Austin Wates and Jesse Hahn among top 40 MLB prospects

For those of you who care, ESPN's MLB Draft Analyst Keith Law has two Hokies rated very highly in his most recent ranking of 2010 prospects. 

Outfielder Austin Wates and starting pitcher Jesse Hahn made the cut at No. 25 and No. 33, respectively.

This is just another sign of the resurgence of the Tech program under coach Pete Hughes. Both players have a good chance of being taken in the first round of June's draft. 

The last Hokie to go in the first round was Joe Saunders, whom the Angels took with the 12th pick in 2002. Only one other Tech player has been taken in the first round in the last 21 years - Denny Wagner to the A's with the 42nd pick in 1997. 

Both of those players were pitchers. The only position player to ever go in the first round from Tech was Franklin Stubbs in 1982. 

This is what Law had to say about Wates in his rankings, which is available to ESPN Insiders:

"Can hit and run and play left field; he'll only go in the first round to a team that thinks he can play center."

On Jason Churchill's (ESPN) blog, he had this to say about Wates' recent play:

"Austin Wates went 2-for-3 with two walks (last weekend against Georgia Tech) and is hitting .408/.500/.624 with 14 stolen bases on the season. He has 13 doubles and 23-22 BB/K ratio, but is a bit of an unknown as he's an athletic player who has played left field and first base this spring, limiting his value.

Hahn is a power pitcher who is known to Hokie fans for his occasional 100-mph pitches. In my opinion, he needs to significantly improve his control, but you can't teach that kind of velocity. 

Wates is the second-highest rated position player in the ACC on Law's Big Board. Miami catcher Yasmani Grandal (No. 11) is the only fielder ahead of the Tech junior from Richmond.