Mountain West Draft Possibilities

The MLB draft starts today. I've done this in the past and I've always been, oh, so wrong. But Las Vegas gets rich on this kind of stuff so here I am again. Only the first round or two today and I don’t think any MWC players will show up there. Some will go in later rounds. Remember, the bigs have to fill out those rosters with someone. Read on.

New Mexico

Carl Stajduhar (.350 and 17)

No growth curve here. He's been a solid hitter since he showed up on campus. He's a third baseman and I don't know about his fielding but he did lead the team in errors with 11 which is high for his position but he also had a lot of chances. I still think he'll go pretty high. A first rounder? Um, maybe not.

Jack Zoellner (.368 and 12)

A left handed batter that hits for average as well as power. That's almost expected for a first baseman.

Tyler Stevens (7-6 and 4.81)

Led the Lobos in strike outs with 102 which was by far the most. I don't see him as a starter in the minors but we'll see. I like the strike outs.

San Diego State

Tyler Adkison (.337 and 15)

Was third on the team in strike outs with 40 but was the leader with 39 walks. Similar to Brandon Belt of the SF Giants, if you know what I mean. I don't know if that means he had a good eye for the strike zone or if pitchers pitched around him. A little on the short side but he still could hit the long ball. He seemed to come out of nowhere in my way of thinking.

CJ Saylor (3-0 and 2.45 with 13 saves)

The premier closer in the Mountain West with 51 strike outs in 40 IP. What's not to like?

Fresno State

Aaron Arruda (.373 and 15)

The leading hitter on the team as well as the long ball. He has good size at 6'3" and 220 and that always catches the eye.

Ricky Tyler Thomas (8-4 and 4.86)

This guy turned into an enigma. He was a preseason AA on numerous lists and he started out the season to back up that praise. However, his second half was, in a word, horrid. I don't know what happened and it could have been an injury or a tired arm. Either way, what happened? A lefty who can strike out (100) people always catches scouts' eyes.

Nevada

Mike Echavia (.307 and 9)

He hit pretty well on an otherwise BA challenged team; especially the home runs.

Air Force

Ryan Holloway (3-2 and 3.83)

I want you to notice the ERA. We're talking Air Force here and I think that's outstanding for a team with an ERA of 7.58. He also had 54 strike outs in 47 IP. So, a good pitcher for a team and an area that doesn't spawn many. Hmm, he's worth it.

Tyler Jones (.359 and 14)

Tyler has been hitting a ton since getting freshman AA accolades back a few years. He led the team in RBI's as well as slugging percentage. A good one.

UNLV

Ernie De La Trinidad (.361 and 7)

First a weird stat. He was hit by pitches 19 times. Hugged the plate or the pitchers really liked to pitch him inside. Next most on the team was 5.

Justin Jones (.360 and 9)

Good offensive numbers

San Jose State

Shane Timmons (.304 and 10)

I only have one player that would get interest from the bigs and that's Shane Timmons. He was, by far, the biggest threat at bat for the Spartans. He had little help surrounding him in the lineup and those are things scouts look for. He has really improved from last year so that's only one year to look at. I've said before that I believe one more year would be better for him.