With all due respect to the other five teams playing in this weekend's Urban Invitational, the University of California-Irvine is the most interesting team to watch when it comes to players the Astros may be drafting this summer and in summers to come. The Anteaters have been to the NCAA Super Regionals in two of the last three seasons, and Mike Gillespie's squad is favored to win the Big West Conference this season.
Kyle Hooper, a right-handed pitcher and shortstop D.J. Crumlich are listed by Baseball America as two of the top five draft-eligible players in the Big West Conference this season. Crumlich was on the field for UC-I this morning at Minute Maid Park against Alabama St. UC-I's starting lineup also includes 2B Dillon Moyer(pictured above). Moyer, a sophomore, is the son of Major League pitcher, Jamie Moyer.
The tournament continues in Houston through the weekend. Saturday's games will be held at Minute Maid Park, while Sunday's games are scheduled to be played at the Astros' Urban Youth Academy in Sylvester Turner Park. Friday's games were moved from the UYA to Minute Maid Park due to weather concerns. Two games on Saturday, including UC-Irvine's game at 3 p.m. will be aired on the MLB Network and MLB.com.
A few other non-Anteaters to keep an eye on this weekend at Minute Maid Park:
Jose DeLeon, RHP, Southern
Ryan Epperson, OF, Alabama St.
Waldyvan Estrada, OF, Alabama St.
Pervis Mann, LHP, Grambling
Emmanuel Marrero, SS, Alabama St.
Lionel Morrill, OF, Grambling
I included a few more pictures from Friday's Alabama St./Cal-Irvine game on Facebook.
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