But baseball, contrary to what everyone seems to think, is far from being an individual sport. In fact, I think it is more of a team sport than common belief would tell you. Every action has a counter action, whether you make that action or it is made by a teammate.

That said, it is this time of the college baseball season when teams will either rise to the top and become champions together, or fall as individuals. Yes that’s a cliche, taken directly from the scene in “Remember the Titans” when coach Boone takes his team to the Gettysburg cemetery, he tells them the same thing.

A good friend once told me that cliches wouldn’t exist if they weren’t true. This is no exception. So when you’re looking for the teams that will emerge this year in the NCAA Tournament, look for the ones that have stepped up in their most recent games. My favorite statistic to look at during March Madness is the recent games category. Obviously, this year’s national champion UConn wouldn’t disagree, as the Huskies won their final 11 games to capture immortality.

The same thing goes in baseball. Granted, you don’t have to be perfect in order to compete for a championship in baseball. It’s another thing to love though. By playing best of three game series, there really aren’t fluke wins. And as college baseball fans, we should all want to see the best teams compete for the ultimate prizes.

Today, May 6, is the 80th birthday of one Willie Howard Mays. If you have watched ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” at some point this week, you have seen some of the clips of Mays in his playing days. The man was truly an all-around great baseball player.

Looking at the statistics by themselves can give you an idea of how great the Say Hey Kid was. He finished with 660 home runs, a .302 batting average, 338 stolen bases (an average of 18 per year) and was awarded 12 consecutive gold gloves for his defensive play in centerfield for the Giants.

But the stats can only give you an idea. There are a select few players who belong in a category who have transcended the game. Just the fact that these players are in the Hall of Fame does not do them justice; their impacts are still felt on the game. Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Pete Rose, Ty Cobb and a few others are on the list. Willie Mays is right there with them.

And here is the only part of this post that can somewhat relate to collegiate baseball today. In scouting, if you hear the term “five tool player,” talent evaluators start drooling. This is supposed to mean that the player can hit for power, hit for average, steal bases, play exceptional defense and has a great defensive arm.

Willie Mays was the original five tool player. Sure, when thinking of his defense, people will first and foremost remember his catch in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series. I mean, it has its own wikipedia page. But that is just the most famous of more than two decades’ worth of spectacular play.

Another fantastic thing about Mays is that he missed two seasons of play because of service time in the Korean War. Baseball pundits love to wonder what would have happened if Ted Williams hadn’t missed so much time due to World War II and the Korean War. Well, the same argument can be made on a smaller scale for Mays, as he almost certainly would have reached 700 homers if not for military service.

I was able to find a whole page on Willie Mays quotes, but one stood out more than any of the others. “I think I was the best baseball player I ever saw.” Criticize him for being cocky, but there is something to be said for having athletic arrogance to know that you are the best. Chances are, if you’re close to being the best but never admit it, you will never reach the top. Mays reached the top, and today for his 80th birthday, we celebrate what he meant to baseball.

In May, we now know what the effect has been using the new bats.

Throughout the season, offensive numbers across the country have been down. Yes, there are still 27 players who have averages over .400. But the evidence of a decline far outweighs any statistics that might show the same numbers as previous years.

The top hitting team in the country this year, by average, is Temple University at .337. Yes, there are still some team averages that appear to be as inflated as Backyard Baseball statistics.

But look at this mid-season report from ncaa.com. Although it is a month old, these statistics are still quite relevant.

The 2010 final batting average for college baseball was .305. At this year’s mid-way point, that number stood at .279. Runs per game has decreased from 6.98 runs to 5.63 runs. Home runs per game has been sliced in half, from .94 to .47 dingers per contest.

And then there’s the pitching side. The ERA numbers have dropped from last year’s final mark of 5.95 to 4.62. Looking at the halfway point of both seasons, 2010 had 277 shutouts by the middle of the season. This year, through the same number of games, there were 444 shutouts.

What does this mean? College players, beginning with this revolution to the collegiate game, will be more prepared for professional baseball in the next few years. I believe that hitting with the old bats, that could hit home runs on check swings seemingly, did a terrible job of preparing college players for the professional ranks.

With bats that are closer to wood bats, players can begin for an adjustment earlier than what was once the trend. And that can only be a positive for college baseball.

This will be my final post about the 2011 MLB draft, and it will not feature any single player, as most of the others have. Rather, it will look at a few players who have jumped through the rankings and a few who have seemingly fallen out of first-round consideration.

