USA! USA!

Tuesday, July 04 2006 @ 12:00 PM EDT

Contributed by: Pistol

With today being Independence Day in the US here's a look at the college players on Team USA.

The top college players each year play on Team USA. Here's a sampling of the players over the last few years:

2005: Stubbs, Scherzer and Kennedy (for whatever reason most of the players ended up in the Cape League last year)
2004: Zimmerman, Gordon, Tulowitzki, Clement, Romero, Hochevar, and Pelfrey
2003: Street, Weaver, Verlander and Clement
2002: Quentin, Jackson, Hill, Weeks, Cordero, Street, and Sleeth

Other Team USA alumni include: Oswalt, Prior, Burrell, Crosby, Garciaparra, Glaus, Helton, Mauer, McGwire, Mulder, Teixiera, and Sheets.

This year's team is made up of 1 junior, 14 sophmores, and 8 freshman. The sophmores will be eligible for next year's draft (and depending on their birthday possible a freshman or two).

Here's a look at the hitters (stats are from the 05/06 college baseball season):

Player
Position Year School

AB Ave OBP Slg K/BB K%

Pedro Alvarez 3B Fr. Vanderbilt

214 0.332 0.460 0.664 1.1 21.9%

Todd Frazier INF/OF So. Rutgers

209 0.368 0.477 0.593 1.0 15.6%

J.P. Arencibia C So. Tennessee

216 0.352 0.419 0.583 1.5 12.2%

Roger Kieschnick OF Fr. T Tech

237 0.359 0.418 0.549 1.7 15.9%

Zack Cozart SS/3B So. Ole Miss

245 0.347 0.379 0.531 1.4 8.8%

Jemile Weeks INF Fr. Miami

219 0.333 0.425 0.507 0.8 9.4%

Brandon Crawford SS Fr. UCLA

231 0.320 0.380 0.506 1.9 17.3%

Tim Federowicz C/1B Fr. UNC

204 0.299 0.364 0.485 1.8 15.4%

Julio Borbon OF So. Tennessee

235 0.366 0.412 0.481 0.8 5.9%

Darwin Barney INF/OF So. Oregon St

207 0.348 0.455 0.430 0.4 5.2%

Sean Doolittle LHP/INF So. Virginia

208 0.308 0.439 0.428 0.5 10.3%

Preston Clark C Fr. Texas

202 0.272 0.332 0.391 1.9 14.5%

And a look at the pitchers:

Player		Position	Year	School	Innings	ERA	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	H/9
David	Price	LHP	So.	Vanderbilt	104	3.81	12.7	3.3	0.7	7.3
Cole	St Clair	LHP	So.	Rice	74	1.82	12.1	3.2	0.2	4.7
Nick	Schmidt	LHP	So.	Arkansas	108	2.98	11.2	4.0	0.5	6.7
Sean	Doolittle	LHP/INF	So.	Virginia	90	2.38	10.8	2.1	0.5	6.4
Ross	Detwiler	LHP	So.	Missouri St	93	2.81	9.6	4.5	0.4	7.1
Daniel	Moskos	LHP	So.	Clemson	53	2.52	9.1	3.6	0.2	7.4
Jake	Arrieta	RHP	So.	TCU	111	2.35	9.0	3.0	0.3	7.8
Nick	Hill	LHP	Jr.	Army	67	3.34	8.7	3.2	0.7	7.2
Wes	Roemer	RHP	So.	Cal SF	155	2.38	8.4	0.4	0.5	7.3
Bryan	Augenstein	RHP	So.	Florida	111	3.07	7.9	1.9	0.4	8.3
Tommy	Hunter	RHP	Fr.	Alabama	117	3.30	6.1	1.7	0.6	8.8

What's interesting is that the six pitchers with the best strikeout rates are all left handed.

Four of the above players made BA's top 12 college prospects for the 2007 draft: David Price (1), Arencibia (5), Sean Doolittle (9), and Todd Frazier (12).

With numerous free agents and being unlikely to sign a premium free agent this offseason the Jays could end up with a number of high draft picks in 2007 and chances are decent that some of these Team USA players will find their way into the Blue Jays organization.

Speaking of the draft, we'll have an interview with Jon Lalonde up tomorrow on the 2006 draft.

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