There's a long time between now and the June draft. I mean, the college baseball season hasn't even started yet. But, it's never too early to start talking about possible picks at the No. 1 overall pick.
↵In this article over at Minor League Ball, Matt Garrioch breaks down the top five college players in this draft. There aren't any new names on here, but a few that jump out are:
↵Mark Appel, Stanford - The big righty from Stanford has been the consensus No. 1 overall pick since the draft season ended up last year. However, I bet he gets caught this season by some of the other guys. Appel is intriguing because he's a big body and a team can dream about him being more projectible. In fact, he reminds me a bit of George Springer, Houston's first round pick last season, who was a college player, but less polished than you'd expect.
↵Kevin Gausman, LSU - It wasn't too long ago that Gausman was a high school pitcher out of Colorado who was considered a first round pick. As a draft eligible sophomore, he's going to have a chance to go high in this year's draft as well. Whether he makes it up No. 1 overall is debatable. Gausman is intriguing because he'd be younger than the other college guys in line for this pick.
↵Mike Zunino, Florida - A favorite of native_astro, Zunino could very well turn into Mike Lieberthal or he could be Matt Wieters. Right now, it doesn't look like he could turn into Joe Mauer, but his bat will make him a top candidate. Plus, his college background will make him a fast-mover through the system.
↵Devin Marrero, Arizona State - Only three college shortstops have been drafted No. 1 overall in the history of the June draft. Jeff King and B.J. Surhoff went on to have pretty solid careers, but weren't game-changers. That's what the Astros would be looking at with Marrero. He's not going to be a franchise guy, but could very well anchor the position for 10 years. The easy comparison is Troy Tulowitzki, but Marrero probably won't have that kind of power or be that good with the glove. Maybe something more like Orlando Cabrera?