I’m going to look at ESPN analyst Keith Law’s “Future 50″ rankings, where he ranks the top 50 draft-eligible prospects. His first column was posted February 18, and while there have been updates throughout the season, his most recent posting came April 29.

The top of the draft class remains relatively the same, with a few changes. Names such as Gerrit Cole (No. 1 most recently), Anthony Rendon (2) and Sonny Gray (6) are all there. A saddening contrast at the top is the absence of TCU pitcher Matt Purke (No. 7 at start of season), who remains shut down with elbow problems that have probably cost him millions of dollars, and could wreck his career in baseball at an early stage.

There are now five high school players in the top 10, slightly above the four who appeared in February’s ranking. The top high school prospects are outfielder Bubba Starling (No. 3) and pitcher Dylan Bundy (No. 4). Personally, I would always choose a collegiate player over a high school prospect with very few exceptions (i.e. Bryce Harper).

LSU outfielder Mikie Mahtook, who I featured in a previous post, has jumped from No. 38 at the start of the season to No. 16. This is because, according to Law, in a year that college offensive production is down, Mahtook continues to produce at a high rate.

Which brings to my final point: the effect of the new bats in college baseball this season have had a profound impact on how prospects are viewed. Of Law’s top 50 prospects from his most recent rankings, 12 are position players in college. There are 13 pitchers on the list (yes, that could make a pretty nice 25-man roster). But the bats have had the desired impact, which I will write about in more detail in my next post.

While Fraser said a lot about play on the field, in this post I want to talk about what he said about the time he spent out of the lineup, as the second part of my in-depth look into what college baseball players go through.

For a little background on Fraser, check out his numbers this season here. The quick story is that he hits at the top of the lineup for the Phoenix and really does everything you want from a baseball player. Good defense, great bunter, line drive hitter, outstanding speed, he really does everything other than hit for power.

But as I mentioned before, Fraser missed games against Old Dominion, Wake Forest (two games) and Georgia Southern (three games) over a 10 day span. The Georgia Southern games were on the road, and the Georgia native was unable to pass a concussion test four times and was ineligible to play against the Eagles.

Unable to play, Fraser proved his dedication to the program in a different way.

“I was the manager (at Georgia Southern), I did the laundry,” said Fraser.

After saying this, Elon’s media relations contact for baseball stepped in and clarified that Fraser only handed the laundry to the guy at the front desk to actually wash and dry clothes. But Fraser jokingly took offense, listing what his part of the job.

“I carried (the laundry) all the way down there, I separated it, I put it in the bags, I folded it afterward, I put the clips in the correct number,” Fraser joked.

Behind the laughter in this interview, there certainly is an important lesson for not only players, but people to take note of. Even when out of action, don’t sit around and feel sorry for yourself that you can’t be on the field. Fraser didn’t, instead traveling with the team to support his teammates and offering his services as the team’s manager. Lesson learned.

To start, I spoke with a good friend in senior infielder Neal Pritchard. I’ve known him since sophomore year, when we lived next to each other, and have seen him become a leader both on and off the field for the Phoenix.

I mention a lot of statistics on this blog, and Pritchard’s speak volumes. So with the past three full seasons and the current season coming to a close, Pritchard has started in 192 games, almost all at shortstop. Keep in mind those starts are for a team that has compiled a 150-77 record (through 4/27) in the past four seasons. After hitting for identical .276 averages in his freshman and sophomore campaigns, he hit .340 last season and is at .313 this year.

But this post is about the player as a person, and his reflections on the past four years. So here is a quick interview I conducted with him:

Q: Last year, you were not sure if you would be back this year. Now that you back, are you glad you came back?

A: “Absolutely. For one more year of college ball, and I hope that pro-ball works out for me, but there’s nothing like the college atmosphere. And also, to be here for part of (Elon head coach Mike Kennedy)’s 500th win it means a lot because I’ve been here with him for the last four years and it’s nice to see him get that milestone.”

Q: What does it mean to be able to kind of finish what you started by spending four years with the program?

A: “It means a lot, the longer you’re with these guys, you form a pretty strong bond. (Thomas Girdwood), we roomed together freshman year and our bond only got stronger as we went through tough times. It’s just nice, leaving here, with the guys I came in here with.”

Q: If you had any advice for freshman right now, what would you tell them?

A: “Enjoy it. It flies by. It has been an enjoyable last four years and I look back now and just realize what everybody was saying about enjoy it while you can and while it’s here. So before it’s too late, enjoy it and keep your friendships.”

