VU baseball ranked No. 12 in preseason poll

By Travis Young

PG Crosschecker has released its top-100 college baseball preseason poll and the Vanderbilt baseball team is ranked No. 12. VU is one of five SEC teams ranked in the top-20 preseason poll; LSU (3rd), Florida (6th), Arkansas (15th) and Ole Miss (18th).

PG Crosschecker also released its top-500 2010 draft prospects, including college and high school players. Aaron Westlake was tabbed as VU’s top 2010 draft prospect, (No. 294) while Drew Hayes was selected as VU’s top 2010 draft pitching prospect (No. 300). Westlake captured the SEC batting title last year after hitting .377 while Hayes went 4-3 with a 5.56 ERA to go along with 51 strikeouts in 43.2 innings of work.

Sonny Gray and Jack Armstrong have been ranked by PG Crosschecker as the No. 5 and No. 6 draft prospects for the 2011 MLB draft. Vanderbilt is the only team in college baseball to have two players ranked among the top-20 prospects for the 2011 draft. Gray was selected in the 27th round by the Chicago Cubs in the 2008 draft while Armstrong was a 36th round pick by the Rangers in the same year.

Sophomore third baseman Jason Esposito joins Gray and Armstrong among PG Crosscheckers top-50 prospects in the 2011 draft, ranking 49th. Esposito was a seventh round pick by the Kansas City Royals in the 2008 first-year player draft.

PG Crosschecker also lists freshman Commodore lefthander, Sam Selman as the 54th-ranked draft prospect for the draft class of 2012. Selman was a 14th-round pick by the Los Angeles Angels last summer before honoring his commitment to play for the Commodores.