Fresno State Baseball Recruits Feature Draft Choices

Fresno State Baseball Recruits for 2014

The last few years have not been too kind to the Bulldogs. Great facilities and great recruiting have not resulted in great records and another visit to the CWS. Fans still are hoping for the ‘Dawgs to capture lightning in a bottle as they did a few years back and win a national championship. Actually, most fans of the mid-major (such as myself) hope they, or some other mid-major, can do it. It takes good to great talent coming in and delivering. I know the photo is dated but ya get that feelin', doncha? Will that happen? Let's take a look.

ALEX SALAZAR, RHP, Kerman HS, Kerman, CA
Drafted and signed by the Atlanta Braves (pick #102)

JORDAN PAROUBECK, OF, Serra HS, Redwood City, CA
Drafted and signed by the San Diego Padres (pick #69)

CONNOR BROGDON, RHP, Liberty HS, Madera, CA
Drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 40th round but decided on attending Fresno rather than the life on the road. As a pitcher he had a pretty good senior season. At 6'4" and 175 he has the lanky mold of a pitcher. He should add bulk as well as strength. He was 6-4 and 1.77 in 67 IP. He had a good 89 strikeouts and 21 walks in those innings. That's pretty good stuff and I wonder how he lost 4 games (as per MaxPreps). Another interesting factoid is that he has played on three different teams during his high school career. That's always weird. He made the Fresno Bee All-Area team and the MaxPreps second team Small School All-State team. Schools should pay attention; there's a lot of talent in small schools.

ANTHONY ARIAS, LHP, Fairfield HS, Fairfield, CA
Another good pitcher signed by the ‘Dawgs. Anthony was 5-1 and 1.11 his senior year and had 75 strikeouts in 44 IP. Geez, that's close to two an inning. Dominating. His WHIP was an astounding 0.81. He had pretty much the same stuff the previous season and was 1-6. How was that possible? Well, I'm a Giants fan and when a good pitcher gets no support that certainly can happen. Just sayin'.

DILLON HOUSER, LHP, St. Francis Central Coast HS, Santa Cruz, CA
Another decent signing and a lefty to boot. Dillon can hit a bit also but he was recruited as a pitcher and you just never know where you'll end up. He was 4-4 and 1.56 his senior season in 58 IP. He had 70 strikeouts and 17 walks. His WHIP was also less than 1.00.

FRED SCHLICHOLTZ, LHP, Coronado HS, Coronado, CA
I couldn't find a lot about this kid but I did see that in one game he went 5 innings and struck out 12 and walked 1. If that's what he can do, sign him up.

TORIN GOLDSTEIN, 3B, Beckman HS, Irvine, CA
Torin is a late commit and a position player (one of few). According to my searching he hit .431 his senior year so that bodes well. He made All-City down in Orange County.

JEFF BROWN, C, Fresno CC, Fresno, CA
I was wondering if they would sign a catcher late and they did. The mutts have three catchers returning with little experience as they had two good ones splitting time who are now gone. Jeff hit .337 his final season with Fresno and now gets to walk a short distance to continue his career. How lucky can you get?

This is a small class but I don't believe this is all the new faces that will show up on campus once school starts. Even so, there is some good stuff here and I'm used to seeing Batesole get a lot of talent, even if some of it is lost to the draft. Aim for the stars. A case in point is Connor Brogdon who is arguably the best of the bunch. Arias will get some long looks also so those are two pitchers that may help shore things up on the mound. Few position players? Hmm. Curious.