the better side of baseball

Of course the big news this week was Sammy Sosa's positive testing for steroids. It seems this has become a popular trend lately, big stars suddenly getting busted for jacking up their stats with performance enhancers instead of the old fashion way of actually relying on talent and hard work. And to tell you the truth I'm sick and tired of it. So instead of writing about how this generation of baseball is starting to implode, I'm going to write about the hopes for the next generation of elite players in the MLB draft.

In one of my previous blogs I wrote about Steven Stransburg so in this one I'm going to avoid him completely. Instead I'm going to give a preview on some of the prospects that even the most dedicated baseball fans don't know much about.

Drew Storen- is originally from Stanford but now will be playing in D.C. with the Nationals after he was taken #10 overall by them. He was drafted as a closer, something rare in the first round, but has the potential to start in the big leagues. He pitched 42.2 innings this year, allowing 18 runs making his ERA 3.80. He tied for 5th in Stanford history with 15 saves over his two-year stay in California. What I found interesting about him is in his senior year in high school he stroke out 86 batters and had a .89 ERA, while managing to have a .400 batting average and 33 RBIs. That same year he was also was a Louisville Slugger first-team All-America.

Chad Jenkins- is a big (225 lbs), powerful (throws 90-94 mph fastball), right hand pitcher for Kenesaw State University. With this knowledge, Toronto decided to take him 20th overall. In his senior year he had 5 wins, 78 strikeouts, and 3.96 ERA. What impressed me about him was in his final year in high school at Cherokee, he was not only named Cherokee county player of the year, but also finished in the top 5% of his graduating class in academics.

Aaron Crow- was selected 9th overall by the Washington Nationals. Oh wait that was last year, this year he was selected 12th by the Kansas City Royals after not signing with the Nationals and playing in an independent league to show scouts what he was really made of. He has a sinking fastball in the lower 90's and a nasty slider as his best pitch. He played for Missou in 2007 with good success, having nine wins and averaging about 1.3 strikeouts per inning he pitched.

THE WAY I SEE IT- There isn't a whole lot to give a perspective on here, but I do think it's interesting to learn and hear about some of the league's upcoming star's stats and background stories. So here's to a better, less drug reliant, generation of baseball. HERE, HERE!