{"id":4504,"date":"2011-08-05T16:54:21","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T21:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=4504"},"modified":"2011-08-05T16:54:21","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T21:54:21","slug":"who-are-the-highest-profile-players-in-the-2011-cmws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/4504","title":{"rendered":"Who Are the Highest Profile Players in the 2011 CMWS?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Last year\u2019s Connie Mack World Series featured perhaps the finest collection of amateur pitching the tournament has ever featured.\u00a0 This group of horses included Lucas Jackson<\/strong> of the Florida Legends (Rangers-supplemental round, 2010), Jake McCasland<\/strong> of the Strike Zone Cardinals (UNM, offered and turned down 2nd<\/sup> round money), Adrian Houser<\/strong> of the Strike Zone Cardinals (Astros-2nd<\/sup> round, 2011), Dylan Bundy<\/strong> of the DBAT Mustangs (Orioles-4th<\/sup> overall, 2011), Dillon Howard<\/strong> of Midland (Indians-2nd<\/sup> round, 2011), Archie Bradley<\/strong> of DBAT (Diamondbacks-7th<\/sup> overall, 2011), and Daniel Norris<\/strong> of the East Cobb Yankees (Blue Jays-2nd<\/sup> round, 2011).\u00a0 Last year\u2019s pitcher heavy CMWS produced plenty of low-scoring games and a disproportionately high amount of strikeouts.\u00a0 It was very exciting as a coach and fan to witness these talented arms knowing that a finer group of prep pitchers had likely never been in Farmington before.\u00a0 Which players have the highest ceiling at this year\u2019s CMWS?<\/p>\n

As mentioned previously, the Legends return with new management and a new financial situation, but the talent level is still through the roof led by Albert Almora<\/strong> and David Thompson<\/strong>, both 2012 HS grads and both committed to Miami.\u00a0 Almora is an easy plus hitter with terrific speed and an arm capable of a RF job professionally, where his foot speed will play up a bit.\u00a0 Almora has a projectable frame and enough loft in his swing currently to hit for plus power in the future.\u00a0 Long story short, I highly doubt he falls out of the first round come June.\u00a0 Thompson is a tougher player to call because he likely will be a 3B in the pros despite playing a number of innings at both left-side infield spots as a prep player.\u00a0 He may not have the arm to be on the left side of the infield professionally, but his hit and power tools are both good enough to slide to left.\u00a0 Personally, I\u2019d prefer that he gets a shot to stay at short until he absolutely must move, but that\u2019s how I feel about just about everyone who has even a semblance of a shot to stay at short.\u00a0 Thompson is easily one of the best rising seniors in the United States.<\/p>\n

Midland is bringing a pair of giants who both project as top of the draft arms in 6\u20198\u201d lefty Matt Smoral<\/strong> (committed to UNC) and 6\u201910\u201d righty Taylore Cherry<\/strong> (also committed to UNC).\u00a0 Cherry and Smoral can both reach the mid-90s with live fastballs with good bite on breaking pitches.\u00a0 Cherry throws more of a 10\/4 or 11\/5 true curveball while Smoral throws a low to mid-80s slider due to a lower slot.\u00a0 Both are good athletes who repeat their deliveries well, and those bodies are worth millions in signing bonus dollars, although Smoral has the more projectable build. Both pitchers will be heavily scouted this year prior to the draft, and Farmington is sure to appreciate their quality arms.<\/p>\n

DBAT righty Jack Moffitt<\/strong> can reach the low-90s with his fastball with great arm-side action and good command.\u00a0 His delivery is clean and consistent with an athletic \u00be slot.\u00a0 His curveball is tight and more of the 11 to 5 variety.\u00a0 His changeup is behind the breaker, and he tends to slow his delivery a bit with it, but it has a chance to be an effective third pitch.\u00a0 Rising junior infielder Niko Buentello<\/strong> is also an exciting young player with a lot of upside in the field and with the bat.\u00a0 He is the only 16-year old on the DBAT club and one of the few in the entire tournament.<\/p>\n

The Strike Zone Cardinals possess a potential helium guy in Shilo McCall.<\/strong> McCall turned a lot of heads when he ran a 6.6 60 at the Perfect Game Nationals as a 6\u20191\u201d, 205 lb. 16-year old.\u00a0 He will be one of the youngest draft eligible players at the CMWS and nationwide.\u00a0 His hit tool and power tool are very strong with a lot of projection.\u00a0 Shilo\u2019s arm is at least a 50 now with a chance at a 55-60 in the future, which means he could slide to right as well.\u00a0 Shilo has quality makeup and the talent and head to achieve a lot in the game.\u00a0 He is without question the best position player Farmington has produced since Casey Andrews<\/strong> (FHS 2001) and quite possibly the best yet.<\/p>\n

The CMWS has helped launch the careers of a lot of young players as they attempt to take their games beyond the prep ranks, and 2011\u2019s tourney will surely be no different.\u00a0 The Series is not typical of national recruiting events because the scores of the game actually matter.\u00a0 The national showcase circuit has its pros and cons, but the biggest con is the fact that there exists no team atmosphere at many of these events.\u00a0 Baseball is a sport to be won and lost as a team beyond anything else, and the CMWS reflects this more than any other club tournament in the United States, year after year.\u00a0 These are just a handful of the most highly regarded participants in 2011\u2019s Series with likely dozens of other top recruits and draft prospects also gearing up for the week ahead.\u00a0 I\u2019m psyched.
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Last year\u2019s Connie Mack World Series featured perhaps the finest collection of amateur pitching the tournament has ever featured.\u00a0 This group of horses included Lucas Jackson of the Florida Legends (Rangers-supplemental round, 2010), Jake McCasland of the Strike Zone Cardinals (UNM, offered and turned down 2nd round money), Adrian Houser of the Strike Zone Cardinals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,1300,8,6,9,11,13,10,14],"tags":[2540,2529,2165,2544,609,2541,2528,1996,671,48,2542,247,2539,2525,242,2543,269,2282,2526],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4504"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4504"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4508,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4504\/revisions\/4508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}