Round Overall Player Position 1s 45 Michael Belfiore OF/P ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BA: Scouts were mildly intrigued by Belfiore's big frame and loose arm coming out of Commack (N.Y.) High three years ago, when he worked in the 85-87 mph range with his fastball. He has started at first base for three years at Boston College and has thrived as the Eagles' closer the last two. Belfiore now works in the 90-93 mph range and tops out at 94 with a lively fastball. He shows a solid-average to plus slider in the 83-85 range at times, but he tends to push the pitch at other times. At 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, Belfiore is physical enough to start, and he maintained his stuff for five innings in front of a number of scouting heavyweights in late April against Duke. He also has a starter's repertoire, with an average low-80s changeup that dives at the plate at times. He also shows a promising curveball in warmups, though he rarely uses it in games. Belfiore's mechanics need smoothing, and his offspeed command could use polish, but he could take off once he concentrates on pitching full-time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- pgcrosschecker: SCOUTING PROFILE (3/1): Belfiore has both pitched and played first base throughout his high-school, college and summer-league careers. While he started at first base for Boston College as both a freshman (.297, three homers) and sophomore (.274, two homers), and worked in only 10 innings his first season for the Eagles and just 18 more in 2008, it's apparent that his future is on the mound-most likely in a relief. He was valuable in that role a year ago, going 2-0, 2.45 with eight saves. He went to the Cape Cod League last summer, ostensibly to close and play a little first base, but ended up saving just one game for two-time defending champion Yarmouth-Dennis, while going 0-1, 3.21 with 21 strikeouts in 14 innings. UC Riverside righthander Joe Kelly, a potential early-round pick in 2009, earned first crack at the closer's job. Belfiore managed to play in just nine games at first base for the Red Sox, hitting .194-0-1, but often showed the best power on the Y-D roster in BP. His obvious athletic ability was readily apparent in the field, too, as he is a superior defender at first. Not surprisingly, he was a basketball player of some note at a New York high school. Though Belfiore's fastball was routinely in the 89-92 mph range on the Cape, it was apparent he had more in the tank and his fastball peaked at 94 mph last fall. He has also shown a good feel for a tight 82-83 mph slider and 78-79 curve, and throws with ease from a high three-quarters angle. With his ability to throw strikes consistently, he could move quickly to the big leagues.-ALLAN SIMPSON UPDATE (5/15): Belfiore had worked in only 39 innings through his initial 24 relief assignments this spring for Boston College, when he was called upon in the ninth inning of a 2-2 game against Texas in the NCAA regionals. In what became one of the most dramatic and historic games in college baseball history, Belfiore pitched the next 9-1/3 innings for the Eagles in a contest that Texas, the national No. 1 seed, finally won 3-2 in the 25th inning. Though Belfiore was brilliant in not allowing a run or a walk, and just three hits along with 11 punchouts, in easily the longest stint of his pitching career, he was actually out-dueled by Texas lefthander Austin Wood, who blacked BC on two hits, striking out 14, in 13 scoreless frames. Both were pitchers were long gone by the time Texas finally pushed across the winning run. Though Belfiore failed to earn a win or save with his masterful performance, he still managed to lower his final ERA to 2.05 while improving his walk-strikeout ratio to 12-59 in 48 innings. He also went 5-1 and saved nine games. Because of his normally brief, end-of-game role for the Eagles, Northeast scouts rarely got a quality look at Belfiore to accurately gauge the effectiveness of all four pitches he offers (no doubt, the scouts who saw him in Texas did). But his fastball was a steady 90-92 mph with arm-side run, and would reach 94. He threw it so easy and effortlessly that Belfiore might reach 97-98 mph one day, once he refines his delivery and dedicates himself full-time to pitching. His slider and curve acted as similar breaking ball at times, but scouts saw depth in his curve and bite on his slider when they were working at peak efficiency. With the makings of a decent change as well, Belfiore has the repertoire to start and he is projected to work in that role at the next level-and his magnificent final outing of his career seemed like the perfect audition for the role.-AS --

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