Area Code Baseball

The Washington Nationals announced their date and location for the 2012 Area Code Baseball regional. The team, which will be comprised of players from the Southeast, will hold a regional for Area Code on Sunday, June 10, at Nationals Ballpark in Washington, D.C.

For 2012, the Chicago White Sox will once again bring a team from the Midwest. This year, the White Sox will have four regionals.

• Monday, June 18: Pendleton Heights High School; Pendleton, Ind.
• Tuesday, June 19: Rogers State University; Claremore, Okla.
• Monday, June 25: Elgin Community College; Elgin, Ill.
• Tuesday, June 26: Triton College; River Grove, Ill.

Bishop Amat (La Puente, Calif.) senior third baseman Rio Ruiz, a potential high-round pick in June’s MLB draft, underwent surgery on Friday to remove a blood clot in his neck, the Los Angeles Times and San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported.

There’s no word on how long Ruiz will be out, but Bishop Amat coach Andy Nieto told both papers that Ruiz is in stable condition and plans to see a specialist.

"He needs to get his health in order," Nieto told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. "It wasn't an emergency surgery. It was more of a, 'Hey, we found it, let's fix it.'"

Ruiz, a USC recruit, batted .455 as a junior with three homers and 35 RBIs. He also participated in the Area Code Baseball Games last summer.

Lucas Giolito, the nation's No. 1 right-handed pitching prospect, won't throw for a month and could be out of action up to 10 weeks after spraining the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. The Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.) senior left his start Tuesday afternoon with one out in the seventh inning.

"He felt something yesterday, but he feels fine right now," Harvard-Westlake coach Matt LaCour said. "I think it's hard for him to fathom that he’s not healthy enough to pitch, but this is a situation where you absolutely do what the doctor says. It’s not tragic in terms of Lucas' future in baseball, but it may mean that he doesn't pitch for us again this season."

The 6-foot-6, 240-pounder hit 100 on the radar gun twice in his start on Feb. 28. Giolito is vying to be the first right-handed high school pitcher selected No. 1 in the MLB draft. He has signed with UCLA, and it's too early to tell how his draft stock will be affected by this setback.

"We've discussed a plan for him going forward," LaCour said. "We'll get him pretty active starting next week. We'll be aggressive and try to get him better in other areas, try to strengthen his body in some other areas aside from his arm. He still wants to work on getting better every day."

For 2012, the Cincinnati Reds will once again bring a team from the Four Corners, Nevada and Hawaii. This year, the Reds will have three regionals.

• Saturday, June 9: Grand Canyon University; Phoenix, Ariz.
• Monday, June 11: College of Southern Nevada; Henderson, Nev.
• Wednesday, June 13: College of the Mines; Golden, Colo.

For 2012, the Milwaukee Brewers will once again bring a team from Southern California. This year, the Brewers will have three regionals.

• Monday, July 2: Westmont College; Santa Barbara, Calif.
• Tuesday, July 3: Westmont College; Santa Barbara, Calif.
• Monday, July 16: Dedeaux Field, USC; Los Angeles, Calif.

For 2012, the New York Yankees will once again bring a team from the Northeast. This year, the Yankees will have three regionals.

• Saturday, June 9: Bentley University; Waltham, Mass.
• Sunday, June 10: Richmond County Ballpark; Staten Island, N.Y.
• Monday, June 11: Coca-Cola Park; Allentown, Pa.

The Oakland Athletics will once again bring a team from Northern California to the 2012 Area Code Baseball Games presented by New Balance. The regional for this team will take place on Thursday, July 5, at Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton, Calif.

The Kansas City Royals announced their date and location for the 2012 Area Code Baseball regional. The team, which will be comprised of players from the Pacific Northwest, will hold a regional for Area Code on Wednesday, June 20, at Gesa Stadium in Pasco, Wash.

The Texas Rangers announced their dates and locations for the 2012 Area Code Baseball regionals. They will once again bring a team from Texas and Louisiana.

