2011 Pre-season All-Americans
February 15, 2011
At College Splits, we do things a little differently, and our pre-season All-Americans are no different.
Most such teams tend to select players, at least in part, based on tools and long-term potential, and as such, they have a great deal in common with draft prospect lists. Nothing wrong with that--we check out every one of these we can find.
For our All-Americans, we're taking a different approach. We're numbers guys, and that's how we're picking our teams. We're not interested in a player's professional peak--we care about what they are going to show on the field over the next four and a half months.
Thus, there are some not-so-familiar faces here, and some familiar faces didn't even make the cut. Enjoy!
First team
CA: Rob Kral, College of Charleston
1B: Ricky Oropesa, USC
2B: Tommy LaStella, Coastal Carolina
3B: Anthony Rendon, Rice
SS: Levi Michael, North Carolina
OF: George Springer, Connecticut
OF: Mikie Mahtook, LSU
OF: Scott Woodward, Coastal Carolina
DH: Jason Esposito, Vanderbilt
SP: Trevor Bauer, UCLA
SP: Gerrit Cole, UCLA
SP: John Stilson, Texas A&M
SP: Danny Hultzen, Virginia
RP: Ross Stripling, Texas A&M
The biggest surprise here may be the inclusion of two Coastal Carolina hitters. Our numbers consistently say that Coastal is underrated, and that extends to some individual Chants. At some point, we'll write at greater length about why our numbers like them so much.
Another pick that might catch your eye is first-time shortstop Levi Michael. Even if he struggles a bit at the new position, he's still looks like the class of the position this year.
Finally, by putting Esposito at DH, we're not implying anything about his defensive prowess. To the contrary, our metrics love him. If we were managing this team, we'd put him at third and Rendon at DH. We gave him the DH slot simply because he is the best hitter in college baseball who wasn't already on the team.
Second team
CA: Jett Bandy, Arizona
1B: Aaron Westlake, Vanderbilt
2B: Tyler Rahmatulla, UCLA
3B: Matt Leeds, College of Charleston
SS: Brad Miller, Clemson
OF: Preston Tucker, Florida
OF: Jackie Bradley Jr., South Carolina
OF: James Ramsey, Florida State
DH: Mike McGee, Florida State
SP: Kurt Heyer, Arizona
SP: Michael Wacha, Texas A&M
SP: Logan Verrett, Baylor
SP: Sonny Gray, Vanderbilt
RP: Bryce Bandilla, Arizona
Third team
CA: Chadd Krist, California
1B: Cam Seitzer, Oklahoma
2B: Kolten Wong, Hawaii
3B: Matt Skole, Georgia Tech
SS: Nolan Fontana, Florida
OF: Jeff Schaus, Clemson
OF: Jeremy Baltz, St. John's
OF: Alex Dickerson, Indiana
DH: Harold Martinez, Miami
SP: Noe Ramirez, Fullerton
SP: Kyle Simon, Arizona
SP: Taylor Jungmann, Texas
SP: Matt Purke, Texas Christian
RP: Dylan Floro, Fullerton