WHEN THE Cincinnati Reds drafted Ken Griffey Sr. in 1969, the organization gave the future all-star the scare of his life.

 Nearly 40 years ago there was no coverage of the Major League Baseball draft. When the Reds called the Griffey household on draft day, his mother answered the phone. Read the rest »

I spent a chunk of the afternoon catching up with a couple of the nation’s top college baseball prospects. Aaron Crow, a right-handed pitcher from Missouri, talked with me about the improvements he’s made on the mound as a junior. South Carolina first-baseman Justin Smoak and I talked about the fact that his offensive skills overshadow how good he is defensively.

Crow is widely considered the best right-hander in this year’s draft class. He throws gas (92-98), generally throwing lots of two-seamers early in counts before trying to blow people away with his over-powering four-seamer. He’s got a nasty strikeout-pitch in his slider, and he told me that he has been working on his change-up every day for the past couple of seasons. “I’ve gotten to the point where I feel like I can throw it for a strike in any count,” Crow said, “but I still need to keep working on my command.” Read the rest »