Update before the season starts, the last week of spring training is brutal.

I'll do hitters later in the week, but as the Cain contract talks stall and stew, it becomes more apparent he might walk barring a last minute change of heart, I have to say we'll need to draft pitchers early and often. I'm holding out for a last minute compromise, but if it isn't made, he is gone. No way no how they will trade him in that scenario, so its draft picks and excuses for Los Gigantes fans, with the Brain Trust hoping like hell a possible playoff run would change his mind. I'm trying not to be bitter about this, so I went surfing college websites for distraction. Enjoy some stats!

Shorthand Key for Stats:

ERA, Win/Loss record, A/S = Appearances/Starts, IP = Innings Pitched (rounded), Hits, Base on Balls, Strikeouts, BAA = Batting Average Against. Saves as necessary

Top 5: I’m going with Zimmer/Appel/Gausman/Wacha/Stroman.

Other candidates could include Beck/Mooneyham/Florida pitchers/Heaney/Heyer, but that might be a 2nd tier of guys. I grouped by conference after the Top 5.

Kyle Zimmer JR RHP San Francisco (WCC)

1.62 ERA 2-1 6/6 A/S 39IP 25H 6BB 45K .181BAA

Big time velocity into the high 90s has him competing for #1 overall. Zimmer is bringing the noise still. If you want to see him, they’re playing San Diego at home 3/30 and AT&T Park 3/31 – 10AM! Get the hell up and get to the phone booth! Not sure if they’d showcase him at AT&T or not, I’ll check into it as it gets closer.

One more note: They close out the season at St. Mary’s. If Martin Agosta is making noise, this could be an interesting matchup. 5/25-5/27 Zimmer/Agosta would most likely be the 5/25 game.

Mark Appel JR RHP Stanford (PAC12)

2.92 ERA 3-1 5/5 A/S 40IP 23H 12BB 47K .164BAA

Appel has righted the ship and throws mid to upper 90s heat. Top 3 pick most likely. Next bay area game he’ll most likely pitch is April 13th versus Oregon at Sunken Diamond.

Kevin Gausman D/E SO RHP LSU (SEC)

1.54 ERA 4-0 6/6 A/S 41IP 30H 11BB 50K .204BAA

Should be top 10 pick. Arkansas series coming up March 30-April 1.

Michael Wacha JR RHP Texas A&M (Big 12)

2.25 ERA 4-0 6/6 A/S 40IP 26H 8BB 47K .186BAA

Workhorse rep, he had a perfect game that got broken into a 2-hit shut out versus Pepperdine this weekend. The knock will be competition faced. They play Texas Tech May 4-6 and Ok State May 17-19.

Marcus Stroman JR RHP Duke (ACC)

2.83 ERA 3-2 6/6 A/S 41IP 33H 14BB 60K .226BAA

Duke has GA Tech (March 30-April 1) and Clemson (April 6-8) coming up. Stroman has continued to impress, his outing versus Miami was legit. Can he start in the major leagues? He might carry the most risk of the top 5 but his athleticism really impresses. So naturally he’s getting too much hype to drop to our 20 spot.

SEC Pitchers:

Brian Johnson JR LHP Florida

3.13 ERA 4-0 6/6 A/S 32IP 28H 7BB 28K .239BAA

Hudson Randall JR RHP Florida

3.41ERA 3-0 6/6 A/S 37IP 36H 2BB 34K .248BAA

Austin Maddux JR RHP Florida

2.18ERA 2-0 12/0 A/S 7 Saves, 21IP 13H 3BB 26K .178BAA

Stephen Rodriguez JR LHP Florida

3.12ERA 3-1 11/0 A/S 17IP 11H 4BB 19K .180BAA

Florida has a great staff. One thing that sticks out is they don’t walk anybody. Maddux finally got touched for a couple runs. Randall only has 2 BBs, that’s not a typo. Florida plays Ole Miss and LSU, bookended with random Florida State single game matches.

Michael Roth SR LHP South Carolina

1.28 ERA 2-0 6/6 A/S 42IP 23H 10BB 41K .152BAA

Matt Price JR RHP South Carolina

3.73 ERA 3-2 7/5 A/S 31IP 18H 14BB 37K .165BAA

DJ Baxendale JR RHP Arkansas

4.15 ERA 5-1 7/7 A/S 30IP 32H 9BB 23K .262BAA

Nolan Sanburn D/E SO RHP Arkansas

2.63 ERA 2-1 8/0 A/S 14IP 12H 5BB 18K .235BAA

Alex Wood D/E RS SO LHP Georgia

2.00 ERA 3-1 7/6 A/S 36IP 33H 3BB 39K .243BA

6’4 lefty is now concentrating on pitching – no batting this year. Tommy John survivor. Could provide great value in the draft. Love the 1/13 BB/K ratio he has going right now.

