The beginning of the 2023 faculty baseball season is getting nearer. Friday, the Golden Spikes Award Advisory Board launched the 55 names on its preseason watch list for the upcoming season.
The SEC has 17 gamers on the checklist, probably the most of any convention, with LSU and Tennessee every having 4 represented. The ACC was subsequent with 10 gamers.
Our analysts weighed in on who they suppose will take dwelling the award on the finish of the season, and so they supply potential sleeper picks as nicely.
Leap to: Favorites | Sleepers | Complete list
Who’s your preseason decide?
Chris Burke: Dylan Crews, OF, LSU. The reigning SEC co-player of the 12 months returns to Baton Rouge with numbers that actually stand out. However what is de facto scary is the truth that he can have Tommy White, a.okay.a. Tommy Tanks, hitting behind him within the lineup. Crews is arguably faculty baseball’s most proficient participant, and now he has the sport’s most feared slugger on-deck behind him, making for a really troublesome resolution for opposing pitching coaches on learn how to assault the proficient middle fielder. Crews has the uncommon mixture of an extremely excessive prospect ceiling and constant elite manufacturing. Robust to see him doing something however having a monster 12 months that would result in being the primary decide within the MLB draft.
Ryan McGee: Dylan Crews, OF, LSU. I used to be at LSU final week and chatted with Crews. 5 instruments, pure chief and the nicest man. He has that very same presence as a Tanner Allen or a Tim Elko. It is about far more than numbers. He is the man who has taken the lead in ensuring that all the new big-name transfers and five-star freshmen are meshing with the blokes who had been already within the dugout, and based mostly on what I noticed final week his efforts are working. If baseball does not work out, he ought to grow to be an Avenger.
Kyle Peterson: Enrique Bradfield Jr., OF, Vanderbilt: There are loads of proper solutions to this query, however “EBJ” has a ability set mixture that’s so uncommon. In his first two years he was 93-99 in SBs (46-46 final 12 months alone) and is simply 52 stolen bases away from the all-time SEC document. He’s an elite defender in CF and a real chief. And…the ability is getting higher. Only one dwelling run his freshman 12 months however that quantity jumped to eight final 12 months. He will steal baggage and he will get on base, but when he turns right into a double-digit HR man this 12 months too then he solely will get scarier.
Mike Rooney: Enrique Bradfield Jr., OF, Vanderbilt. EBJ is the quickest participant in faculty baseball. And perhaps the quickest in a very long time. His protection is already big-league caliber, and that makes him a sport changer in middle discipline. Getting again to his run device, Bradfield is 93-for-99 as a collegiate base stealer. And it isn’t like he advantages from the aspect of shock. Right here is the sneaky nice half, EBJ hit eight dwelling runs in his sophomore season, slugging .415. If he steals 60 baggage, hits 15 dingers and scores 80 runs, that appears like a nationwide participant of the 12 months to me.
Who’s your sleeper decide?
Burke: Vance Honeycutt, CF, North Carolina. Coming off a season the place Honeycutt earned freshman All-America honors and virtually led his crew to Omaha, the rangy middle fielder presents one of the enticing ability units within the faculty sport at present. Posting an OPS over 1.000 and delivering 25 HRs and 29 SBs as a freshman is likely one of the loudest first-year campaigns we have now seen shortly. He can change the sport defensively with world-class vary, he can utterly disrupt groups on the bottom paths, and with 25 homers, he has proven he has elite energy. The sky is the restrict for this younger man, and though he’s up in opposition to a really proficient class of junior prospects, it would not shock me if on the finish of the season Honeycutt is on the prime of the heap.
McGee: Jake Gelof, 3B, Virginia. Virginia at the moment sits within the second tier of the preseason High 25s and a loaded ACC, however I really feel just like the Hoos are going to climb these rankings by midseason. And final 12 months, who was everybody’s midseason POY? This man. He is an RBI machine, setting the UVA season document final 12 months with 81, and he has a aptitude for the dramatic. Final March I noticed him bang one off the outfield Durham Bull signal in opposition to Duke. If Virginia makes a run into the highest 10, Zack’s little bro will make a run onto everybody’s Golden Spikes checklist.
