There are good weeks … there are great weeks … and then there’s the week Riley Adams had.
The junior catcher from the University of San Diego was named West Coast Conference Player of the Week after going 5-for-10 with three home runs, two doubles, five walks, six runs and 10 RBI. Add all that up and it means an OPS of 2.084, which is not too shabby.
Adams punctuated his week in Saturday’s sweep of the Pacific Tigers when he hit a pair of home runs and drove in six in a 10-4 win to give the Toreros a 4-0 record for the week. USD moved up to 19th in the latest NCAA rankings.
At the start of the season Adams was placed on the Golden Spikes Award watch list, meaning USA Baseball thought he was one of the best 55 amateur players in the nation. However, most MLB Draft experts didn’t have him going any higher than the 3rd round.
Driving in 33 runs in his team’s first 34 games has helped Adams surpass several catchers in this year’s class. Defensively (and let’s face it, that is the most important aspect of a catcher’s game) Adams has an above-average throwing arm and blocks balls well. Plus, he has one thing scouts just salivate over: size.
At 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds he is not a small dude. In fact he’s about the same size as Nationals catcher Matt Wieters, who the Orioles took with the 5th overall pick out of Georgia Tech in 2007.
While Adams has taken a step forward other players at his position have regressed, including Florida catcher J.J. Schwartz, who had a bit of a rough weekend against Vanderbilt when he had an aluminum bat break in two right in his hands.