Sam Selman JR LHP Vanderbilt

10.00 ERA 0-3 5/4 A/S 18IP 24H 16BB 16K .300BAA

2 more innings (from pen) since last check, he allowed 3H/4BB. Ouch.

Chris Stratton JR RHP Mississippi State

6’3 200 8/22/1990

2.21 ERA 5-0, 6/2 A/S 37 IP 22H 12BB 53K .179BAA

Note: Leading the SEC in K’s. Mainly used as a starter earlier in his career (28 starts)

Taylor Rodgers JR LHP Kentucky

3.82 ERA 4-1 6/6 A/S 35IP 33H 8BB 42K .254BAA

6’3 175 DOB: 12/17/1990 From CO HS Drafted 37 Rd O’s 2009. 2011 Cape Cod All-star, 20th SEC draft prospect BA

Jerad Grundy JR LHP Kentucky

2.88 ERA 3-0 6/6 A/S 34IP 27H 11BB 28K .214BAA

6’1 200 DOB: ? From IL HS Drafted 42 Rd Fish 2011 46 Rd Rangers 2009. Transfer from Miami/Heartland CC, 14th SEC draft prospect BA

Kentucky has a couple of lefties that I completely overlooked.

ACC Pitchers:

Buck Farmer JR RHP Georgia Tech

5.20 ERA 4-2 6/6 A/S 36IP 44H 14BB 28K .291BAA

Farmer has been roughed up a couple times now.

Luke Bard JR RHP Georgia Tech

1.17 ERA 1-0 10/2 A/S 2 Saves 23IP 18H 3BB 21K .222BAA

Bard looks ready to join his brother in Boston with the herky-jerky Bump/Pen moves. Good stats though.

Branden Kline JR RHP Virginia

3.10 ERA 4-2 7/6 A/S 41IP 37H 14BB 35K .236BAA

Kline’s stretch out isn’t going quite as well as Stroman’s, but he’s doing OK.

Michael Morin JR RHP UNC

0.56 ERA 2-0 13/0 A/S 7 Saves 16IP 12H 3BB 15K .218BAA

Tim Cooney JR LHP Wake Forest

4.17 ERA 3-2 6/6 A/S 37IP 32H 21BB 41K .239BAA

Brian Holmes JR LHP Wake Forest

1.49 ERA 5-0 6/6 A/S 36IP 20H 21BB 39K .164BAA

Wake just took 2/3 from Florida State. Holmes stats are helped by a no-hitter against Marshall. The 2 lefties have remarkably similar BB/K/IP.

Kevin Brady RS JR RHP Clemson

2.97 ERA 1-2 6/6 A/S 30IP 27H 10BB 33K .245BAA

PAC12 Pitchers:

Kurt Heyer JR RHP Arizona

2.09 ERA 4-1 6/6 A/S 43IP 41H 7BB 40K .244BAA

Brady Rodgers JR RHP ASU

1.31 ERA 4-0 6/6 A/S 48IP 36H 6BB 39K .213BAA

Jake Barrett JR RHP ASU

2.08 ERA 1-2 11/0 A/S 3 Saves 13IP 9H 2BB 16K .191BAA

Barrett stays in the pen so far. Brady Rodgers has been soaring.

Justin Jones JR LHP CAL

4.22 ERA 2-3 6/6 A/S 32IP 35H 12BB 18K .289BAA

Don’t know what is going on with Jones but his value is getting beat up.

Brett Mooneyham RS JR LHP Stanford

2.12 ERA 5-0 5/5 A/S 34IP 22H 16BB 46K .182BAA

I like Mooneyham more than Appel, but what do I know.

Andrew Triggs SR/MBA Candidate RHP USC

3.00 ERA 2-3 7/6 A/S 45IP 40H 6BB 39K .241BAA

Update on our buddy Triggs.

