Top CCL prospect not a Forester, but a Gaucho

Kevin Gelinas, who has transferred to UCSB and will be part of the 2010 baseball team, was recently honored by Baseball America in its final rundown of summer league baseball.

After going 2-2 with a 1.96 ERA in 16 games (including four starts) for the Conejo Oaks of the California Collegiate League, Gelinas was listed by Baseball America as the No. 1 prospect to come from the CCL.

“Gelinas has been a prospect everywhere he goes,” the BA story reads, “from Pepperdine to Central Arizona JC to the California Collegiate League. He ranked second on the league’s prospect list last summer and gets the nod this year for his big body and power repertoire. The 6-foot-5, 235-pound southpaw pumps his fastball in the 90-94 mph range and struck out 54 in just 36 innings. He still needs to work on control (20 walks), but Gelinas profiles as a fast-moving lefthanded reliever in the Alan Embree mold at the pro level. He’s transferring to UC Santa Barbara for his junior season.”

Gelinas, who also tallied three saves for the Oaks, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but elected to come to UCSB.

“We are very excited he decided to forego signing and continue with his education,” UCSB head coach Bob Brontsema said. “We’re anticipating him coming in and having a huge role on the mound. This is a tremendous honor because there are a lot of great players in that league. He should play a big role for us in our pursuit of a conference championship.”

Gelinas was rated as the No. 4 prospect nationally by Perfect Game’s Top 50 junior college prospects last fall and was one of the top junior college players in the country by Baseball America.

He should help the Gauchos ease the loss of professional pitchers Joe Gardner (drafted in the third round), Forrest Cannon (34th round) and Zach Samuels (free agent contract). They were part of the school-record nine UCSB players drafted in Major League Baseball’s amateur June draft, which led the Big West, a conference that was recently ranked as the sixth-best in the nation, according to RPI ratings and is also a league that had two nationally-ranked teams in the NCAA postseason and has featured at least one team in the College World Series in eight of the past 11 seasons. Gardner, like Gelinas, transferred to UCSB from a junior college and was the top JC transfer drafted last June.