Top prospects Hawaii will face

D1Baseball.com released its top 300 college prospects list today.

Nobody from Hawaii was listed but there were quite a few players on teams that will play UH this year in the rankings. Here’s the full list (BWC players in bold):

Bobby Dalbec, 3B, Arizona (No. 18)
Chad Hockin, RHP, Cal State Fullerton (No. 64)
Shane Bieber, RHP, UC Santa Barbara (No. 76)
Carmen Benedetti, LHP/1B, Michigan (No. 77)
Andrew Calica, OF, UC Santa Barbara (No. 124)
Garrett Hampson, SS, Long Beach State (No. 139)
J.D. Busfield, RHP, Loyola Marymount (No. 143)
Kevin Ginkel, RHP, Arizona (No. 155)
Brett Adcock, LHP, Michigan (No. 174)
Blake Quinn, RHP, Cal State Fullerton (No. 202)
Austin Miller, OF, LMU (No. 214)
Dominic Miroglio, C, San Francisco (No. 225)
Vince Fernandez, OF, UC Riverisde (No. 229)
Mitchell White, RHP, Santa Clara (No. 248)
Harrison Wenson, C, Michigan (No. 253)
Carson Schneider, LHP, New Mexico (No. 261)
Cassidy Brown, C, LMU (No. 297)

Couple of interesting things are Michigan putting three players in the top 253, including two pitchers. That is going to be a fun series.

Only six Big West players (Fullerton and UCSB-2; Riverside and LBSU 1) are listed. Nobody from Cal Poly or UC Irvine.

Obviously it’s impossible in mid-January to know a whole lot about how the league will shape up this season but the Big West only had one team (Cal State Fullerton at No. 12) ranked in Collegiate Baseball’s Preseason Top 40. Michigan was ranked No. 23.

Not much to report on the UH side with practice just getting underway and the team beginning scrimmages. Seniors Alex Hatch (LHP) and Josh Pigg (RHP), who worked as relievers last year and didn’t see much time, had good falls and are being looked at to potentially start games this year. Everything is wide open in terms of the starting rotation, but the two guys who probably have the edge over everyone else are incoming junior RHP Brendan Hornung and senior RHP Kyle Von Ruden.

Marcus Doi staying healthy for the entire fall was a big deal. A 25th-round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs out of Mid-Pacific in high school, Doi has had two injury-riddled years at UH. The feeling is if he can stay healthy and get off to a good start and gain confidence in himself, he could really shine as a junior. He will be in left field on opening day baring something horrible.

Catcher Chayce Ka’aua has bulked up to almost 200 pounds in the offseason. He had nine doubles last year while carrying a big load defensively behind the plate. He seems ready to take on even more this year.

Also, freshmen Troy Stainbrock, Daniel Rocha and Adam Bedrossian, who were listed on the fall roster, are no longer with the team. Rocha and Stainbrock are back in California. Bedrossian is taking classes at UH but will not be playing baseball.