Is Opening Day really just six days away? Is the college season already a month old? Am I itching to dive back into Draft coverage? The answer to all of those questions is yes.
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Now let me answer some of yours ...
This is a fun question and the first two schools were pretty obvious: Tennessee and Louisiana State, who not coincidentally are the top two teams in the country as well as the last two College World Series champions. The Volunteers and Tigers alone form a formidable squad of 2025 Draft Prospects, with catching and the outfield the only areas of relative weakness.
I considered targeting those two positions and choosing either North Carolina (catcher Luke Stevenson, outfielder Kane Kepley) and Indiana (outfielders Devin Taylor and Korbyn Dickerson) as my third college. Ultimately, I decided to go with the school with the most position talent because I didn't need more pitching and settled on Oregon State. Here's my combined team, and I'm already making reservations for Omaha:
Luis Hernandez, C, Louisiana State
Andrew Fischer, 1B, Tennessee
Gavin Kilen, 2B, Tennessee
Drew Curley, SS, Tennessee
Aiva Arquette, 3B, Oregon State
Trent Caraway, OF, Oregon State
Daniel Dickinson, OF, Louisiana State
Gavin Turley, OF, Oregon State
Jared Jones, DH, Louisiana State
Kade Anderson, LHSP, Louisiana State
Liam Doyle, LHSP, Tennessee
Anthony Eyanson, RHSP, Louisiana State
Nelson Keljo, LHSP, Oregon State
Marcus Phillips, RHSP, Tennessee
A.J. Russell, RHSP, Tennessee
Chase Shores, RHSP, Louisiana State
Tanner Franklin, RHRP, Tennessee
Jacob Mayers, RHRP, Louisiana State
Nate Snead, RHRP, Tennessee
I had to move Arquette from shortstop to third base, Caraway from the hot corner to the outfield and Dickinson from second base to the outfield to make everyone fit. That would be the best lineup in college baseball, with two lock first-rounders in Arquette and Curley and several other potential top two-rounders in Caraway, Dickinson, Fischer, Kilen and Turley.
There are enough starters for more than two weekend rotations, beginning with Anderson, Doyle, Russell and Shores all showing first-round upside. Russell has pitched just one inning while working his way back from internal brace surgery but has a unicorn fastball and a plus slider.
I forwarded this question to my colleague per blahbla's request, and without obsessing over it as long as I did, Jonathan Mayo answered with the same three schools. Now that the Top 30 Prospects lists, Spring Breakout and Spring Training are behind us, Jonathan and I are about to dive back into Draft coverage and should have a fully updated and expanded Draft Top 150 for you in late April.
The 14th overall pick in the 2024 Draft by the Cubs, Cam Smith raked at a .313/.396/.609 clip with seven homers in 32 games while reaching Double-A in his pro debut. After joining the Astros as part of the Kyle Tucker trade in December, he has been the club's best hitter in Grapefruit League action.
Though Smith played almost exclusively at third base at Florida State and in his first taste of pro ball, Houston has been giving him time in right field as it looks for a way to get his bat in its lineup. If he does make the Opening Day roster, he'll have the third-lowest pro game experience of any position player to do so since the Draft began in 1965.
After Pete Incaviglia set still-standing NCAA Division I records for single-season and career home runs (48, 100) and slugging percentage (1.140, .915) at Oklahoma State in 1985, he refused to join the Expos after they drafted him with the No. 8 overall pick. He signed with Montreal that November, contingent on an immediate trade to the Rangers, who gave up Jim Anderson and Bob Sebra. In his first swing at batting practice in Spring Training, Incaviglia slammed a scorching line drive that put a hole in an outfield fence, and he broke camp with Texas despite having no previous pro experience.
John Olerud became the first NCAA Division I player to record 20 homers and 15 victories in the same season in 1988 at Washington State, then slumped the following spring after having surgery to remove an aneurysm at the base of his brain. Though he told teams he planned on returning to college, the Blue Jays took him in the third round and signed him in late August for a record $575,000 bonus as part of an $800,000 big league contract. They immediately promoted him to the Majors, where he went 3-for-8 in six games before sticking with Toronto the following April.
Wyatt Langford (44 games), Nolan Schanuel (51 games, including 29 in the Majors) and Andrew Vaughn (55 games) round out for the five for fewest pro games before cracking an Opening Day roster.
Schultz and Smith are the two best left-handed pitching prospects in the baseball, and Schultz may own the best slider in the Minors. They're both potential frontline starters for the White Sox -- as is the less-famous Grant Taylor, who comes with much more risk.
Taylor was working his way into the first round of the 2023 Draft before his elbow gave out in February, leading to Tommy John surgery that sidelined him for Louisiana State¡¯s national title run. Drafted in the second round that July, he pitched just 19 1/3 innings in his pro debut last year before straining his lat in June, though he did return in the Arizona Fall League.
Taylor has looked great in the Cactus League this spring, pushing his fastball to 101 mph and also overpowering hitters with an upper-80s slider and low-90s cutter. His ceiling is lofty but he still has to answer questions about his ability to develop an offspeed pitch, provide consistent strikes and stay healthy. Chicago will give him every chance to develop as a starter, but he could wind up as high-leverage reliever in the long run.
Alan Roden batted .387 at Creighton and led NCAA Division I in BB/K ratio (3.6) while ranking second in strikeout rate (3 percent) in 2022, when the Blue Jays drafted him in the third round. Though he had elite bat-to-ball skills, scouts graded the rest of his tools as fringy and his lack of big power didn't really fit the profile at first base, his primary position.
Toronto has moved Roden to left field and made some changes to his left-handed swing to tap into more of his strength. He slashed .293/.391/.475 with 16 homers and 14 steals in 125 games between Double-A and Triple-A last season, and he's on course to make his big league debut at some point in 2025. He's 25 and sticks out more with his floor than his ceiling, but he has more athleticism and arm strength than he originally got credit for and could fit nicely near the top of the Jays lineup.