I’ve already made a post on this blog about Vanderbilt pitcher Sonny Gray. He should be drafted in the top 10, and it would be a shock if he dropped lower than the 20th overall pick.

But on the other side, most people probably don’t know of LSU outfielder Mikie Mahtook. That has to change quickly.

Mahtook has been a multi-talented asset to the Tigers this year, batting .364 with 10 home runs and 41 RBI. While it might actually be easier to list the offensive categories Mahtook doesn’t lead the Tigers in, here are the ones he is No. 1 on the team in: runs, triples, homers, RBI, total bases, slugging percentage, walks, on-base percentage and stolen bases.

As I said, quite multi-talented. While I can’t say too much about his defense, having seen him play just a few innings, it is safe to say Mahtook has all the offensive tools at this point.

And that, above all else, is what teams should be looking for in the first round of June’s draft. Personally, I never understand why a team drafts a player, usually a high-school player, based on potential to develop.

This brings me to another point made by Jack McKeon yesterday. When one of my classmates asked if he would prefer to draft collegiate players over high school players, he said “More players don’t develop in the minors than ones that do develop.”

Back to Mahtook. I realize that there are very few players who can skip the minor leagues and become assets to big league clubs right away, but I truly think Mahtook might have that potential. On the other side, I would be shocked if he took more than three years to reach the majors.

Yes, this is a blog about college baseball. But I wanted a chance to talk about McKeon, as he really is a character. If you think you know baseball, listening to McKeon talk about the game for just 10 minutes will put you to shame.

At 80 years old, I can honestly say that the famously nicknamed “Trader Jack” has forgotten more baseball than I know. And it starts with talent evaluation. This is the guy who signed Roberto Alomar and Tony Gwynn, two of the best players of the past 30 years in baseball.

We heard his story about Miguel Cabrera, who was a rookie in 2003, and how McKeon was in the minority opinion among Marlins staff who thought Cabrera would be able to handle the major leagues at that point. For the record, Cabrera was the starting left fielder in that World Series.

The entire class was laughing when the discussion made its way to how McKeon feels about baseball statistics. The savvy manager narrowed his eyes and mocked WHIP and OPS, calling the creators and defenders of statistics nerds and questioning their actual baseball knowledge. Because of this, I came away thinking of McKeon as the ultimate traditionalist.

When it came down to the last few minutes of class, I decided to ask what I thought would be a rather tricky question. My query was how can baseball put the finishing touches on the steroid era? The game is progressing forward, but I wanted to know if he thought there would ever be a time when players could be completely clear of suspicion.

McKeon’s take on the matter was that baseball has done pretty much everything it can do to this point. He said that in today’s testing, they will catch anything that shouldn’t be in a player’s body. Obviously, Manny Ramirez was used as an example. But it was, in a few words, greatly encouraging, to hear somebody who has been so close to baseball for so long talk about a bright future for the game.

"Trader Jack" is known for his ability to wheel and deal along with his love for cigars. Courtesy of nova.edu.

With a 27-7 record and an 8-1 mark in PAC-10 play, they certainly deserve the high ranking. While baseball does not have the flawed system that is the BCS where rankings play a key part, it is late enough in the season that the rankings really do reflect which teams we can expect to see playing well into the NCAA Tournament.

The Beavers have been on a role as of late, as their most recent series resulted in a three game sweep at Stanford. The team has nine straight games, with eight of those games being conference matchups.

What’s more is that of the seven losses this year, four have been against teams that are currently ranked in the top 25.

Leading the way offensively for the Beavers is Andrew Susac, who holds a .364 batting average with four homers and 25 RBI. But this is far from a one-man show, as there are five Beavers batting over .300. Those players are Susac, Kavin Keyes (.361), Michael Miller (.324), Luke Acosta (.321) and Jake Rodriguez (.319).

For me, there is one statistic that stands out above all others. As a team, the Beavers have combined to hit just 13 home runs in their 34 games. Anybody remember the post I made earlier on this blog about the new bats in college baseball this year?

Pitching-wise, the Beavers have a team ERA of 2.78 and have held opponents to a batting average of .236. Sam Gaviglio has the best record on the staff with a 7-1 mark to go along with a 1.19 ERA. He has also recorded 68 strike outs in 68.1 innings.

Obviously with the calendar still reading April, it’s early to classify anybody as a title contender. But what we can do is point out the teams on the right track, and the Beavers fit that description perfectly.