Marcus ranked one of Prospect League's best by Perfect Game

By Bob Elliott
Canadian Baseball Network
Could David Marcus grow up to be like Bob Bailor?

Marcus is a power-hitting first baseman, while Bailor, the first Blue Jays player selected in the expansion draft, played six different positions in his 11-year career: DH, three outfield spots and every infield position but first base.

Or Marcus could be the next Kyle Petty or Steve Flanigan.

What does Marcus have in common with Bailor, Flanigan and Peters?

All played for the University of California-Pennsylvania Vulcans, a NCAA Division II school. 

Flanigan and Peters were drafted and Perfect Game Scouting Bureau thinks Marcus will too next June rating him the No. 5 pro prospect in the Prospect League this summer. While Marcus ranks fifth over-all, three of those ahead of him are eligible for the 2017 draft. Only INF Eric Solberg of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Marcus are expected to be drafted next June.

This high compliment comes less than a week after Marcus was named to the Perfect Game All-America First Team from 20 different summer college leagues. He was the only Canadian named to the First, Second, Third Team or honorable mention.   

Playing for the Butler BlueSox, the Toronto Mets grad, who played for coach Ryan McBride, finished the summer leading the league in four offensive categories and nearly captured the Triple Crown. He led with a team-record 11 home runs (more than twice as many as the runner up), 49 RBIs, 18 doubles and a .601 slugging mark.

He was fourth with a .363 average (81-for-223). In terms of average he sat back of three players who had less than 150 at-bats.  

The Prospect loop is a wood bat league -- a reason why he impressed so many -- with 12 teams in seven states with a 60-game schedule over 72 days.
 
Marcus was selected to the All-PSAC West First-Team this spring after leading the Vulcans with 15 homers, which tied the single-season school record, and 62 RBIs.

Besides Bailor, who played for the New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles and the Jays (from 1975-85), Bruce Dal Canton pitched 11 seasons for the Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox (1967-77) and he became one of the Braves pitching gurus in the minors. 

The other three Vulcans major leaguers were Rick Krivda who pitched with the Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians (1995-98), Bob Coulson of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Brooklyn Supbras, Pittsburgh Rebels and the Reds (1908-1914) and Birdie Cree of the New York Yankees (1908-1915).

Petty was a 23rd round choice of the Seattle Mariners in 2013, while Flanigan the 21st round pick of the Pirates in 1995.

And Marcus? We’ll see in 10 months.