Matt Boyd JR LHP Oregon State

1.40 ERA 2-0 10/0 A/S 1 Save 19IP 12H 6BB 13K .174BAA

Tony Bryant JR RHP Oregon State

3.29 ERA 3-0 10/0 A/S 4 Saves 14IP 8H 4BB 17K .167BAA

Big 12 Pitchers:

Andrew Heaney JR LHP Oklahoma State

1.12 ERA 5-1 6/6 A/S 48IP 30H 8BB 65K .175BAA

Heaney continues to impress, what can he do against tougher comp?

Chase Stevens JR RHP Oklahoma State

5’10 185 DOB: 8/15/90

3.23 ERA 3-2 9/4 A/S 31IP 18H 17BB 46K .176BAA

Stevens is older, his K/9 ratio is leading the Big 12. (13.5) JC Transfer who is making some noise, smaller framed guy, don’t have velocity info.

Damien Magnifico JR RHP Oklahoma

5.28 ERA 0-0 11/1 A/S 2 Saves 15IP 19H 9BB 12K .311BAA

100 MPH will get headlines. They’ve gone. Looks like a 6-7th round project.

Ross Stripling SR RHP Texas A&M

2.56 ERA 4-0 6/6 A/S 46IP 37H 8BB 47K .230BAA

6’3 190 DOB: 11/23/89 – Stripling is matching Wacha in the stat department.

Hoby Milner JR LHP Texas

3.94 ERA 4-3 13/3 A/S 30IP 29H 9BB 25K .250BAA

Other Pitchers: (Conference Listed)

Chris Beck JR RHP Georgia Southern (Southern)

3.76 ERA 2-2 6/6 A/S 41IP 43H 10BB 43K .272BAA

Beck is going to slide hard I think. Value pick in the 2nd round?

Lex Rutledge JR LHP Samford (Southern)

12.00 ERA 0-2 10/1 A/S 9IP 11H 9BB 15K .275BAA

Crazy Lefties Unite!

Kyle Hansen JR RHP St John’s (Big East)

3.45 ERA 1-4 6/5 A/S 29IP 28H 9BB 35K .252 BAA

Matt Koch JR RHP Louisville (Big East)

3.09 ERA 0-1 9/0 A/S 4 Saves 12 IP 16H 2BB 17K .314 BAA

Jeff Gibbs JR RHP Maine (America East)

9.25ERA 0-4 5/5 A/S 24IP 26H 14BB 23K .295BAA

Martin Agosta JR RHP St Mary’s (WCC)

1.67 ERA 3-0 6/6 A/S 43IP 30H 10BB 38K .208BAA

Saw a mock draft with Agosta going to us in the 2nd. I could live with that, big time.

JT Chargois JR RHP Rice (Conference USA)

4.26 ERA 13/0 A/S 4 Saves 13IP 9H 5BB 12K .196 BAA

Jason Forjet SR RHP Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun)

2.95 ERA 0-2 6/6 A/S 37IP 33H 9BB 28K .234BAA

Fla-Giant’s sleeper, good control.

Jordan Remer SR LHP, USF (WCC)

6.59 ERA 1-2 12/1 A/S 14IP 7H 13BB 4HBP 20K .159 BAA

One of my sleepers, Bay Area guy from Piedmont HS – wild lefty hijinks from the pen have messed with Zimmer’s W/L record I think. Great K rate, hit rate, terrible control. Late round fodder for Tidrow says I.

Josh Conway JR RHP Coastal Carolina (Big South)

1.09 ERA 2-1 5/5 A/S 33IP 21H 11BB 26K .189BAA

Stephen Johnson JR RHP St. Edwards TX (JC)

1.06 ERA 1-0 12/0 A/S 7 Saves 17IP 9H 10BB 29K .148BAA

RJ Alvarez JR RHP Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt)

0.87 ERA 3-0 13/0 A/S 3 Saves 21IP 13H 5BB 25K .181BAA

Very nice stat line, but no starts?

Pat Light JR RHP Monmouth (Northeast)

2.93 ERA 4-1 6/6 A/S 43IP 35H 8BB 38K .222BAA

Pierce Johnson JR RHP Missouri State (MS Valley)

6’3 180 5/10/1991 Arvada, CO

1.94 ERA 2-3 6/6 A/S 46IP 38H 16BB 66K .225BAA

Tip from DrB, Johnson is getting some notice thanks to a 16K complete game shutout against Creighton.

Eddie Butler JR RHP Radford (Big South)

6’2 165 DOB: ? Pride of Chesapeake Virginia

3.07 ERA 2-1 5/5 A/S 29IP 24H 9BB 29K .220BAA