ESPN 3 Who to Watch: Weekend of March 30 to April 1, 2012

by Jeremy Strain

References to prospect rankings are generally taken from the Top 100 Draft Prospect preseason rankings at Baseball America.

FRIDAY
3/30 6:00 PM EDT Virginia Tech vs. #4 Florida State
Florida St. features 2012 draft hopefuls Justin Gonzalez, who is having a slow start to the year, James Ramsay and Jayce Boyd. Virginia Tech features fringe top 100 prospect Andrew Rash.

3/30 6:30 PM EDT #8 Miami (FL) vs. Clemson
Number 8 Miami is led by early-round draft prospect C Peter O’Brien, as well as RP E.J. Escinosa, and SS Stephen Perez. Clemson features top 2012 prospects P Kevin Brady and 3B Richie Shaffer, as well as a few interesting follows such as Jason Stolz and P Kevin Pohle.

3/30 6:30 PM EDT Virginia vs. #22 North Carolina State
Virginia features RP Branden Kline and SS Stephen Bruno who are prospects for the draft this year, and while NC State doesn’t have any BA Top 100 players it does have a pair of young players worth watching in P Carlos Rodon and C Brett Austin.

3/30 8:00 PM EDT #3 Arkansas vs. #14 LSU
Third ranked Arkansas features top 2012 draft prospects Nolan Sandburn and P DJ Baxendale, and 2013 top draft prospects Dom Ficocciello and Ryne Stanek. The Tigers boast one of the top prospects in the 2012 draft -- P Kevin Gausman -- as well as SS Austin Nola.

SATURDAY
3/31 1:00 PM EDT Duke vs. #21 Georgia Tech
Duke features a top pitching prospect in Marcus Stroman, whereas Georgia Tech features P Buck Farmer, as well as OF prospects Brandon Thomas and Kyle Wren.

3/31 1:00 PM EDT Alabama vs. Tennessee
Alabama has OF Taylor Dugas and P Ian Gardeck who are in the latter part of the 2012 top 100 prospects while Tennessee has no prospects in Baseball America’s top 100 list this season.

3/31 4:00 PM EDT #7 Kentucky vs. #18 Georgia
Kentucky features 2012 prospect, OF Brian Adams, while Georgia has two pitchers in the latter half of BA's list in Michael Palazzone and Alex Wood.

3/31 4:00 PM EDT #10 South Carolina vs. Vanderbilt
South Carolina boasts a lineup featuring draft hopefuls, 1B Christian Walker, OF Adam Matthews, P Matt Price, and OF Evan Marzilli. Vandy features P Sam Selman, who is having a rough year, and OF Michael Yastrzemski, the grandson of the great Carl Yastrzemski. Tyler Beede is a young player to watch for future years.

3/31 4:00 PM EDT #8 Miami (FL) vs. Clemson
Number 8 Miami is led by top draft prospect C Peter O’Brien, as well as RP E.J. Escinosa, and SS Stephen Perez. Clemson features top 2012 prospects P Kevin Brady and 3B Richie Shaffer, as well as a few interesting follows such as Jason Stolz and P Kevin Pohle.

3/31 6:00 PM EDT Virginia Tech vs. #4 Florida State
Florida St. features 2012 draft hopefuls Justin Gonzalez, who is having a slow start to the year, James Ramsay and Jayce Boyd, while Virginia Tech features fringe top 100 prospect Andrew Rash.

3/31 6:30 PM EDT Virginia vs. #22 North Carolina State
Virginia features RP Branden Kline and SS Stephen Bruno who are prospects for the draft this year, and while NC State doesn’t have any BA Top 100 players it does have a pair of young players worth watching in P Carlos Rodon and C Brett Austin.

SUNDAY
4/01 12:00 PM EDT Miami (FL) vs. Clemson
Number 8 Miami is led by top draft prospect C Peter O’Brien, as well as RP E.J. Escinosa, and SS Stephen Perez. Clemson features top 2012 prospects P Kevin Brady and 3B Richie Shaffer, as well as a few interesting follows such as Jason Stolz and P Kevin Pohle.

4/01 1:00 PM EDT Virginia vs. #22 North Carolina State
Virginia features RP Branden Kline and SS Stephen Bruno who are prospects for the draft this year, and while NC State doesn’t have any BA Top 100 players it does have a pair of young players worth watching in P Carlos Rodon and C Brett Austin.

