Category: 2011 Spotlight

His teammates in the weekend rotation have a little more prospect buzz than he does. Brian Johnson is a two-way star and Karsten Whitson has been labeled as one of the top freshmen in the country.

But Hudson Randall (Chatham ’11) is taking a backseat to nobody.

Randall had an impressive freshman campaign for the Gators, and this season, he’s become one of the top starters for the No. 1 team in the nation.

And he’s showing why he’s there.

Randall is 4-0 with a 0.66 ERA in six starts. In 40.2 innings, he has struck out 25, and most impressively, has walked just one batter. With just 30 hits allowed, his WHIP is 0.77.

Last weekend, Randall tossed his first career complete game in a win over South Carolina. He struck out four, didn’t walk anybody and allowed just an unearned run. He retired the game’s final 19 batters.

A 46th-round pick out of high school, Randall was on the Chatham roster last summer but didn’t end up coming to the Cape. But he didn’t need the stiff competition to get better — he’s added a curveball to his repertoire and now throws five pitches with confidence.

If Randall can make it to Chatham this year, the Anglers may have an ace on their hands.

This time last year, some of the top arms in the nation were sophomores — Gerrit Cole, Danny Hultzen, Trevor Bauer, Sonny Gray, Matt Barnes. They’d made a name for themselves early and they were continuing to emerge. As juniors, many are likely first-round picks.

The current sophomore arms don’t seem to have the same reputation at this point, save Matt Purke, who’s draft-eligible anyway.

But Kurt Heyer is certainly making a name for himself.

The sophomore righty from Arizona ranks third in the nation in strikeouts. He’s punched out 60 batters, better than Gray, Cole and Barnes, and not far behind leaders Hultzen and Bauer. To go with the strikeout numbers, he’s 4-1 with a 1.33 ERA.

Heyer, who’s slated to play for Orleans this summer, has made two more starts than most of those guys, but you can look past that. Bottom line — there’s another star sophomore emerging.

It’s not out of nowhere. Heyer earned the Friday starter’s job from day one with the Wildcats last year and set a school freshman record in ERA with a mark of 3.26. He also set a freshman record with 109 strikeouts, earning freshman All-American honors in the process. He was also picked as a preseason All-American by several publications this year.

Now, he’s living up to the advanced billing, and if he keeps it going, he’ll get even more accolades. He’ll also be very high on the list of players to watch for the Cape League summer.

As soon as rosters came out for the coming season, I think everyone who follows college baseball knew that Kenny Diekroeger would be a player to watch. He was a second-round pick out of high school in 2009, he impressed as a freshman for Stanford and he cruised to top prospect honors in the New England Collegiate Baseball League last summer.

These days, Diekroeger is doing nothing to change anyone’s mind — unless people are thinking he’s even better.

In 13 games this spring, Diekroeger is hitting .426 with a home run, 11 RBI and a .456 on-base percentage. His average currently ranks third in the Pac-10.

That fits with what people expected from the sophomore shortstop. Baseball America ranked him as the second-best sophomore in the country, and Perfect Game had him as its fourth-best prospect for the 2012 draft.

Diekroeger is bound for Y-D this summer, along with teammate Mark Appel. If Team USA doesn’t come calling, both will be prime candidates for Cape League top prospect honors.