As we start to look at the potential finalists for the 2011 Golden Spikes Award, we’ll be putting the spotlight on select players throughout the season.  There are tons of worthy candidates this year, in what might be one of the most loaded draft classes since 2005.  We’ve seen a talented crop of NCAA pitchers this year, but one of the more “forgotten” names might be Noe Ramirez, a RHP from Cal State Fullerton.

Ramirez, a 2010 USA Baseball Collegiate Team member, has a history of competitive fire on the mound, coupled with some serious tools.  His fastball ranges up to 91 mph, but it’s his change-up that is the key to his success.  Not only is it a plus offering to pro scouts, but it’s truly a pitch that is proving to be difficult to touch.  His projectable frame of 6-3, 180lbs is something that makes pro clubs think of a future front rotation starter.

Baseball America did a small piece on Noe Ramirez, highlighting some of his tools and speaking with him about his best pitch.

Strike Three: Golden Spikes Spotlight on Noe Ramirez (LINK: 4/11/2011 BA Blog)

FULLERTON, Calif.—When you hear Noe Ramirez say, “I feel like the changeup is the best pitch in baseball,” it becomes clear that he is a perfect fit for Cal State Fullerton. Not five minutes earlier, Titans coach Dave Serrano said the exact same thing—and it’s something he says often.

Ramirez, a junior righthander, said he never had a changeup before he arrived at Fullerton, but now he is the proud owner of one of the best changeups in college baseball. Serrano is a master of teaching the changeup, but Ramirez also credits former Fullerton ace Ricky Romero, now a Toronto Blue Jay, for showing him the pitch.

“I’m just blessed to be able to throw a great changeup,” Ramirez said. “I had a little talk with Romero, I just asked him how he has so much control of it. I asked him how he does it, and he told me. I just started throwing the hell out of it from 90 feet in warmups, and it went from there. I know a lot of guys, when they throw the changuep, they try not to choke it, but that’s how i throw mine: I choke the hell out of it.”

Ramirez throws his changeup with the same arm speed as his fastball, but it comes in at 83-84 mph with excellent fade, sink and deception. It plays well off his 89-91 mph fastball.

“I think it’s huge,” Serrano said of Ramirez’s changeup. “I think that’s why the people at the next level like him, because he has a miss-the-bat pitch. You see a lot of swings and misses, a lot of not quality contact, and that’s hard to find sometimes. It has extremely good wiggle to it. It can be elevated at times and guys are still not getting good passes at it.”

The changeup is a big reason Ramirez is 26-5 in his college career. He’s having his best season this spring, going 5-2, 1.98 with 64 strikeouts and 10 walks through 55 innings. Ramirez said he felt some elbow tenderness over the past few weeks—he blamed himself for overthrowing during his midweek side work—and the Titans were cautious with him, moving him to the Saturday starter spot to give him some extra rest, and limiting him to 70 pitches a week ago. He threw 105 pitches over 7 2/3 innings this Saturday in a 2-1 win against UC Irvine, allowing just one run on seven hits and a walk while striking out nine.

“He’s starting to get in a groove now, and that’s good for us,” Serrano said. “He’ll go back in that Friday slot next week, because he’s a tone-setter for us.”

Ramirez said he felt like his fastball command improved as his outing progressed Saturday, and he recorded two strikeouts with perfectly placed 88 mph fastballs over the outside corner in the seventh inning. He also was able to throw his 78-80 mph slider for strikes or use it to extend the zone.

“I felt like I had pinpoint control of everything (Saturday)—it felt real good,” Ramirez said. “My slider’s been a lot better than it has been last year and the year before. Everything’s been going great for me right now.”

Looking for some Noe Ramirez cards on the eBay market?  Check out some of his best cards, which are sure to see some nice gains come 2011 MLB Draft time.