4/01 1:00 PM EDT Virginia Tech vs. #4 Florida State
Florida St. features 2012 draft hopefuls Justin Gonzalez, who is having a slow start to the year, James Ramsay and Jayce Boyd, while Virginia Tech features fringe top 100 prospect Andrew Rash.

4/012:00 PM EDT California vs. #25 Texas
Cal has a couple players in the top 100 in P Justin Jones and SS Tony Renda, and Texas counters with top prospect pitcher Hoby Milner. The Longhorns' projectable starter Sam Stafford is out for the season with a shoulder injury.

ESPN 3 Who to Watch: Weekend of March 23-25, 2012

ESPN 3 Who to Watch: Weekend of March 23-25, 2012.

by Jeremy Strain

FRIDAY

3/23 7:00 PM EDT #1 Florida vs. #8 SouthCarolina

The pitching matchups to watch in this series feature Florida starters BrianJohnson, JohnnyMagliozzi , HudsonRandall and ace reliever AustinMaddox versus South Carolina hurler MattPrice. [NOTE FROM NICK: Randall, Maddox and Price all threw on Thursday night, and Price and Maddox are most likely unavailable again until Saturday.]

SATURDAY

3/24 1:00 PM EDT #20 NorthCarolina State vs. #5 NorthCarolina

This matchup doesn’t feature any of the BA preseason top100, but it features some young players to watch for 2013, and some youngoutstanding pitching.

3/24 1:00 PM EDT #1 Florida vs. #8 SouthCarolina

From abatting standpoint, led by Mike Zunino, Preston Tucker, and Nolan Fontana, Florida is sawing throughcompetition this season. [NOTE FROM NICK: Freshmen Taylor Gushue and Joshua Tobias are candidates for early-round attention come 2014.] For South Carolina at bat, the preseason top 100players to watch are Evan Marzilli, Christian Walker, and Adam Matthews, who is off to a bit of a slow startthis season [NOTE FROM NICK: but showed well in Thursday night's series opener].

3/24 4:00 PM EDT FloridaAtlantic vs. MiddleTennessee

This game doesn’t feature any of the BA preseason top 100.

SUNDAY

3/25 1:00 PM EDT #3 Arkansasvs. MississippiState

The players to watch for in this matchup are from numberthree ranked Arkansas featuring OF Nolan Sanburn and P D.J.Baxendale who areboth preseason top 30 players. [NOTE FROM NICK: Matt Reynolds is a fringe top 100 talent and 2013 early-round candidates Ryne Stanek and Dom Ficociello are worth a watch.]

3/25 2:00 PM EDT #20 NorthCarolina State vs. #5 NorthCarolina

As mentioned before this is a game more to watch for 2013than for the 2012 draft, but a tough ACC matchup.

ESPN 3 Who to Watch: Weekend of March 9-11, 2012.

by Jeremy Strain

FRIDAY

 3/09 

4:00 PM EST #7 North Carolina vs. #19 Clemson

This could be a great pitching matchup with top prospect Kevin Brady (0-0 1.12 ERA) for Clemson going up against top 2013 draft candidate Kent Emanuel (3-0 1.00 ERA), one of the best young pitching duels in NCAA. 

SATURDAY

3/10       

2:00 PM EST #9 Georgia Tech vs. North Carolina State (Exclusive)

Georgia Tech features a top 2012 pitching prospect in Buck Farmer (2-1 3.32 ERA) and two top OF prospects in Brandon Thomas and Kyle Wren, who is the son of ATL GM Frank Wren.

2:00 PM EST #7 North Carolina vs. #19 Clemson

The Saturday pitching matchups don’t offer any BA top prospects for the 2012 draft, but Clemson 1B Richie Schaffer will be playing.

7:00 PM EST Boston College vs. #13 Miami (FL)

Miami fields three BA top 100 players in C Peter O’Brien, P Eduardo Encinosa, and SS Stephen Perez.

SUNDAY

3/11       

1:00 PM EDT #9 Georgia Tech vs. North Carolina State (Exclusive)

With Farmer pitching Friday, this matchup should be one to watch for the OF prospects Thomas and Wren.  

1:00 PM EDT #7 North Carolina vs. #19 Clemson

With Kevin Brady pitching on Friday night, the prospect to watch in this game will be 1B Richie Schaffer for Clemson, and anyone interested in the 2013 draft should be watching North Carolinas young team where a couple players should emerge as top prospects next year.