Peterson: Chase Dollander, RHP, Tennessee. OK, he could possibly be the primary participant taken within the draft so sleeper is perhaps not the suitable phrase right here. However nobody else was taking a pitcher, so I wanted to care for my guys right here. He’s a Huge Leaguer, proper now. The reigning SEC pitcher of the 12 months has a 99 MPH fastball with carry, two strong breaking balls and a changeup that’s underrated. And he combines elite stuff with elite command, his Ok:BB ratio final 12 months was over 8:1.
Rooney: Jacob Wilson, INF, Grand Canyon. Can a WAC participant win the Golden Spikes Award? If sure, then I’ve bought your man. Wilson, who’s the son of longtime massive leaguer Jack Wilson, is a singular prospect who ought to surpass Tim Salmon as the perfect participant in GCU historical past. Wilson is an elite defender with unimaginable palms and one of many truest throwing strokes you have ever seen. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound right-handed hitter posted a 1.003 OPS in 2022, including 65 RBIs. This is the separator: He struck out simply seven occasions in 275 plate appearances. Pedigree, premium protection, slug and make contact with … mark me down for sure.
Full checklist
Jeremy Adorno, RHP, Southern Arkansas (D-II)
Maui Ahuna, SS, Tennessee
Drew Beam, RHP, Tennessee
Enrique Bradfield Jr., OF, Vanderbilt
Chase Burns, RHP, Tennessee
Michael Load, C, Davidson
Max Clark, INF, Franklin Excessive Faculty
Carlos Contreras, OF, Sam Houston
Dylan Crews, OF, LSU
Wyatt Crowell, LHP, Florida State
Chase Davis, OF, Arizona
Chase Dollander, RHP, Tennessee
Hunter Elliott, LHP, Ole Miss
Kendal Ewell, OF, Kentucky
Jake Gelof, INF/OF, Virginia
Evan Giordano, 3B, Stony Brook
Jacob Gonzalez, INF, Ole Miss
Joseph Gonzalez, RHP, Auburn
LuJames Groover III, INF, NC State
Tanner Corridor, RHP, Southern Miss
Carter Holton, LHP, Vanderbilt
Vance Honeycutt, OF, North Carolina
Jack Hurley, OF, Virginia Tech
Mitch Jebb, INF, Michigan State
Walker Jenkins, OF, South Brunswick Excessive Faculty
Kennedy Jones, INF/OF, UNC Greensboro
Caden Kendle, OF, UC Irvine
Sam Kulasingam, INF, Air Power
Nick Kurtz, INF/OF, Wake Forest
Wyatt Langford, OF, Florida
Ryan Lasko, OF, Rutgers
Rhett Lowder, RHP, Wake Forest
Quinn Mathews, LHP, Stanford
Nolan McLean, OF/INF, Oklahoma State
John Michael Faile II, C, North Greenville (D-II)
Braden Montgomery, OF, Stanford
Yohandy Morales, INF, Miami
Tre’ Morgan, 1B/OF, LSU
Jack Payton, C, Louisville
Carson Roccaforte, INF/OF, Louisiana
Will Sanders, RHP, South Carolina
Jason Savacool, RHP, Maryland
Nolan Schanuel, INF/OF, FAU
Cody Schrier, INF, UCLA
Matt Shaw, INF, Maryland
Paul Skenes, UTIL/RHP, LSU
Bobby Sparling, OF, Saint Leo (D-II)
Brayden Taylor, INF, TCU
Kyle Teel, C/INF, Virginia
Tommy Troy, INF/OF, Stanford
Hurston Waldrep, RHP, Florida
Juaron Watts-Brown, RHP, Oklahoma State
Levi Wells, RHP, Texas State
Tommy White, 3B, LSU
Jacob Wilson, INF, Grand Canyon
