which leads to a lot of movement before he swings. Despite that, he’s very good with his hands and is able to cover the whole plate.

He uses his arms and hands a lot in his swing, and only opens up his hips when he gets a fastball inside. If he wants to stick at third base he might need to open things up more to develop a little more pop, which I think will also come as he gets bigger.

He has the skill and arm to stick at the hot corner as he made several nice plays in the Alabama series, including getting in front of a rocket hit down the third base line and made a nice throw across the diamond for the out. However, he could also move back to second base at some point if he doesn’t develop the power normally associated with the hot corner in the majors.

Senzel is a very mature hitter that would be a smart pick early in the draft as it shouldn’t take him long to get to the big leagues.

The report on Nick Senzel was supplied by Jake Mastroianni. To read more of Jake’s observations please visit his blog here.

National Notes

• Kent State lefthander Eric Lauer, a potential first round pick for this year’s draft, has been dominant since his Opening Day loss to Connor Jones and Virginia. Lauer has recorded four wins in those five starts, as Kent State has gone a perfect 5-0 in those games. During that stretch he has allowed only two earned runs, and in his last three starts he hasn’t allowed any. While he’s 4-1 with a 1.16 ERA on the year, if you take out that opening day loss he’s 4-0 with a 0.53 ERA. His most impressive outing of the year came two weeks ago against Liberty in which he struck out 13 and allowed just three hits and a walk in 8 1/3 innings as he has maintained his low-90s fastball and big-breaking upper-70s curveball.

• Less than a year removed from Tommy John surgery (April 2 is the one-year mark), junior righthander Hayden Stone isn’t only picking up innings for the Commodores, but he served as the Sunday starter helping with the sweep of the Mizzou Tigers. Though his command wasn’t as sharp Sunday as he’s shown to this point in the season, the sheer fact that he’s already logging innings for Coach Tim Corbin is the bigger takeaway. With reports of his fastball bumping into the low-90s, to go along with his signature slider, Stone scattered just two hits and a single earned run in his 3 2/3 innings pitched.

One of the top outfielders in this year’s draft class, Vanderbilt junior Bryan Reynolds, connected for two long balls during Sunday’s contest, giving him six on the year which is already a new single season career high. Going deep to both left and center field as a part of Vanderbilt’s 17-run outburst, scouts were sure to make note that both of Reynolds’ home runs came while hitting righthanded, a tool that will only further enhance his draft stock.

• The Gamecocks were the biggest riser in the most recent iteration of the Perfect Game’s Top 25, jumping 11 spots from 19 to 8. After a sweep of a top 10 opponent this past weekend in the Ole Miss Rebels, it’s become clear that South Carolina’s weekend starting staff (Clarke Schmidt, Braden Webb and Adam Hill) is for real and is one that has a combined 16-1 record, good for a 1.77 cumulative ERA. Hill, a freshman righthander, continued his impressive start to his collegiate career by shutting out Mississippi for six strong, scattering just six hits. Perhaps the biggest arm on the staff, sophomore righthander Tyler Johnson, picked up his second save of the year in his second appearance of the weekend, showing a low- to mid-90s fastball in both times taking the bump.

• Menlo College (NAIA) two-way talent Lucas Erceg is drawing significant first round buzz for this year’s MLB Draft, and he’s drawing some rather large crowds with scouts, cross-checkers and even directors as well from teams that have a pick in the top 10 overall. After hitting .303-11-42 for Cal last season, he’s posted a .329/.368/.664 triple slash this year with nine doubles, 13 home runs and 35 RBI. While he’s only walked eight times in 143 at-bats, he’s also only struck out 11 times. Although he may be drawing more interest for his powerful lefthanded swing, he also can dial his fastball into the low-90s, and currently has four saves and a 1.69 ERA in seven relief appearances.