After focusing on college baseball the past three weeks I thought it was time to switch gears and take a sneak peak at the some of the areas of strength available for the 2007 draft. Before I continue, if you haven’t checked out the incredibly detailed and in-depth college baseball coverage over at PGCrosschecker.com, be sure to do so.

A couple of times last year I briefly profiled the talent available for the 2007 draft. Since the 2006 draft pool was widely considered somewhat down, the talent available for this year’s draft has looked quite strong for quite some time, making it hard not to look ahead. The 2007 scouting season is now upon us, so I am going to list some of the more intriguing prospects from some of the more interesting groupings. Over the course of the spring I will be breaking down these strengths individually in greater detail.

Talent at the top

Vanderbilt LHP David Price and Georgia Tech C/RHP Matt Wieters gives the draft two incredibly talented prospects available right at the top, as I have compared this duo to a pair of talented prospects that were available for the 2001 draft: Mark Prior and Mark Teixeira. Price’s combination of size, stuff and polish will make it tough for the Devil Rays to pass on him with the first overall pick.

Wieters is a similar prospect to Teixeira in that he is a rare slugging switch hitter from Georgia Tech. There are some questions about Wieters ability to stay behind the plate, seemingly fueled more due to his large build (you don’t see too many 6’6” catchers) than his actual defensive prowess.

NC State’s Andrew Brackman doesn’t have the same baseball background or polish as Price and Wieters, but his towering frame and electric stuff could allow him to be taken among the top three to five picks, particularly now that he has put his basketball career behind him.

Prep arms

Young athletes seems to continue to get bigger, stronger and faster and a younger age these days, but it is still hard not to be impressed by the sheer number of high school pitchers that are able to throw easily in the 90s.

This class is highlighted by a group I call the power trio: Michael Main, Matt Harvey and Rick Porcello. Main hit 99 at last summer’s Perfect Game National Showcase, while Harvey and Porcello have been clocked in the 96 and 98 range respectively. There are some concerns about Main’s max-effort delivery and his command, while Harvey and Porcello receive praise for their effortless deliveries that lead many to believe they are only starting to touch what they’re capable of. Harvey and Porcello aren’t from the usual scouting hotspots of California, Texas or Florida, as they hail from the Northeast (Connecticut and New Jersey).

Looking for polish? Look no further than Massachusetts’ Jack McGeary and Virginia’s Neil Ramirez. Joshua Smoker, Jake Peavey, Erik Goeddel and Tim Alderson are also a few of the more polished pitching prospects, all of whom mix an early understanding of commanding the strike zone while having pretty good stuff of their own right to boot.

Madison Bumgarner and Tanner Robles can bring the heat from the left side, while Blake Beaven, Jarrod Parker, Phillipe Aumont and Julian Sampson could all be in the mix as potential first-round picks.

Prep bats

Southern California in particular is loaded with talented bats, especially at the hot corner. Josh Vitters is the most talented pure hitter available, and just behind him from sunny SoCal are fellow infielders Matt Dominguez, Victor Sanchez, Nick Noonan, Christian Colon, Freddie Freeman and Ryan Dent.

Three big left-handed bats hail from the Southeast, highlighted by the light-tower power of Michael Burgess. Jason Heyward and Kentrail Davis along with Burgess are among the more refined all-around players in the country, which complements their exciting raw hitting tools, and all three could be selected within the top 10-15 picks come June.

Justin Jackson may be the best prep shortstop to come out of the high school ranks since B.J. Upton. He makes the position look easy with graceful actions, and his bat is starting to catch up to his defense.

Eric Eiland, Garrett Nash and Ben Revere are three of the speediest, electrifying players from around the nation.

