College Baseball is heating up and the best pitcher in the NCAA is already dominating.

College baseball season is upon us and being an ex college baseball player myself, I have always enjoyed watching 18-23 yr old athletes live the college life I once did. The best teams in the country this year are Vanderbilt, Oregon State and UCLA which is not much of a surprise because all three have been at the top of the polls several times in the last decade.

Baseball at most every level comes down to pitching. If your team has two dominate pitchers and a few other guys who can keep you in the game you have a high chance at success because good pitching can usually neutralize an offensive team that can stack up the runs.

This years best pitcher is Tanner Burns, the sophomore phenom from the University of Auburn with a crafty curveball and the rare screwball in his bag of pitches. I watched this kid last year and he was definitely a weapon for the Tigers but, he has made a big leap into his second season and most likely the last season of his college career once MLB teams start showing up to his games with radar guns.

Burns is coming off an award-winning freshman season for the Tigers and has shown no signs of a sophomore slump. In fact, it looks like the 6-0 righty is getting stronger. He allowed just one run in each of his first outings and hasn’t allowed any since. Burns tossed a complete game shutout to open March, striking out 15 and walking none. Now, I understand that throwing a complete game shutout with 15k is not impossible and has been done by many college pitchers before him.......but Burns did this with only 104 pitches which is very impressive. An effective pitcher is a major asset to a club because it allows more innings to be pitched on a little less rest.

Burns doesn’t have the most explosive fastball you have ever seen but pitching is 100% about changing speeds and location. Most college hitters are fundamentally sound and have great hand speed to handle a fastball at 90 MPH so a pitcher who can work around a hitters strengths can hold a powerful offensive juggernaut in check if you can put a few runs on the board.

Look for Burns to have a great season but the SEC is full of great talent and wins are hard to get. I doubt Auburn is good enough to best Teams like Florida, Mississippi State, LSU and Arkansas in the SEC so it may be hard for Burns to get a lot of ESPN airtime but, if he wins 15 games and dominates good college hitters, a huge payday and a first round draft pick is just a few months away.