2010 Topps USA Green Ink Auto /25
2010 Topps USA Green Ink Auto /25
2010 Topps USA Green Ink Auto /25

2010 Topps USA Red Ink Auto /99


2010 Bowman Platinum Green Refractor Patch Auto /199


2010 Bowman Platinum Blue Refractor Patch Auto /50

One of the biggest points of focus was Bryce Harper and his first spring training with the big league camp.  Just 18-years-old and fresh out of the Arizona Fall League, Harper wasted no time in showing how good he really can be.  Don’t get it wrong though, he still had his struggles, but his final spring training numbers spoke volumes to everyone in baseball.

Even though it was 13 games in total, the variance in hits, the pitch selection, and the production left fans wanting more.  He’ll be headed to Single-A to start the season, but don’t expect that to last long.  If the Strasburg train is any example, Harper will surely be moving quickly through the Nationals system.

Baseball America Blog brought out the quotes from names around major league baseball.  If you’re one of those comparison type of fans, they ranged from Mark Grace to Mickey Mantle to Clint Hurdle.  Check them out below, including one from Albert Pujols (although quite PC and vague).

“He’s handled himself good. He’s mature beyond his age. He’s absorbing a lot—he’s really being a sponge and taking in everything that is major league spring training. We’ve got a lot of veteran players on this team that are capable of sharing a lot of information with him and he’s following my advice when he came to spring training: keep your ears open and your mouth closed. It’s very unique, I’ve never seen this with a player his age. I had Justin Upton, who I think is in that same category and Bryce is beyond Justin, as far as readiness for spring training and readiness for a player and that’s a big comparison because Justin Upton is one of the most talented players I ever drafted.”
—Mike Rizzo, general manager, Washington Nationals

“I’ve been pretty impressed that he’s been able to handle his own at this level and the way he’s read pitches and understands the strike zone. We’ve all seen him attack the ball and do all the things with the tools he’s got. But to see him do that, it looks like he can compete here a little bit. It’s pretty exciting. He’s an aggressive kid. They’re going to knock it out of him a little bit, but he’s a pleasure to be around. He plays the game right and you can tell his daddy trained his son very well. He’s fun to be around. He’s supposed to be playing high school games, so it’s pretty amazing what he’s done. The big thing is, socially, he’s above his years. He interacts with everybody very well and he’s fit in in a situation that’s sometimes tough to fit in. He’s done a great job with that.”
—Bob Boone, assistant general manager, Washington Nationals

“He’s been outstanding. He’s really impressed everybody in camp, not just with his hitting but with his athleticism, his defense, his throwing and his baserunning. He’s an aggressive young kid that just needs to play a lot more baseball and experience every situation that can come up and let everything run its course to get him here.

Our media relations department has done a good job to kind of monitor how much time the media gets with him and the demands on him and the organization is very well experienced with this type of stuff to make sure he’s not overloaded. The other part of it is that his teammates keep him in check with a little razzing and stuff and they kind of police that also.

He does remind me of somebody, but it’s not the answer people want to hear because people want him to be Mickey Mantle. But the guy he reminds me of is Clint Hurdle. Clint was a 19-year-old in Triple-A, the best player in Triple-A at 19, when everybody else in the league at 25. Physically, he’s a lefthanded hitter, righthanded thrower, same size as Clint, same skill set and Clint had a very nice career. He didn’t have a Mickey Mantle career, but he had a great career, but that’s not what people want out of this kid. They want him to be Mickey Mantle right away or Ken Griffey Jr., but Clint was an aggressive animal and a heck of a ballplayer.”
—Jim Riggleman, manager, Washington Nationals

“He is very direct to the ball. The bat speed that he possesses when it goes through the zone is tremendous. He generates a lot of torque in his body and with a short swing and a lot of torque, he impacts the ball as hard as anyone in the game, really. What’s probably even more impressive is being 18 and being where he is mentally and the adjustments that he’s made just in the short time that I’ve seen him here in big league camp has been such a huge positive. I think the credit goes to his parents for the way he was raised and how he goes about his day and to himself, that through all the hoopla, he’s maintained a very level head and a passion to want to be the best and a work ethic that warrants him reaching those goals. All around, he’s an impressive young man.

