In
the weeks leading up to the draft, Perfect Game will be providing a
detailed overview of each state in the U.S., including the District
of Columbia, as well as Canada and Puerto Rico. These overviews will
list the state's strengths, weaknesses and the players with the best
tools, as well as providing scouting reports on all Group 1 and 2
players as ranked in Perfect Game's state-by-state scouting lists.
Contributing: David
Rawnsley
New Mexico State-by-State List
2011 New Mexico Overview
New
Mexico Overview:
Bregman
Still Seen As Top Draft, Despite Injury
New
Mexico produced a rare first-round draft pick in 2011, when
hard-hitting Cleveland High catcher Blake Swihart was snapped up with
the 26th pick by the Boston Red Sox. The state’s next pick didn’t come
until the 47th round and only four players were drafted overall.
There
won’t be a first-rounder this year, especially when the only player
initially projected to go that high, Albuquerque Academy
catcher/shortstop Alex Bregman, missed most of the season with a
broken finger. But at least four New Mexico high-school players,
including Bregman, are pretty much assured of being drafted this
year, and that alone will be an upgrade on 2011. The college crop
should also be much more of a factor.
Curiously,
New Mexico and New Mexico State, the state’s two Division I
programs, have followed somewhat the same blueprints as a year ago.
New Mexico got off to a rough start (0-8), only to put on a late
charge to win the Mountain West Conference tournament, while New
Mexico State burst out of the gates at 9-0, only to enter the
six-team Western Athletic Conference post-season tournament as a No.
6 seed and have their season end quickly.
The
Lobos began this season at 2-9, only to quickly right the ship and
improve to 27-21 overall by the second week of May, while also
grabbing a share of the conference lead at 13-5. The Aggies,
meanwhile, got off to another hot start, only to slip later in the
season and they had lost six in a row entering the second weekend of
May, and yet are still 30-17 overall, and 7-6 in WAC play.
No
one has been more responsible for New Mexico’s turnaround than
sophomore first baseman D.J. Peterson, considered the best college
hitting prospect in the southwest and a potential first-round pick in
2013. Peterson leads the Lobos in average (.425), homers (14) and
RBIs (59). Three of his teammates, junior righthander Austin House,
junior catcher Mitch Garver and senior righthander Gera Sanchez, in
particular, have done plenty to contribute to New Mexico’s
resurgence, as well, while also enhancing their own status for this
year’s draft, with House and Garver now solid bets to go in the
first 10 rounds. House has been dominant as the Lobos’ Friday
starter while Garver was named conference player of the week three
times in April.
New
Mexico in a nutshell:
STRENGTH:
Catching talent.
WEAKNESS:
Signable high-school talent.
OVERALL
RATING
(1-to-5 scale): 3.
BEST
COLLEGE TEAM:
New Mexico.
BEST
JUNIOR-COLLEGE TEAM:
New Mexico JC.
BEST
HIGH SCHOOL TEAM:
La Cueva HS, Albuquerque.
PROSPECT
ON THE RISE: Mitch Garver, c, University of New Mexico. Garver
has enjoyed a breakout 2012 season at the plate, hitting .371-6-43
with 20 doubles through New Mexico’s first 48 games. He was
particularly hot in April, when heavily scouted, and many scouts came
away believing Garver may now be a better overall prospect than
fellow Mountain West Conference catcher Josh Elander, who began the
2012 season as one of the nation’s top two- or three-ranked players
at his position in the country, and a potential first-rounder.
WILD
CARD: Alex Bregman, c/ss, Albuquerque Academy. Bregman
is without a doubt the best baseball prospect in New Mexico. He also
may be the most unsignable as he is heavily committed to attending
college at Louisiana State—a stance that was almost-assuredly
reaffirmed when Bregman broke a finger on a bad-hop ground ball in
pre-game practice prior to the fifth game of the 2012 season, and was
lost for two months. With so little time remaining to properly scout
and evaluate him before the draft, it seems unlikely that any team
will be able to pay him the kind of signing bonus (probably the
equivalent of first- or second-round money) that it would take to pry
Bregman away from LSU.
