UNC and N.C. State baseball rank high among recruiting classes

Durham-based Baseball America Magazine ranked the recruiting classes of North Carolina and N.C. State among the nation’s top 25.

Both schools landed a recruit in the magazine’s top 200 prospects list heading into the 2009 draft. Now that the signing deadline has passed for draftees, it’s easier to evaluate recruiting classes. Many kids commit, only to jump to the minor leagues if they are drafted high enough.

North Carolina ranked seventh overall, even after its two top recruits Jacob Turner and Donavan Tate signed with major league teams before the deadline. UNC still snagged Rocky Mount’s Brian Goodwin, who was ranked 65th overall. Baseball America writer Aaron Fitt wrote that Goodwin, an outfielder, fell to the 17th round because of “signability.”

Godwin was the only UNC recruit in Baseball America’s top 200, but was one of three recruits from the state, including Chris Munnelly of Forsyth Country Day in Winston-Salem and Chaz Frank of Central Davidson in Lexington.

N.C. State ranked 11th overall with a recruiting class entirely from outside the state. Right-handed pitcher Dane Williams from Archbishop McCarthy in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is ranked 68th overall.

Williams will miss the entire 2010 season after having Tommy John surgery this summer. Before that, Fitt wrote, he “flashed mid-90s heat and a power slider.”

Only three other ACC schools made the list: Virginia (9), Miami (17) and Clemson (20). Florida took the top spot, followed by Stanford and Arizona State.