Philip Humber

Humber, who won the 2003 College World Series clincher against Stanford with a complete game five-hitter, might be the safest pick among the three Rice aces. He was the first to join the Owls' weekend rotation, doing so a month into his freshman season, and has been the most consistent. An 11-game winner for the third straight year, Humber ranked among NCAA Division I leaders in victories, ERA (1.80), strikeout-walk ratio (141-33 in 105 innings) and strikeouts per nine innings (12.1) in mid-May. He does it with three plus pitches: a 90-94 mph fastball that scrapes 97, a true 12-6 curveball, and a splitter that he uses as a changeup. The run on his fastball is inconsistent and the pitch flattens out at times, but his curveball is a big-time strikeout pitch and his splitter keeps batters off balance. Strong and durable at 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, he has been injury-free and has the most resilient arm of the Rice first-rounders. There's a little recoil in his delivery but it's not a huge issue. It will be an upset if Humber doesn't go in the first six picks of the draft.