Baseball America Blog

[Wags]

I don't know if anyone else here reads the Baseball America blog, but I'm glad to see we're starting to get recognized in baseball circles.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/college/?p=46

From the blog...

On to this week’s mailbag:

University of South Florida has some great arms on their pitching staff and now with a new coaching staff they are on a roll. How many of them do you think will be in this year’s draft and how far do you think they can go as a team despite losing some key pitchers to the 2006 draft and a two-way guy who transferred?

Gary Bernstein

Tampa

The Bulls are off to a 9-2 start, with their only losses coming in midweek games against Stetson and Florida. Their pitching staff is a big part of their early success, as righthanders Danny Otero (3-1, 0.76), Daniel Thomas (2-0, 1.12) and Chris Delaney (2-0, 1.12) make for a formidable weekend rotation. We highlighted Otero in Weekend Preview two weeks ago; here’s what South Florida coach Lelo Prado said then:

“Otero might be the best pitcher I’ve had beside Sam Militello. (He) has great control and doesn’t miss his spots . . . This guy can pitch for anyone in America and be their Friday starter.â€Â

With a fastball that reached 89 mph and a quality slider in the 79-81 range, the 6-foot-3, 205-pound Otero figures to be a solid senior draft, perhaps somewhere in the 10th-15th round range. But Thomas is the better pro prospect, even though he’s slightly undersized at 6-foot-1, 195. Thomas wasn’t drafted out of high school, having missed his entire senior season after having Tommy John surgery. But he could go somewhere between the sixth and 10th rounds this June, thanks to a fastball in the 90-93 range and a very good, hard slider in the low to mid-80s.

“He’s always had shaky command, but when he throws strikes with his fastball and slider he can be pretty good,†an American League scout said. “His fastball is straight unless he keeps it down, but when he keeps the ball down he can be effective.â€Â

The Bulls have a very intriguing series this weekend against Central Michigan, which has plenty of pitching in its own right. The Friday night matchup between Otero and Central Michigan junior righty Josh Collmenter could be a good one.

[JoeB]

The Bulls have a very intriguing series this weekend against Central Michigan, which has plenty of pitching in its own right. The Friday night matchup between Otero and Central Michigan junior righty Josh Collmenter could be a good one.  

Substitute Daniel Thomas for Otero in that last sentence.