August 2005 Diamond Notes

August 29, 2005

Center fielder Peter Bourjos of Notre Dame Prep has signed a contract with the Los Angeles Angels (or whatever they are calling themselves these days.) Bourjos, a 10th round selection, allegedly received a bonus equivalent to a 3rd round selection, according to an article in the Republic that quoted Bourjos' father Chris, a longtime Area Scout. Peter was a signee at Grand Canyon University.

The Angels had an interesting draft this year. In an era where college players dominate the early rounds, the Angels selected high school players with 10 of their first 11 picks. Seven of these picks have signed as of this point. Contrast that with the Diamondbacks, for example, who selected college players with 11 of their first 12 picks. 

Local Angels draftee Matt Hall (8th round-Horizon) elected to play at ASU and 4th rounder Brian Matusz (St. Mary's) has yet to sign and is scheduled to attend his first class at the University of San Diego on September 1. Stay tuned..............

If you are playing this weekend at the Super Series tournament in Peoria, make sure your coach provides me with a roster with numbers, high school and grad year. I have requested the info from all of the coaches that I have contact info for.

August 24, 2005

Stephen Streich, a LHP from Brophy Prep, became the latest member of the 2006 class to give a verbal commitment. Streich will attend the Univ. of San Diego and play for the Torreros in the 2007 season. He joins Chaparral's Jason Jarvis in USD's stable of recruits.

Also giving a verbal commitment was Central High SS Sam Pavlisick. Sam will wear the red and white of the UNLV Runnin' Rebels in 2007.

Congratulations to both of these solid student athletes on making a dream come true.

The U.S. Youth National Team continues to bludgeon the opposition at the IBAF World Championships. Yesterday's victim was South Africa, who suffered a 21-1 pounding. Kyle Brule of Marcos tossed one inning in the effort and Riccio Torres of Brophy reached on an error and scored in his only at bat.

August 23, 2005

Jason Mitchell (Mountain Pointe 2006 RHP/OF)) has given a verbal commitment to Arizona State to play baseball for the Sun Devils in 2007. Congratulations to Jason. The Sun Devils are getting one of the top  two way players in the 2006 class 

Mountain Pointe's Jason Mitchell (at Team One West in 2004) will be a Sun Devil

Elsewhere at ASU, with classes starting yesterday a number of local players reported to class and ended speculation as to their future plans. Ike Davis (Chaparral), Matt Hall (Horizon) and Jeff Urlaub (Horizon), all selections in the June amateur draft will play for the Devils in 2006. Jake Borup (Mountain View RHP) is also a local recruit for the Devils. 

Two highly regarded recruits, Brett Wallace (3B from California) and Preston Parramore (C from Texas) also elected not to sign with their pro teams and will wear the marroon and Gold for the Devils. 

Davis will apparently see time on the mound and will DH for the Devils while he attempts to make a transition to an outfield spot from 1B.

Vinny Biancamano , a 2004 grad from Cactus, has left ASU and will apparently play at Chandler Gilbert Community College this year.

August 22, 2005

The U.S. Youth National team is off to a great start in the 2005 IBAF "AA" World Youth Championships in Monterrey, Mexico. Games started on Saturday and the Americans quickly flexed their muscles in a 12-0 pasting of Japan. Brophy second baseman Riccio Torres was 0-2  with a walk and a run scored for the U.S. 

On Sunday, the U.S. pummeled an overmatched Russian squad 15-0 as Torres went 1-2 and added a walk and scored twice. Marcos De Niza fireballer Kyle Brule tossed a perfect final inning in relief for the U.S.

August 16, 2005

Mountain Pointe's Mike Ford (2006) has given a verbal commitment to UC Santa Barbara to join the Gauchos for the 2006 season. Ford is a RHP/OF with a very live arm and a lot of upside. Congratulations to Mike and his family on a great achievement.

If you watched the AFLAC All American game on Saturday on Fox Sports, you probably noticed that recently retired Corona Del Sol Coach Ron Davini was coaching third base for the west squad.

Team One Baseball is conducting a mock draft using the  players that attended the recent Area Code Games. 

Charles Brewer, RHP from Chaparral, took home the top spot amongst the AZ contingent, weighing in at the #19 spot. RHP Taylor Lewis from Canyon Del Oro took the 32nd slot. Khris Davis, Deer valley centerfielder, made the list at #58, and Chaparral outfielder/LHP Adam Bailey came in at #73. These are the only AZ selections through 80 picks.

August 11, 2005

2005 Arcadia graduate Austin Weymouth has signed a Letter of Intent to play baseball for Gonzaga University in the 2006 season. Weymouth had an outstanding senior season, hitting .527 for the Titans and earning 1st Team All Region and 2nd Team All Arizona recognition. Congratulations to one of the most underrated players in the 2005 class.

In a Baseball America article, Yuma Kofa's Luis Tovar (2006 grad) was selected as one of the Top 20 players (#18) to attend the WWBA 18U Championships. He was also honored as an Aflac All American.

August 9, 2005

I've updated the 2006 player watch list and have settled on a top 125 for the format. This is a compromise between top 100 and 150. Creating these lists is extremely difficult and there are no doubt some players who are deserving who were left off- particularly some players from outside the Phoenix area who I may not be aware of. 

Of these 125 players, I expect that no more than 20 will be recruited to D1 colleges and /or selected in next year's draft.

I hope that this points out a painful reality to most of you out there- exposure and knowing how to play the recruiting game are critical components in the process. There is a big world of college opportunities available to those of you who are truly interested in taking your game to the next level.

As always, I am available to discuss your situation as it pertains to recruiting at any time. Due to my recent health issues, I have fallen behind miserably in contacting many of you who have requested help. If you need to speak with me please do not be afraid to give me a call at 480-763-6868 or e mail if I haven't contacted you yet. I'm doing my best to catch up and I'm now getting back into the swing of things.

The word out of the Area Code games is a somewhat lackluster performance from the AZ contingent to this point. 

The Reds team, consisting of AZ and other 4 corners players, dropped game 1 6-3 to the Mariners squad. The Reds had only 3 hits, 2 of them by Chaparral OF/LHP Adam Bailey.

The Reds dropped Game 2 to the White Sox 8-7, before coming back yesterday to defeat the Brewers Blue team 3-2. Charles Brewer threw a pair of nice innings for the Reds. The Brewers team features most of southern California's big time players so this was a nice win.

I'll keep you posted as I get further info from the AC games.

August 4, 2005

I'm in the process of cleaning up the 2006 and 2007 player watch lists. At the same time I'm asking your help in determining the criteria for these lists. I've instituted a poll on the message board where you can render your opinion. Please lend me a hand with this.

With school starting around the state, fall ball is just around the corner. Please send me schedules/rosters etc if you have them.

I'm also looking for 2006 verbal commitments. If you've given a commitment to a D1 school please let me know.