• Monday, June 11: Weatherford College; Weatherford, Texas
• Tuesday, June 26: Baseball USA, "The Yard"; Houston

This October, the St. Louis Cardinals capped a thrilling World Series by beating the Texas Rangers in seven games. To the casual fan, that meant we wouldn’t see baseball again until pitchers and catchers report to their respective Spring Training destinations in February.

But the hardcore fan knows baseball has become essentially a yearlong sport. While November typically brings to mind turkey, the gridiron and ridiculously early shopping, it’s also when the Arizona Fall League concluded another exciting season.

The AFL has gone from being an afterthought to now a hotspot for the game’s best prospects. At this year’s AFL Rising Stars Game, which is essentially an all-star game for some of MLB’s top prospects, the upper-echelon talent was on full display.

Several of those players were Area Code Games graduates. Here’s a look at some of the most talented Area Code alums at the AFL.

Bryce Harper, OF, Washington Nationals

Forget living under a rock — you’d have to be living under a gravel pit to not have heard of Harper at this point. The first pick of the 2009 draft, Harper put up monster numbers in advanced A ball before scuffling slightly in his promotion to Class AA, but he showed more than enough to remain among the top three prospects in the game.

As good as he was over the summer, the left-handed hitting outfielder from Las Vegas was even better over the fall. Harper put up a line of .333/.400/.634 with six home runs and four stolen bases in 93 at-bats and impressed scouts with his ability to track balls despite being relatively new to the outfield. Don’t be surprised if Harper is helping the Nationals in June, and maybe even sooner.

Gerrit Cole, RHP, Pittsburgh Pirates

Some were surprised to see Cole go first in a draft that included Dylan Bundy, Bubba Starling, and a plethora of other talented players, but his three-pitch combination proved too enticing for the Pirates to pass on.

If the results over the last two months continue, the Pirates have themselves a keeper. The right-hander posted a 3.00 ERA with 16 strikeouts to only four walks, and his fastball was clocked as high as 101. He’ll likely start the year in Altoona – Pittsburgh’s Class AA affiliate – but barring a setback, Cole will almost assuredly be pitching in PNC Park at some point next summer.

Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

After putting together an other-worldly 2010 season, Trout was put near or at the top of most everyone’s top prospect list. And 2011 did little to diminish that good will. The speedy outfielder posted a .958 OPS with 33 stolen bases before earning a promotion to the show, where the 20-year-old struggled somewhat.

Unfortunately for Trout, those struggles carried over into Arizona. His line of .245/.279/.321 disappointed many, but even with the lackluster numbers, Trout is still one of the top talents in the game.

Nolan Arenado, 3B, Colorado Rockies

Arenado wasn’t on many radars at the beginning of the year, but a strong 2011 has changed that. A second-round-pick in 2009, the right-handed hitting third baseman was lights out for advanced A Modesto, putting up an .836 OPS with 56 extra-base hits. Walks will never be a major part of his game, but the 47 he put up were a significant improvement over the 2010 season.

As good as those numbers were, Arenado was even more impressive in his stint in the AFL, where he was named league MVP. Arenado blistered AFL pitching to the tune of .388/.423/.636 with six homers and 12 doubles. There are questions as to whether he can stick at third base, but even at first base, Arenado is an offensive prospect that must be watched over the coming seasons.

Joe Panik, SS, San Francisco Giants

When the Giants selected Panik with the 29^th pick of the first round this June, many were stunned that he went ahead of North Carolina’s Levi Michael, and some argued that he was more of a second- or third-round talent. The St. John’s shortstop did his best to show his doubters wrong this summer, and a .867 OPS with six homers and 13 stolen bases is a promising start.

Panik continued to hit once he got to Scottsdale and finished with a line of .323/.394/.423 for the fall season. A position change is likely in the future, but a solid offensive approach and work ethic could have the left-handed hitting infielder in the big leagues as soon as late 2012.

