NEW MEXICO 

2007 FOLLOW LIST  

OVERVIEW: Most scouts who haveNew Mexico as part of their territory live in the Phoenix area, and found little reason to make the trek east this spring. The state may be hard pressed to have more than 10-12 players drafted this year—and most of the talent is concentrated at New Mexico Junior College, which went 47-6 on the year and is gunning for its second Junior College World Series title in three years. The Thunderbirds could have a number of draft picks, but don’t have a player that is expected to be drafted in the top 10 rounds.

New Mexico and New Mexico State , the state’s two Division I schools, both produced sub-.500 records. The Lobos have the most draftable talent of the two, with the potential of four or five picks. The Aggies hopes of making inroads on the draft were pretty much dashed when their two best arms, righthanders Tyler Sturdevant (Tommy John surgery) and Jason Conner (tear in bicep tendon), were lost before the season with major injuries. The high school ranks are predictably thin, though lefthander Matt Moore could slip into the top 10 rounds. The three players given the best chance of being drafted are all New Mexico recruits.

STRENGTH: New Mexico JC talent.
WEAKNESS: Athletes.
OVERALL RATING (1-to-5 scale): 2.

Best Out-of-State Prospect, New Mexico Connection: Brian Flores, lhp, Arizona State U. (Attended high school in Carlsbad ).
Top 2008 Prospect: Eric Dorton, of, Alamogordo HS.

Highest Pick, Draft History: Duane Ward, rhp, Farmington HS (1982, Braves/1^st round, 9^th pick).
Highest Pick, 2006 Draft: Luke Hopkins, 1b, New Mexico State U. (Blue Jays/5^th round).

Best College Team: New Mexico .
Best Junior College Team: New Mexico JC.
Best High School Team: Farmington HS.

TOP 10 PROSPECTS / By Allan Simpson

GROUPS (College, Junior College, High School)
      1   High-round draft (Rounds 1-3)
      2   Mid-round draft (Rounds 4-10)
      3   Late-round draft (Rounds 11-25)
      4   Chance draft / Player to follow

*Draft-and-follow; eligible to sign before 2007 draft

GROUP TWO
Rank  Player                                  Pos.       Yr     B-T      HT     WT     School                              Hometown                 Drafted/(Commit) B’date
     1.   Jordan Pacheco                    2B      Jr.     R-R     6-0     185     U. of New Mexico            Albuquerque              Never drafted  1-30-86
SCOUTING REPORT: Pacheco has done nothing but hit since he arrived at New Mexico three years ago. He batted .408-14-52 as a freshman, .351-5-43 as a sophomore and .402-5-40 this year as a junior. He’s a run producer with gap-to-gap power. Pacheco loves to swing the bat and chose to play at New Mexico because he was promised that he would hit only. A number of schools attempted to recruit him as a pitcher out of high school because he can run his fastball up to 91 mph—and there are scouts that still envision drafting him and moving him to the mound. He pitched sparingly as a freshman, but hasn’t pitched with any regularity since he was a member of the La Cueva High team that was in the midst of winning a then-national record 70 games in a row. Pacheco obviously has superior arm strength for second base, but can also play shortstop and third base, where his arm strength would be more of an asset. He spent the early part of this season at short but was involved in a collision with his second-base replacement, bruised his shoulder on the play and returned to his familiar position the rest of the way. The biggest knock on Pacheco is his lack of speed, but he compensates for it with his tireless work ethic and grinding style of play.