Dustin Ackley and the Seattle Mariners came to terms on Monday evening on a five year $7.5 million deal but it was lost in the wake of the Stephen Strasburg deal. The Mariners were burning the midnight oil as they beat the deadline by 15 minutes. I personally had a chance to see him play in over 10 games during his college days and was thoroughly impressed with his hitting. Dustin also has a great attitude and should be able to handle the off the field pressures of being the number two selection in the draft. He is not as fast but still runs well so in my opinion he will be an excellent number two hitter. The only question is: Where will the Mariners play him? Second base? Centerfield? I have heard many different things and we should see what Seattle does over the next couple of years with him.

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The national nightmare has come to an end as Stephen Strasburg has signed with the Washington Nationals for 15.67 million over four seasons according to a report by Baseball America’s Aaron Fitt which posted the following tweet.

Aaron Fitt reports Strasburg signs. MLB deal worth $15.67 million over 4 years.

Interesting that he got such a large deal and was only 4.33 million off the 20 million that was getting thrown around over the last few days.

The big story of the day is whether the Washington Nationals are going to sign San Diego State’s Stephen Strasburg by the midnight deadline tonight.  He is not the only one as number 2 selection in UNC’s Dustin Ackley is still unsigned among others. Both of these players are represented by baseball power agent Scott Boras who has become one of the toughest negotiators in the industry over the last few years. This has ended up hurting some players in their negotiations for a contract as many players have slipped down the draft board.

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Auburn University signee Nick Franklin signed with the Seattle Mariners today according to a report on MLB.com. Franklin was going to be a key infielder for the John Pawlowski led Auburn Tigers for the 2010 season.

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Washington QB Jake Locker signed a contract today with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Locker was selected in the 10th round of the June Draft after being selected in the 40th round out of high school. He spent the summer of 2008 in the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League where he played for the Bellingham Bells. He finished the summer with a .273 average including two homers in only ten games.

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The Daily Advertiser has an excellent article looking at the job Paul Mainieri is trying to do at keeping his top recruits on path to head to Baton Rouge over the minor leagues. The top two prospects that he needs to worry about are Zack Von Rosenberg of Zachary High and Brody Colvin of St. Thomas More High. Von Rosenberg was selected by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the sixth round while the Phillies selected Colvin in the seventh round by the Phillies. Both of them are not expected to sign for “slot” money so both organizations need to step up their offers considerably. LSU has also revoked the letters of intent to two junior college players in Slade Heathcott and Brett Bruening. Heathcott is expected to sign with the New York Yankees in the next week as he was selected in the first round while Bruening did not fulfill academic commitments that he promised to Mainieri.

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Baseball America writer Jim Callis reports that the Pittsburgh Pirates and Colton Cain have agreed on a 1.125 million dollar contract bypassing his collegiate eligibility. Cain was expected to become a key contributor to the Longhorns program as he features a mid-90’s fastball and also had potential into developing into a top level first baseman. Cain’s stock dropped as he told many MLB clubs that he was set on attending college but with this substantial offer for the eighth round pick he had to sign a professional deal.

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Darren Heitner of The Sports Agent Blog has an excellent article looking at the MLB 2009 draft. He discusses the ability for the 20 unsigned first round picks to come to agreements with their respective clubs before the August 17th deadline. I look at the list and see some similarities in many of the cases as Scott Boras has six unsigned clients in the first round. One of the interesting tidbits in the article is that Tyler Matzek is far from agreeing with the Rockies which opens the possibility that he will likely attend Oregon.

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Tennessee’s Todd Raleigh recently made a trip to Cape Cod to check in on his two drafted players in Chad Bell and Bryan Morgado. Bell is transferring into the Tennessee program for the 2010 season but was selected in the 14th round by the Texas Rangers. He is currently 3-1 with a 1.34 ERA in the Cape League. Morgado on the other hand was selected in the third round by the Chicago White Sox. He is currently sporting a 2-0 mark with a 1.67 ERA. The article also talks about four incoming freshmen who have already enrolled in summer school eliminating the suspense on whether or not they sign a contract.

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Thomas Boswell of The Washington Post has a lengthy article about Stephen Strasburg and his negotiations with the Washington Nationals. Boswell caught up with Strasburg after the 2009 Golden Spikes Award ceremony which took place at the 2009 MLB All-Star game. Strasburg states that there has been very little contact with the team besides them offering him a minor league contract so Strasburg couldn’t become a free agent if he is not able to come to terms by the deadline in August.

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The College Baseball Blog will be running a Live Blog on July 23rd at Fenway Park as the Cape Cod All-Star Game is set to take place at 7pm on Thursday. The Cape Cod Baseball League is considered the top collegiate summer baseball league in the country. It draws consistently the top players in the country while being a showcase for the upcoming year’s draft. (The full rosters and press release is available by clicking here.) Sign up for a free email reminder below.

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FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE

SAN DIEGO –  For the third time in four years, 40 of the nation’s top high school baseball players will descend upon San Diego to play in the Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic, the country’s premier high school baseball showcase. This year’s game will be played on Aug. 16 at 5 p.m. PDT in PETCO Park, home of the San Diego Padres, and will once again be televised live nationally on FOX Sports Net.

The Classic features an East vs. West format, played annually during the late summer before most participants have returned to school. For the second consecutive year, the Aflac Classic will be played in a major league venue. The 2008 showcase was played in Los Angeles’ historic Dodger Stadium. The 2006 and 2007 games were held at San Diego State University’s Tony Gwynn Stadium.
The Aflac All-American Classic, however, is more than just a game. As part of Aflac’s ongoing commitment to the fight against childhood cancer, all game proceeds from the 2009 Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic will benefit Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego. Since 2003, the game has generated nearly $685,000 for charity.

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