BEST
OUT-OF-STATE PROSPECT, New Mexico Connection:
Iseha Conklin, of, Iowa Western CC (Attended high school in Silver
City).
Top
2013 Prospect:
D.J. Peterson, 1b, University of New Mexico.
Top
2014 Prospect: Ryan
Padilla, of, University of New Mexico.
HIGHEST
DRAFT PICKS
Draft
History:
Duane Ward, rhp, Farmington HS (1982, Braves/1st round, 9th pick).
2006
Draft: Luke
Hopkins, 1b, New Mexico State University (Blue Jays/5th round).
2007
Draft: Matt
Moore, lhp, Moriarty HS, Edgewood (Rays/8th round).
2008
Draft: Bobby
LaFromboise, lhp, University of New Mexico (Mariners/8th round).
2009
Draft: Max
Walla, of, Albuquerque Academy (Brewers/2nd round).
2010
Draft: Rafael
Neda, c, University of New Mexico (Brewers/10th round).
2011
Draft: Blake
Swihart, c, Cleveland HS, Rio Rancho (Red Sox/1st round, 26th pick).
2011
DRAFT OVERVIEW
College
Players Drafted/Signed:
1/1.
Junior
College Players Drafted/Signed:
1/0.
High
School Players Drafted/Signed:
2/1.
BEST
TOOLS
Best
Athlete: Shilo
McCall, of, Piedra Vista HS, Farmington.
Best
Hitter:
Alex Bregman, c/ss, Albuquerque Academy.
Best
Power:
Alex Bregman, c/ss, Albuquerque Academy.
Best
Speed:
Shilo McCall, of, Piedra Vista HS, Farmington.
Best
Defender:
Alex Bregman, c/ss, Albuquerque Academy.
Best
Velocity:
Austin House, rhp, University of New Mexico.
Best
Breaking Stuff:
Gera Sanchez, rhp, University of New Mexico.
Best
Pitchability: Gera
Sanchez, rhp, University of New Mexico.
TOP
PROSPECTS, GROUPS ONE and TWO
GROUP ONE (Projected
ELITE-Round Draft / Rounds 1-3)
1. ALEX BREGMAN,
c/ss, Albuquerque Academy
Bregman
first gained national attention when he was named USA Baseball’s
2010 Player of the Year (an award that had been most-recently won by
current big-leaguers Justin Smoak in 2009 and Stephen Strasburg in
2008) for his part in leading the program’s 16-and-under national
team to a gold medal at the 2010 Pan American championships in
Mexico. Bregman hit .574-2-17 in nine games during the tournament. A
year later, he won another gold medal as a member of USA Baseball’s
gold-medal-winning, 18-and-under team at the IBAF World Junior
Championship. Beyond all his international accomplishments, Bregman
had already firmly established himself as the elite hitting prospect
in his home state, and one of the best in the country, by batting
.678 as a junior for Albuquerque Academy, while setting a state
single-season record with 19 home runs. Bregman was primed for a big
senior season, especially since he would be making the conversion
from shortstop to catcher, but never got on track as he broke the
middle finger on his throwing hand on a bad hop in pre-game drills
prior to the fifth game, though still played in the contest and went
3-for-4. A day later, the break was discovered. He was finally
cleared to play again in time for the New Mexico state playoffs the
second week of May. While Bregman’s powerful righthanded bat is a
well-known quantity, scouts are less certain about his future
position Though his progress behind the plate was compromised this
spring by his untimely injury, he flashed solid catch-and-throw
skills in limited looks, especially a very quick release, and his
take-charge approach seems to make the position a natural fit.
Bregman’s makeup and aptitude for the game are considered
off-the-charts by scouts, and it seems just a matter of time until he
settles into a new position, rather than a question of whether he
might be able to handle it.
This is PG 'DiamondKast' Level content.
You must be either an DiamondKast, Crosschecker Rankings & Scouting Reports, or Scout subscriber to read the rest.
Sign in
DiamondKast