Fan News

After previewing the 10 best catchers in the 2012 draft class earlier today, Prospect Pipeline’s draft coverage continues with a preview of the top draft prospects at second base.

San Francisco third baseman and 2011 All-Star selection Pablo Sandoval is being investigated by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Department over possible sexual assault charges, according to Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area.

Last weekend, I went to Citi Field and saw Johan Santana pitch a masterpiece. Santana dominated the San Diego Padres over nine innings. The Mets won 9-0 and Santana had his first shutout since 2010. The lefty struck out eight batters, walked none and threw 74 of his 96 total pitches for strikes.

On March 7, Peter Gammons of the MLB Network reported that a scout thought that Cuban free agent outfielder Jorge Soler would sign with the Chicago Cubs for $27 million.

Today, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported that Soler has been deemed a free agent by the MLB, so he may now begin fielding official offers and may agree to play for a ball club.

Stanford third baseman Stephen Piscotty is an underrated college baseball player who will end up landing higher than expected in this year's MLB draft.

Many mock drafts are projecting teams near the top of the draft to select developmental high school players, but by the time the results are in we're going to see that teams value players who can make a more immediate impact.

The 2012 MLB Draft will be an opportunity for every team to find a player that can help them reach their goals next season.

This draft class is deep with quality starting pitchers, and since many teams are looking for a future ace to build their staff around, this could be an important draft for several teams in the top 10.

Let's look at a fresh first-round MLB mock draft.

1. Houston Astros (56-106): Mark Appel, RHP, Stanford 

Batting average is not an overvalued statistic. When you compare Ichiro Suzuki's 2004 season with Eddie Stanky's 1950 season, it illustrates the importance of a player’s batting average when you evaluate him.

Suzuki batted .372 with a .414 on-base percentage and a .455 slugging average.

Forget for just a moment that the Chicago White Sox hit .271 as a team and went 18-8 in the month of May.

Forget that the Sox had 39 dingers and scored 156 runs for the month for an average of 5.38 runs per game.

On Saturday, the Baltimore Sun reported the Orioles acquired first baseman/outfielder Steve Pearce from the New York Yankees in exchange for cash considerations.

Since many big name players like Albert Pujols, Jayson Heyward, Justin Upton and Shin Soo-Choo have failed to live up to their expectations this year, it is time to flip the page and identify the players who were deemed as "weak" or "non-factoring" and give them the credit that they have earned thus far.