Christopher Crawford is a regular contributor to Prospect Insider and the founder and executive editor of MLB Draft Insider. Follow him on Twitter @CrawfordChrisV.

The early signing period concluded in mid-November and 175 participants from the 2011 Area Code Baseball Games ended up signing with D-I programs. Here’s breakdown of what schools signed the best classes and who ended up with most Area Code Games participants.

Longhorns and Sun Devils lead way with nine Area Code Games alums each

Arizona State has a whopping 22-member signing class. For a school with Arizona State’s tradition, conference and location, it’s not hard to see why many of the nation’s top players are headed to Tempe.

The Sun Devils kept right-handed pitchers Tony Blanford of Boulder Creek (Anthem, Ariz.), David Graybill of Brophy Prep (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Eric Melbostad of Pinnacle (Phoenix, Ariz.) and infielder Mitch Nay of Hamilton (Chandler, Ariz.) in state.

Outside of the desert, Arizona State signed RHP Paul Blackburn of Heritage (Brentwood, Calif.), C Clint Coulter of Union (Camas, Wash.), RHP Trey Kamachi of Kapolei (Kapolei, Hawaii), LHP Brett Lilek of Marian Catholic (Chicago Heights, Ill.) and RHP Kieran Lovegrove of Mission Viejo (Mission Viejo, Calif.).

Like Arizona State, Texas benefits from being in state loaded with talent. The Longhorns loaded up on top talent as nine of its 13 signees played in the Area Codes Games list past August.

Led by C.J. Hinojosa (who will enroll early and be a member of the Longhorn team this spring), Texas has a class that will look to continue the College World Series-reaching ways of the program.

Hinojosa, an infielder at Klein Collins (Spring, Texas), is joined by fellow Lone Star State products in RHP Dalton Brown of Ponder (Ponder, Texas), LHP Ty Culbreth of Bryan (Bryan, Texas), 1B Austin Dean of Klein Collins (Spring, Texas), RHP/INF Tyler Gonzales of Madison (San Antonio, Texas), OF Courtney Hawkins of Carroll (Corpus Christi, Texas), RHP Chad Hollingsworth of Robinson (Robinson, Texas), Wyatt Mathisen of Calallen (Corpus Christi, Texas) and Nick Williams of Ball (Galveston, Texas).

Eight of the nine Texas signees played on the Texas Rangers Area Code team — Gonzales was on the roster of the Washington Nationals.

While UCLA was edged out by Arizona State and Texas in landing the highest total of Area Code Games members, no class in the country had as high of a percentage of its class made up of Area Code alumni as did UCLA with eight in its nine-member class. And few other schools had as much success in their home base as every member hails from Southern California.

Pitcher Lucas Giolito of Harvard-Westlake (Studio City Calif.) headlines the UCLA early signing class and is considered by many to be the nation’s top player. The right-handed Giolito forms a potential dynamite one-two combo with Harvard-Westlake teammate Max Fried — a left-handed pitcher who’s also a top prospect. That the 2011 MLB Draft saw former Bruins Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer selected as first and third picks likely helped UCLA coach John Savage, who had no shortage of pitchers ready to sign.

Giolito and Fried are joined on the mound by right-handed pitchers Felipe Perez of Fairmont Prep (Anaheim, Calif.) and Cody Poteet of Christian (El Cajon, Calif.) as well as left-handed hurler Hunter Virant of Camarillo (Camarillo, Calif.).

Catcher Darrell Miller of Servite (Anaheim Calif.), third baseman Daniel Robertson of Upland (Upland, Calif.) and outfielder Ty Moore of Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) are the other Area Code participants who inked with the Bruins.

On Deck

Here are the schools that followed Arizona State, Texas and UCLA with the most Area Code participants.

