Baseball Recruiting: Pre-Draft Edition

Since my last update in January, Michigan has picked up three more commits (that I know of): commit #11 for 2017 and two juco transfers for 2016, bringing the total for that class to 10.

Blake Beers (2017): 6-5, 210-lb. RHP/1B, Loyola HS (Los Angeles, CA). Couldn't find a recent scouting report on him, but Perfect Game has his fastball topping out at 91. Video. Out of the 11 commits for 2017, 5 are from California.

Brock Keener (2016): 6-0, 190-lb. C/IF, Alvin CC (TX); Foster HS (Richmond, TX). A switch-hitter, who originally signed with Louisiana-Lafayette but left after the fall 2014 semester because of a coaching change. His NJCAA page shows him batting .348 for Alvin in 2015, with 1 HR, 21 RBI, and 25 runs scored, and .226 in 2016, with 1 HR, 11 RBI, and 15 runs.

Chris Prescott (2016): 6-1, 180-lb. OF, Orange Coast College (CA); Canyon HS (Anaheim Hills, CA). Left-handed hitter out of the same junior college Cody Bruder attended. 2016 stats at Orange Coast: batted .350, 1 HR, 17 RBI, 23 runs, 5 SB.

MLB Draft (June 9-11): Two Michigan juniors are listed in Baseball America's top 500 for the 2016 draft: Brett Adcock (#224) and Carmen Benedetti (#275). They also have Michigan signee Karl Kauffmann (6-2 RHP, Brother Rice HS) at #330.

Kauffmann is also the only Michigan signee in Prep Baseball Report's Draft 100 (at #76), which includes only high school seniors. They had once pegged him as a possible early-round pick, but a less-than-stellar senior season appears to have deflated his draft stock. Two other U-M signees are among their "others to watch" for the draft: Christian Bullock (6-0 1B/LHP/OF, Morgan Park HS, Chicago) and Tommy Henry (6-4 LHP, Portage Northern HS [MI]).

Back in April, D1Baseball listed Michigan junior catcher Harrison Wenson as one of their top 100 college prospects for the 2016 draft. Not sure what they had to say about him specifically as that article is pay-walled.

One thing to note is that since becoming Michigan's coach, Erik Bakich has had several of his signees drafted, but none of them elected to go pro at that time.