| 12 January 2012
Last year there were three players from Northern California D1 programs named to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American team. Two of them are from the region and one of those is a Bay Area player.
INF Kyle DeMerritt of Santa Clara (Bellarmine Prep) hit .280 with 8 doubles, 27 RBI and 3 stolen bases, not eye-popping numbers but solid. He was an All-Freshman selection in the WCC and after having DeMerritt on my last Braves scout team, I feel good about the career he has ahead of him. He is the kind of player who plays much bigger than his numbers because he impacts the game in more ways than what his stats say.
DeMerritt is a tough kid and I remember him showing up to our scout ball games on Sundays, sometimes just a day after a football game. He was often beat up and not feeling well but he showed up, didn't complain and if he was able to get out there and play, he did. Frankly, he is the type of player college baseball is all about and over the years Santa Clara just hasn't had enough players like him. Identifying the right make-up and "style" of a high school player and how that projects to the college game is to me, more important than the evaluation of the ability and talent, which isn't difficult. Santa Clara hasn't lacked talent over the years, far from it. They have lacked enough of what Kyle DeMerritt brings and hopefully there are more players like him who play for the Broncos.
1B/OF Aaron Judge of Fresno State (Linden HS) is a player I LOVED as a scout. However, I liked him as a right-handed pitcher. Turns out, he had some injury history with his right elbow and I think that allowed Fresno State (and the scouts that were on him for the 2010 draft) to start considering him as a position player prospect. Judge is a big young right-handed hitter who runs well and has some power. Maybe a young Derrek Lee? Well, I don't want to get ahead of myself and Judge is taller than Lee, not to mention that it is possible that Judge is not done as a pitcher. Stay tuned. In either case, as a freshman he was a 1st team WAC selection and WAC Freshman of The Year. He hit .358 with 12 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs and 30 RBI. He also had 11 stolen bases. He is listed as an OF/RHP for the 2012 season.
The other player from the area to make the Freshman All-American team was Stanford OF (1B/UTL) Brian Ragira (Arlington, TX). I first saw Ragira at the Area Code Games and fell in love with his athleticism and raw talent. He is a centerfielder who was put at 1B by Stanford because they wanted to get his bat and speed and athleticism into their line-up. When I saw him in high school, I felt like I was watching a smaller version of Cameron Maybin, and yes, I saw Maybin in high school, quite a bit. It shocked me to see Ragira at 1B for the Cardinal but they were so deep in the outfield and apparently he was the best option of their good outfielders to contribute at 1B. Ragira was named Pac-10 Freshman Player of The Year. He hit .329 with 7 doubles, 5 triples, 4 homers, 46 RBI. He also was named to the Honorable Mention All-Pac-10 team.
The college season is right around the corner and no doubt we will see more Freshman All-American selections from the area. When all the full rosters are posted I will go through them and make my predictions regarding who might earn such an honor. I will also select an all-preseason Northern California D1 team, project the seasons for each program and try to keep up with it all during the spring.
Of course I will also occasionally highlight players who participated in my events over the years.
Speaking of which, Bay Area World Series will be June 29-30/July 1 at Cal Poly-SLO. Know of an outstanding frosh/soph/junior, let me know about him! BayAreaWS@yahoo.com
