LA MIRADA, Calif. --- Biola University's baseball program was mentioned as one of three "good NAIA programs" in regards to producing prospects according to ESPN's Keith Law on the ESPN Baseball Today podcast on May 10.
Law is ESPN.com's lead baseball analyst for Scouts Inc., covering the majors, minors and amateurs, according to his bio, and regularly appears across the ESPN family of networks, providing analysis on all baseball topics.
On Tuesday, Law and co-host Eric Karabell were discussing Brandon Beachy, a pitcher for the Atlanta Braves who some were saying was missed by scouts completely. Law pointed out that he went to Indiana Wesleyan, an NAIA school and discussed the issues with scouting the NAIA.
"The truth is, NAIA schools don't get scouted much, primarily because they don't generate a lot of players. The best NAIA schools, there is Lewis & Clark State up in Idaho, which produces a lot of of big leaguers or at least a lot of prospects. There are a couple of schools out in California--Biola, Point Loma Nazarene--good NAIA programs."
Biola has seen a number of players go through the program to the majors including 20 players drafted in the 13 years Head Coach John Verhoeven as been at the helm. Verhoeven, a former major league pitcher for the Angels, White Sox and Twins, has produced at least one player to sign with a big league club in 10 of the last 13 years.
Biola (36-20) is currently ranked No. 13 in the NAIA and begins the 2011 NAIA National Championship Opening Round on Thursday in Joliet, Ill. The Eagles have a number of players on the current team which hope to see their names on the draft board come June.
To listen to the podcast, visit
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/10533/podcast-halladay-or-johnson. The discussion begins around the 32 minute mark.
