Ingui, Maloney, Downing look for late-round selections

MLB.com Draft Central

RINDGE, N.H. (June 5, 2011) – Five members of the Franklin Pierce University baseball team will be waiting by the phone this week, as they hope to be selected in the 2011 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, scheduled for Monday through Wednesday, June 6-8. Sophomore right-hander Ryan Thompson (Calgary, Alberta) and junior catcher Mike Dowd (East Bridgewater, Mass.) are expected to be selected in the top half of the 50-round draft, while senior designated hitter Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass.), senior left-hander Brian Maloney (Brockton, Mass.) and junior left-hander Gregg Downing (Queens, N.Y.) are all potential late-round selections.

The first round of the draft takes place beginning at 7 p.m. on Monday and will be televised live across the country on MLB Network. The draft resumes at noon on Tuesday for rounds 2-30 and wraps up Wednesday with rounds 31-50, also beginning at noon. Coverage of the second two days of the draft will be available through mlb.com.

A consensus All-America First-Team selection and the consensus East Region Pitcher of the Year, Thompson should be the first Franklin Pierce player taken and could become the highest Ravens draft pick since 2007, when Keith Renaud went in the 10th round to the Seattle Mariners. According to Baseball America, some scouts have talked about Thompson going as early as the eighth round, though the publication maintains he will be selected somewhere in rounds 10 through 15.

With a high-80s/low-90s sinking fastball, a slider and a developing changeup, Thompson served as the Franklin Pierce ace this season and Baseball America believes he will earn a chance to start at the next level, though he likely profiles as a sinker/slider reliever moving forward in his career.

Baseball America ranks Thompson second among draft prospects across New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont ("upper New England"), and he was rated in the preseason by Perfect Game USA as the No. 24 prospect in the country among draft-eligible players from Division II, Division III and NAIA programs ("small colleges"). Either Thompson or Massachusetts Lowell left-hander Jack Leathersich will likely be the first Northeast-10 Conference player taken in this year's draft.

Not long after Thompson comes off the board, Dowd should find himself as a top-20-round draftee, and could be selected in rounds 10 through 15 as well. Dowd's best tool is his right arm, which Baseball America says has received grades of 70 on scouting scales, which rate a player's various tools on a 20-80 scale. Scouts have clocked him getting the ball to second base 1.85 seconds after the pitch arrives in his glove. Dowd will also have fewer adjustments to make in the batter's box than some of his fellow draftees, as he has hit with wood bats in the Northeast-10, as opposed to the aluminum used by much of the rest of the country.

Dowd's weaknesses include his receiving skills and his ability to move behind the plate, according the Baseball America, which also says some scouts question how his bat will profile at the next level after he struggled in the Cape Cod League last summer. The publication says his contact approach and raw power could lead him to profile as a backup catcher at the Major League level later in his career.

Dowd was third in Baseball America's upper New England draft rankings and, in the preseason, landed at No. 11 on the Perfect Game USA small college prospect list.

With Thompson and Dowd both near-certain draftees, Franklin Pierce should see multiple players taken in the draft for the first time since 2007, when three players were selected

Maloney, Ingui and Downing are all potential late-round selections in the draft, led by Maloney, who was seventh on the Baseball America upper New England list and 55th among Perfect Game USA's small college prospects. If all three are taken in the draft, Franklin Pierce will match its program-record of five selections from 2006.

According to Baseball America, Maloney has impressed scouts with his pitchability, as he is able to effectively mix his high-80s fastball with an average curveball and changeup. Franklin Pierce's all-time leader in career strikeouts has arm troubles in his history but, with his collegiate eligibility now expired, he should earn a late-round selection and be given the opportunity to prove his skill on a professional mound.

Ingui and Downing have garnered far less national attention, though both have been on scouts' radars this season.

Ingui put up one of the most impressive hitting careers in Franklin Pierce history, though he is currently without a defensive position, which could hamper his draft prospects. With his eligibility gone, Ingui could look for a minor-league free-agent deal if he goes undrafted.

Downing earned the third starter spot in the Ravens rotation this spring with his solid pitching which earned him a Cape Cod League invite, and talented left-handers are always in demand for professional organizations. Downing was a relative unknown for scouts until the second half of the 2011 season and is expected to return to Rindge for his senior season if he goes undrafted.

Franklin Pierce has had 17 draft selections in program history, beginning with Justin Blood in 2001, and has had at least one player taken each year thereafter. Since that first selection, only Boston College (34) and Connecticut (24) have had more draftees among New England schools, regardless of division. Franklin Pierce is the only New England school to have at least one player selected every year since 2001.

For more information on Franklin Pierce Athletics, please visit the official website of Franklin Pierce Athletics (http://athletics.franklinpierce.edu). Also be sure to follow the Ravens through the Department of Athletics' official Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens), its YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/franklinpiercesports) and its Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/FPUathletics).