|
Top Prospect Alert Features |
Top Prospect Alert Baseball News Blog
Top Prospect Alert Fantasy Player Reports
Exclusive Prospect Interviews
Top Prospect Alert Original Stories
Prospect Photo Gallery
Top Prospect Alert Trivia
Top Prospect Alert Message Board
MLB Hat Store
Minor League Store
NFL Hat Store
NFL Team Apparel
NFL Player Jerseys
NCAA Hat Store
NBA Hat Store
NBA Player Jerseys
TopProspectAlert.com Minor League News & Autograph Blog HomeTop Prospect Alert - Ben Diggins By Robert SherryBen Diggins: L. A. Dodgers first round pick
(17th overall) in last summer's draft, this 21-year old was my favorite
college pitcher available in the 2000 draft. The 2000 draft marked the
second time that Diggins was a first round draft pick as he was a
supplemental first round pick by the Cardinals in 1998 out of high school.
Diggins chose to attend the University of Arizona instead. With the
Wildcats is where his pitching talents really developed as he was more of
a hitting prospect in high school. This 21-year-old has the best fastball of any player that was available in the draft, topping out at 98 MPH. Even with this, Diggins was also a very good hitter as first baseman throughout his college career. Still, the Dodgers are set to use his talent on the mound when he debuts this year, probably at Wilmington in tie South Atlantic League. At 6-foot-7 and 220 pounds, he is the type of pitcher that can just go out every start and just over power most of the batters. Besides the fastball, he has a quality changeup and a developing slider. As a sophomore at Arizona in 2000, Diggins went 10-4 with a 3.83 ERA. After the draft, he had a long holdout which cost him the chance to play in the minors and nearly had him on his way back to Arizona. Diggins will probably need time to adjust to pro baseball since he is still pretty inexperienced (only two NCAA seasons of pitching) so if he has any early season struggles, I would not be too concerned. He should move quickly through the Dodgers system. By 2002, you should really see him begin to advance and could even make it to L.A. sometime during the later portion of that season. |
|
Top Prospect Alert is owned
by: © 1999 - 2004 All rights reserved to Top Prospect Alert.com. Do not copy without permission from the owners of Top Prospect Alert.com
| ||