College closers

The college closer class is highlighted by two members of Team USA, Clemson’s Daniel Moskos and Rice’s Cole St. Clair, both lefties, and six Cape Cod League All-Stars, Georgia’s Joshua Fields, Oregon State’s Eddie Kunz, TCU’s Sam Demel, Maryland’s Brett Cecil, USC’s Paul Koss and North Carolina’s Andrew Carignan. Moskos, St. Clair and Fields are the most likely to be selected in the first round while the others will receive early round consideration.

South Carolina’s Wynn Pelzer and UC Irvine’s Blair Erickson are two more college closers with early round potential to keep an eye on.

College lefties

When you factor in David Price at the top of this list, the number of talented left-handed college closers, and a couple of the two-way talents listed just below should they preferred as pitchers (Joe Savery and Sean Doolittle), the 2007 draft class is already loaded with talented left-handed pitching from the college ranks.

Add in Arkansas ace Nick Schmidt, Missouri State’s Ross Detwiler, Tennessee’s James Adkins, LSU’s Charlie Furbush, Nebraska’s Tony Watson and San Francisco’s Aaron Poreda, just to name a few, and scouting directors will have a great opportunity to add an impact southpaw.

Draft-eligible sophomores

This year’s draft class offers several exciting sophomores that are draft eligible. Many sophomores are eligible because they received a redshirt early in their career, either due to injury or inexperience. A few of the more notable sophomores available, particularly Washington State’s Jared Prince, Texas’ Bradley Suttle and Kyle Russell as well as Georgia Tech’s David Duncan and Luke Murton, are true sophomores.

Texas adds a third talented draft-sophomore in catcher Preston Clark. Alabama’s Tommy Hunter, North Carolina’s Luke Putkonen, Tulane’s Warren McFadden and Texas Tech’s Miles Morgan add on to an already strong draft class.

It should be noted that draft-eligible sophomores are always trickier to sign, as they have an additional year of eligibility, and are perceived to be pricier commodities.

Two-way talents

Matt Wieters, Joe Savery and Sean Doolittle have all been covered above. While Wieters’ fastball has been clocked in the upper-90s as the Yellow Jackets’ closer, his powerful frame and bat are too good to pass up as an everyday player.

Savery and Dootlittle both seem to be preferred as pitchers, although both have sweet left-handed swings and slick gloves at first base.

Wichita State’s Damon Sublett serves as the Shockers second baseman and closer, and has yet to give up an earned run over his first two years in college.

Draft-eligible sophomore Jared Prince also stars on both the mound and at the plate.

Hotspots

A few areas that don’t get the love that the sun belt states get when it comes to draft-eligible players that have a very good talent pool to choose from include the Northeast (as noted above with Porcello and Harvey, but it also includes McGeary, Porcello’s high school teammates Evan Danieli and Steven Brooks, Rutgers’ Todd Frazier, Boston College’s Terry Doyle, Seton Hall’s Dan Merklinger and Manhattan’s Matt Rizzotti), Northern Illinois (prep pitchers Casey Crosby, Seth Blair and Brett Zawacki), Washington (Peavey and Sampson) and Utah (Robles and Nash).

College bats?

Impact bats from the college level is by far the weakest category of talent available. Oklahoma State transfer Matt Manginni probably offers the most polished bat after shining the past two summers with a wood bat in the Northwoods League and the Cape Cod League, but don’t be surprised if his teammate, outfielder Corey Brown, passes him up on follow lists this spring given his exciting overall toolset.

One name that needs to be mentioned is Lewis-Clark State’s Beau Mills. Between his two years at Fresno State and the two summers after his freshman and sophomore seasons, Mills has posted some pretty astonishing power numbers: 47 doubles and 47 home runs with a .610 collective slugging percentage.

An area of strength among the college hitters is at catcher, where Matt Wieters stands to be the highest catcher selected since Joe Mauer in 2001. J.P. Arencibia, Mitch Canham and Josh Donaldson are all poised to go in the first two rounds, and keep an eye on Mississippi State’s Ed Easley and Charleston College’s Alex Garabedian.

The thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those of Perfect Game USA. Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.