Current and past Arizona prep baseball stars likely to factor into 2015 MLB Draft

The MLB Draft usually has a heavy Arizona flavor to it. The 2015 edition looks to be a little light, especially when it comes to the high school-aged prospects.

Last year, three high school prospects went in the top 75 picks, including Mountain Pointe's Cole Tucker, who went No. 24 overall to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

This year the top pick with Arizona ties appears to be another Mountain Pointe (Phoenix) product in University of Arizona second baseman Scott Kingery, who was the Pac-12 Player of the Year and is expected to go in the first 40 picks.

When it comes to prep prospects, the general sentiment is Verrado (Buckeye) outfielder Blake Perkins, Kellis (Glendale) outfielder Tyler Williams and Salpointe Catholic (Tucson) righthander Jio Orozco are among the top 200 players available.

Williams had a breakout summer heading into his senior year while playing in the Area Code Games. He has a great body frame – 6-foot-3, 210 pounds – that scouts feel will grow into plenty of power.

"I am understanding my body a little bit better," Williams, an Arizona State commit, told Baseball America. "Not only that, I know what I need to do to get the results I want."

The MLB Draft is probably the least predictable of the four major drafts simply because there are so many picks that teams can take more risks knowing they have a boatload of picks. With that said, the top picks with Arizona ties should be the middle infield from U of A, as the Wildcats duo of shortstop Kevin Newman, a California prep product, and Kingery, as both are pegged to go before the second round begins.

Kingery, who helped the Pride to the 2011 state title, went from a fall walk-on with no roster assurances to being voted the league's MVP.

"It definitely gave me a chip on my shoulder," he said. "I had to prove myself every single day in fall ball as a freshman. I didn't have a spot on the spring roster.

"It could have ended right there."

Oh, but it didn't.

Sure, he had to play outfield his first two years and got closer to his natural position of shortstop by moving to second base this season, but per usual, Kingery proved to be successful. He entered his junior season having started 84 of 96 games to earn All-Pac 12 honors after his sophomore year.

"He'll do some of the little things that we have always done in our program," Arizona coach Andy Lopez said before the season. "He'll hit-and-run. He'll bunt-and-run. He'll slash-and-run. He'll drag. He'll push. He'll do a lot of things to create pressure on a defense. Scott is very, very good at those things."

Then this season, with a scholarship for the first time, Kingery became the conference's best player and earned one of 21 nominations for the Golden Spikes Award, given to the nation's top player.

"Every year of playing Pac-12 baseball helps your confidence, helps you learn and improve," said Kingery, who led the conference with a .396 average. "I had two good years, and I was ready to have a great year."

It helped also that he finally added some height and weight to his athletic frame. When he left Ahwatukee for Tucson he was about 5-7 and 150 pounds. When he attended pre-draft camps with the Diamondbacks and Angels leading up to the draft, Kingery was listed at 5-11, 175.

"I worked on agility and quickness, and could drive the ball more," Kingery said. "I added more power each year."

Baseball America prospects
Rank     Name             Pos.    School
No. 29    Kevin Newman SS     Arizona
No. 40    Scott Kingery  2B      Arizona
No. 72    Ryan Burr       RHP   Arizona State
No. 19    Brett Lilek       LHP   Arizona State
No. 131  Ryan Kellogg  LHP   Arizona State
No. 137  Blake Perkins OF     Buckeye Verrado HS
No. 147  Willie Calhoun OF     Yavapai CC
No. 154  Tyler Williams OF     Glendale Kellis HS
No. 181  Jio Orozco      RHP   Salpointe Catholic HS
No. 205  A.J. Graffanino  SS      Northwest Christian (Phoenix)
No. 212  Chandler Eden RHP  Yavapai CC
No. 220  Javier Medina  RHP   Sahuaro (Tucson)
No. 224  Matt Kroon      3B      Horizon (Scottsdale)
No. 294  Andrew Naderer LHP  Grand Canyon Univ
No. 324   Sati Santa Cruz RHP Sahuarita
No. 340  Johnny Sewald   OF   Arizona State
No. 353  Alejo Lopez        SS   Greenway (Phoenix)
No. 392  Gio Lopez  RHP Millennium (Goodyear)
No. 423  Aleaziz Reza    RHP   Yavapai CC
No. 446  David Graybil    RHP   Arizona State
No. 470  Degan Harte     RHP   Yavapai CC

Jason P. Skoda, a former Arizona Republic and current Prep Sports Director for 1013 Communications, is a 20-year sports writing veteran. Contact him at jskoda1024@aol.com.