M Pac-12 Preview

[oregontrack]

1. stanford. the trees are absolutely loaded. they reached the super regionals last year with an underclassmen dominated roster. mark appell is on the shortlist for the #1 overall pick in next june's mlb draft. this team is littered with pro prospects.

2. arizona. the wildcats return 5 full-time starters from one of the nation's best lineups, and should be able to mash the ball 1-9. kurt heyer is one of the pac-12's best pitchers, and will be a friday mainstay.

3. arizona state. the sun devils are loaded with veteran, stud arms and while they lost 6 kids in the lineup, they're still arizona state, and they only recruit the best. pitching should easily carry the load if the bats take awhile get going.

4. ucla. last season's champs lost two players in the first three picks of last june's mlb draft. but they return adam plutko, who might have been better than either gerrit cole and trevor bauer from his sunday spot... as a freshman. the lineup was young and returns 7 starters, and they've been recruiting very well in westwood.

5. cal. the bears were middle-of-the-pac last year, then exploded in the postseason for a surprise cws run. they return some key talent -- including projected first round picks justin renda (returning pac-10 poty) and lhp justin jones (who was almost a duck!). they aren't a deep team -- last year's recruiting class was non-existent, literally, as most thought the program was going to be axed -- but the bears have another good team. fifth place is nothing to scoff at in this league. the top six programs SHOULD be ranked.

6. oregon state. the beavs lost their top players from last season's almost-title run (hahaha) but the cupboard is hardly bare. osu baseball also has the 'it' factor, where it can come together at a moment's notice and go on an unexpected 10-game win streak. ben wetzler will be their friday guy, he had a rough freshman year but he's got great stuff. they'll throw freshmen on saturday/sunday.

7. washington state. the cougs have a very underrated baseball tradition, but last year they kind of fell apart. but they return a very good lineup. pitching questions remains -- they lost their entire weekend staff -- but last year was an abnormal year of unmet expectations, something we can relate to. they were picked by more than one publication to make the cws last year. there's talent, and the coaching is top notch.

8. oregon. the loss of christian jones is just a donkey punch i'm not sure we can overcome. those who read my ramblings here in the offseason know i was very high on this team... then marder was drafted. then we lost sam johnson. then cole wiper. now jones. it sounds like we're going to throw freshman jake reed on saturdays, and look at tyler anderson -- or madison boer -- or christian jones -- or porter clayton -- or several highly coveted prospects and how they did as freshmen. it's a TOUGH position to hold up for an entire season. the line-up is experienced, but not potent. just so many questions... imo, we need to build on what we have, get jones back for 2013, and make a run then. just imo. this may be a trying year in a w/l sense, but the right player development and it won't be a lost season.

9. usc. the trojans got better last year, after several mediocre seasons, which is bonkers for a team with the tradition and recruiting capabilities usc has. man, chad kreuter was horrible for them. but they have a stout class coming in and showed strong signs of life under their interim coach last year, and they were so impressed they hired him full time. a team to watch.

10. utah. a pretty good mwc program is going to give it a go in one of the nation's top conferences. good luck! some decent talent, but this could spiral out of control if they aren't careful.

11. washington. here's the thing about the pac-12: i don't think the huskies are a bad team. at all. in fact, they should be able to slug with just about anyone. they have more than one pretty good pro prospects. their pitching needs major work, but they just signed a really dynamite class and help could be on the way in the future. this is a GOOD team. and i think they'll finish in last place. there is no room for error in this conference.

my opinion only. this is such a chaotic sport i might embarrass myself with these picks at season's end.