Baseball | 2/5/2015 3:08:00 PM
BALTIMORE – Five members of the 2015 Coppin State baseball team has received some national recognition from the website D1baseball.com. They were listed as Major League Draft prospects according to a list released by D1baseball.com earlier this week.
Pitchers
Anderson Burgess and Yayha Muhammed were listed as the top two prospects in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) for the 2015 MLB Draft. The Eagles also had three of the top five prospects for the 2016 MLB Draft in Barrett Arnold, Jack Kraft and
Bryant Miranda according to the article. Arnold is slated to take the field in 2016 after serving the transfer rule of sitting out one academic year.
It's some strong recognition along with proof of the positive progress of the Coppin State baseball program under fourth-year head coach
Sherman Reed. The Eagles were picked third in the Northern Division in the MEAC preseason coaches' poll recently. Picked ahead of Coppin State was Delaware State and Norfolk State. Maryland Eastern Shore was picked fourth.
A left-handed pitcher, Burgess sits 86-89 mph with his fastball and sometimes has decent command of his secondary offerings according to D1baseball.com. He along with Muhammed anchor a solid and experienced CSU pitching staff featuring fellow lefties
Jhar Devilme (led Eagles in strikeouts) and Dillion O'Brien. Muhammed,
Chris Estrada and
Myles Taylor are strong righthanded pitchers, who provide depth.
Coppin State has been hard at work preparing for its much-anticipated season opener on Saturday, Feb. 21 against Jacksonville. Even though the Eagles officially started practice recently for the season, the team has been focused and determined to rebound from an injury-filled 2014. Despite the adversity, Copppin State won a game at the MEAC Baseball Tournament for the second consecutive season. Head baseball coach
Sherman Reed has been pleased with what he has seen so far during practice.
"The guys have really done everything asked of them during early spring practice as we prepare for the 2015 opening weekend series at Jacksonville," Reed said. "They have been diligently putting in the hard work outside of the required structured practices and really pushing each other for maximum effort. The weather has been more cooperative this spring and that has allowed up to get out on the turf field more than we did the entire pre-season practice a year ago. As long as we remain healthy and continue to believe in each other, the sky's the limit for this year's team."
The Eagles finished third in the MEAC Northern Division last season. The Eagles return a pair of .300 hitters in senior outfielders
Jeffrey Fitch (.311 batting average) and Jack Kraft (.307). Look for Fitch transfer Bobby Dragon, Kraft, first baseman
Lance Montano, Miranda and
Randal Mendez (.289, 0, 12) to lead the lineup.
According to the article on D1baseball.com, Fitch and Kraft are especially interesting players to watch this season. Fitch is a 6.50 runner who is a good defensive outfielder and continues to emerge as a hitter, while Kraft is a potential five-tool player with a lot of upside. Meanwhile, on the mound, consistency will be the big key for CSU.
An official season preview will be released a few days before the Eagles' season opener at Jacksonville.
NOTES: Bethune-Cookman, which captured the top seed in the 2014 MEAC Baseball Championship, was picked to win the Southern Division. Florida A&M was picked to finish second in the southern division, followed by Savannah State, North Carolina Central, and North Carolina A&T State. Savannah State's Charles Sikes was selected as the conference's Preseason Player of the Year, while Keith Zuniga of Bethune-Cookman earned Preseason Pitcher of the Year accolades.