Stanford, 7
Utah, 7
Cal State Fullerton, 6
USC, 6
Arkansas, 5
Mississippi, 5
Oregon State, 5
Vanderbilt, 4
Florida, 4

Former Area Code Baseball Games star Clayton Kershaw picked up the National League Cy Young Award today after his stellar 2011 campaign. Kershaw earned pitching’s version of the Triple Crown after leading the league in strikeouts (248) and ERA (2.28) and tying for the league lead in wins with 21.

Prior to starring in the majors, Kershaw shined at the 2005 Area Code Games the summer heading into his senior year at Highland Park (Dallas). He played on the Texas Rangers Area Code squad that also featured Major Leaguers Jordan Walden (Angels) and Brandon Belt (Giants)

After Area Code, Kershaw put together a stellar senior season at Highland Park, going 13-0 with a 0.77 ERA and 139 strikeouts in 64 innings to snag Gatorade National Player of the Year honors.

For more info on Kershaw winning the Cy Young, click here.

Over the fall and winter months, ESPN High School will be spotlighting players that stood out over the summer baseball seasons, giving you an in-depth look at some of the best prospects of 2011 and beyond.

If pressed to name the hotspots of high school baseball talent, the Pacific Northwest is generally not one of the first places that come to mind. That’s an honor generally reserved for the likes of Southern California, Texas, and Florida, with Georgia and the Mid-Atlantic not, too, far behind. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why, either; these are places with long-standing traditions, and warm weather throughout the year, something you just won’t get in the upper-left portion of the country.

There’s a long way to go before it ever catches up to those areas, but there’s been a significant uptick lately in the great Northwest. Oregon has seen the Ducks and Beavers become baseball powers, and the state of Washington has seen four players taken in the first-round (Josh Sale, Drew Vettleson, Jeff Ames, and Blake Snell) over the past two years.

The Beaver State hasn’t put out the kind of talent its neighbor to the north has, but they may have the most talented prep player this year in Westview (Portland, Ore.) product Carson Kelly.

“He’d be at the top for me, absolutely” a coach in the Mountain West Conference told ESPNHS when asked that very question. “That’s not meant as a slight to guys like (Clint) Coulter or anyone else, we just think that there’s more upside in his arm and his bat as much as anyone up there. He’s impressive.”

Kelly was so impressive this year that he was one of the few selected to participate for Team USA, the Under-Armour All-American Game – where he was also selected to participate in the home-run derby prior to the game -- and the Area Code Games.

“We saw a lot of him this summer” an AL-scout said. “Each time we saw him we were impressed with the bat speed and swing mechanics, and the ball just seems to jump off the barrel. We think he can be a plus-fielder at third base as well, he’s certainly got the arm and lateral quickness to play there”

It’s not just with the bat or in the field that Kelly has excited scouts, either. “He’s a pretty exciting two-way player” an NL-Crosschecker told ESPNHS. “We’ve had him at 88-92, with a 74-77 mph curveball, pitches inside well and he gets people out.”

The 17-year old also features a changeup that scouts say has good sink, though the mechanics do need to be polished.

Following his senior year, Kelly will have the chance to show off his hitting and pitching prowess in Eugene, as he’s committed to Oregon. Long-term though, most believe Kelly’s future is at the hot-corner. “There’s pro potential at both, but a guy with a 60 arm who has power to all parts of the field is better suited for the field than the mound” a Pac-12 coach opined. “If the pop doesn’t develop, maybe you see him on the rubber as a fallback. I wouldn’t bet on that, though.”

In the box or on the mound, the Ducks have themselves one talented player come 2013.

Chris Crawford is a regular contributor to Prospect Insider, and founder and executive-editor of MLB Draft Insider. He can be follow on twitter here.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Darrell Miller Jr., will sign with UCLA. Miller is a catcher out of Servite (Anaheim, Calif.) High School. Miller played for the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2011 Area Code Baseball Games. He fell short of an Area Code roster spot in 2010.

At the Area Code Games he showed a good arm in his throws to second and it only improved to this point. He has been playing fall ball at the Major League Baseball Youth Academy in Compton, Calif.