Tommy Mendonca

Mendonca is well known to college baseball fans for his tremendous performance--offensively and defensively--in last year's College World Series. He was the Most Outstanding Player in Fresno's unlikely run to the title in Omaha, and he has been nearly as good this season. Mendonca can be streaky both offensively and defensively. At 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, he has unique power from the left side and puts on one of the best batting practice exhibitions in college baseball. He's a flyball hitter who looks to lift everything, and his opposite-field power is outstanding. On the 20-to-80 scouting scale, he already possesses 50 power, and projects to 60 raw power easily. He has a distinctive swing. He starts with his hands high, then drops them into an angled launch position. He can drive a ball out even if he doesn't get all of it. In an early-season game at Loyola Marymount, he was slightly fooled by a changeup, got out front and under the ball but still lofted it out of the park. Scouts worry about the fundamentals of his swing, however. He comes close to locking or blocking his hands out front in an arm bar action, and he shows a weakness with offspeed stuff, setting a Division I record with 99 strikeouts last season. There are similar questions about his defense, where he looks fluid going to his left but not to his right, and his arm varies from cannon to squirt gun. He doesn't run well. Still, the lure of Mendonca's power bat and record of rising to the occasion will entice an organization to select him as early as the second round.