He’s taught me a little bit about himself and we sat down and watched some film and he’d describe certain things and talk about himself, so that gives me a chance to learn better. Through that process, I’ve shared with him some thoughts and some of the plan and the ideas when it comes to hitting at the major league level to give him some of that perspective. The biggest thing right now is just allowing him to get acclimated as a professional in major league camp, his first camp, and allowing him to get his feet wet and get comfortable and settle in. There’s a lot going on for him to learn our system, to learn the expectations when it comes to being a professional baseball player, so that whole process in a nutshell is just him getting to learn about us and us getting to learn about him.

He generates a lot and sometimes gets out to his front side too fast, which doesn’t allow him to stay behind the baseball. That’s one of the things we’ve talked about and looked at and shared. When you’re trying to generate a lot like that and you’re not staying behind the ball, a pitch with depth like a cutter or something where the bottom falls out of it, it can put him in a position where he can’t do what he knows he can do. When he gets to that front side real fast, he’s not staying behind the baseball and not putting himself in the best position to react to different pitches that he might see.”
—Rick Eckstein, hitting coach, Washington Nationals

“He’s a special kid and he’s going to have his time. He looks like he’s pretty humbled, so I think if he can stay healthy, he can have some success at this level.”
—Albert Pujols, 1b, St. Louis Cardinals

If you were interested in checking out the eBay market for Harper cards, you will find they have exploded once again.  We all thought the spike was right after the draft, but spring training has made almost anything sell for highs.

Bryce Harper Chrome Buyback Autos

Bryce Harper AFLAC Autos

Bryce Harper Topps Anniversary Autos

Bryce Harper USA Base, Chromes, & Autos

I know, I know.  We’re talking about the 2012 MLB draft.  It seems so far away that you might find it hard to get excited about any prospect.  While I would normally agree with you all, but sometimes a prospect is so talented, he deserves the early hype.

Meet Lance McCullers, a Junior from Jesuit HS (Tampa, FL).

Usually, a prospect is looked at as having a distinct upside from one aspect of the game.  McCullers is equally impressive from the mound and with the bat.  We could be looking at another case of Bryce Harper type of hype, paired with a Casey Kelly type of draft pick.

Check out the recent article from Home Team:

Major League Baseball draft rankings fluctuate like the seasons – and yes, baseball season is still a winter away - but one major scouting service ranks Jesuit junior Lance McCullers Jr. as the nation’s top prospect in the Class of 2012.

McCullers, a right-handed pitcher and shortstop, tops the Perfect Game Cross Checker’s Top 200 draft prospects for 2012. Four of the list’s top six players are high schoolers.

“Not only does McCullers have a loose, fast arm with electric stuff, but he has command of all three pitches in his repertoire,” writes Perfect Game’s Allan Simpson. “In addition to his dominant fastball, he also has a mid-80s power curve and a changeup. His superior arm strength is readily evident on the left side of the infield, and his powerful left-handed bat makes him a middle-of-the-order presence.”

In fact, Simpson refers to McCullers in the same breath as Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Rodriguez and Delmon Young as No. 1 picks that emerged as unquestioned top prospects as high school underclassmen.

McCullers is also ranked No. 3 on Baseball America’s Jim Callis’ Class of 2012 draft prospect list.

……..

A Times All-Suncoast first-team selection last spring as a sophomore, McCullers hit .457 with 8 doubles, 4 triples, 2 homers and 30 RBIs while going 2-0 with 3 saves and a 0.39 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 18 innings.

If you were wondering if McCullers has any cards on the market, you’re in luck.  He is an autograph in the 2010 Bowman Chrome 18U USA set, but you have to act quick.  The market is drying up and people are putting them away for next year’s hype.

Baseball America released their Top 100 High School Prospects, in regards to the early college signing period.  You can see the full list below with each TEAM USA player highlighted, along with their college commitment.

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