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Kent Bonham and Jeff Sackmann founded College Splits in 2006. We've been collecting, analyzing, and distributing cutting-edge college baseball data ever since.

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The Fastest Players You've Never Heard Of

March 30, 2010

Yep, the college game is different. Against the unpolished defenses of just about every D-1 team, many coaches let their players run wild, testing the arm strength of catchers and outfielders alike.

We want to know who is running the wildest. And hey, maybe we'll unearth a prospect or two in the process.

We enlisted the help of Bill James's "Speed Score," a stat that takes into consideration stolen base percentage, stolen base attempts, triples, and runs scored. (For the full explanation, I'll hand it over to David Appelman.)

Speed score puts every player on a scale between 0 and 10, where 0 is a Molina brother and 10 is a better-coached Willie Mays Hayes. Last year, Michael Bourn led the majors with a speed score of 8.6, while ten other players reached 7.0.

At this point in the young season, many NCAA players are blowing the Astros outfielder out of a water. Here are the top collegiates who are questioning Bourn's supremacy:

  Player           School                PA  Spd  
  Willie Wesley    Jackson State         85  9.6  
  Sean Deegan      Penn State           103  9.5  
  Adam Eaton       Miami (OH)            97  9.4  
  Cortez Cole      Jackson State         76  9.4  
  Mike Drowne      Sacred Heart          75  9.3  
  Chris Bangi      Campbell             123  9.3  
  Jeff Holm        Michigan State        90  9.3  
  Billy Burns      Mercer                87  9.3  
  Justin Bencsko   Villanova             86  9.2  
  Kevin Rodland    Nevada               105  9.1  
  Nate Roberts     High Point           114  9.1  
  Garrett Custons  Air Force            102  9.1  
  Gary Brown       Cal State Fullerton  110  9.0  
  Isaac Ballou     Marshall              85  9.0  
  Justyn Carter    St. Peter's           83  9.0
 

Okay--this isn't exactly the Baseball America Top Prospects list. Among better-known players, LSU's Leon Landry checks in at 8.7, Florida senior Matt den Dekker appears at 8.4, and FSU's Tyler Holt registers a 7.7.

We'll revisit speed score later in the season to see whether Landry can crack the top 15, or if anything can stop those Jackson State Tigers on the basepaths.