Top Draft prospects to watch in NCAA Super Regionals

June 8th, 2023

There are 16 college baseball teams that survived last weekend and are headed into NCAA Super Regionals this weekend as they continue their road to Omaha, Nebraska, with College World Series berths on the line.

That crop of players includes 37 from MLB Pipeline's Top 200 Draft Prospects list -- including six of the top 10 and eight of the top 20.

On the latest episode of the MLB Pipeline Podcast, Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis discussed the 10 highest-ranked Draft prospects that are set to appear in the Super Regionals, beginning Friday:

Dylan Crews, OF, LSU (No. 1)
Mayo: A little bit of a dip, swing and miss was up, but the crazy thing is he's gotten on base every single game including during that stretch where he struggled. He's continued to walk at an incredibly high rate -- over 20 percent. The power is real. There's a reason why he's still No. 1 on most Draft rankings and most Draft boards.

Callis: Those home runs at Regionals were like Elly De La Cruz line drive blasts that got out of the stadium in a second. They were just crushed.

Paul Skenes, RHP, LSU (No. 2)
Mayo: I remember when we were putting together the new list, we were being a little bold with where we put Skenes. I remember having the conversation with you, Jim, and we were basing it with what people had seen in the fall. He transferred, he was a two-way guy, so there was a little bit of, let's be bold and we can always back off of him if things don't go well. And that one's turned out OK.

Callis: Wes Johnson is one of the best pitching coaches in the country and I think he really souped-up Skenes' slider. And people were very excited about how it looked.

Wyatt Langford, OF, Florida (No. 3)
Mayo: It's not that we're not talking about Wyatt Langford, he's still very much in that Top 5. He's not going to make it past that pick No. 4, and all he's done is hit. His OPS is over 1.300, he's got 18 homers, more walks than strikeouts. So he gets another chance to show what he can do on a national stage. But I think the power is very legitimate, he's a good athlete and he's done nothing to make himself slide much behind the LSU duo.

Chase Dollander, RHP, Tennessee (No. 6)
Callis: He kind of continued what he's done all year, which has been really inconsistent. He struck out 13 against South Carolina his final start of the regular season. Maybe that was going to be the start of a run. But wasn't the case. I saw a stat somewhere over the weekend, he has an ERA over 10 in the first inning and under two after that. I still think you can see the stuff. I don't know why the consistency hasn't been there, I still think he has the potential to be one of those guys. I still think for me he'd be the No. 2 pitcher I'd take on the college side of this Draft.

Rhett Lowder, RHP, Wake Forest (No. 8)
Mayo: He's the antithesis of Dollander because he's so consistent, but the stuff is OK. It's not bad. He was solid in his Regional start. He's just been what you look for in college arms to separate themselves a little bit, but you can't ask for much more than he's done this year. That's not an easy place to pitch at home, and he's managed to do it week in and week out.

Kyle Teel, C, Virginia (No. 10)
Mayo: An interesting prospect out of high school -- athletic, behind the plate -- good approach, but not as much impact -- and then this year it's all really come together. He had a really good Regional, had a four-hit game. He doesn't strike out a lot, he is by far and away the only college catcher being mentioned in the first round. The best catcher in the class overall. There's a lot to like, he definitely can stay behind the plate, but he's athletic enough that he can go play someplace else but there isn't really any need to with really good skills on both sides of the ball.

Callis: It's an absolute lock he'll be the first college catcher taken.

Tommy Troy, SS, Stanford (No. 19)
Mayo: Coming off a really strong Cape season where he hit over .300, slugged over .530 with wood in his hands, he's kept it going. He's an athletic guy, but it's the bat and his overall athleticism that are going to interest people somewhere in the middle of the first round.

Hurston Waldrep, RHP, Florida (No. 20)
Mayo: I feel like he's one of those guys who people have been waiting to see him put it all together, because the stuff is really really good. When we were expanding our mocks, he was one of these 'hard to figure out what to do with him'. The numbers have been very inconsistent from a command, walk-rate standpoint, but no one wants to drop him too far. He is a guy who I think another start or two this postseason, he can start sneaking his way back up. But, I think teams are going to be kicking the tires because the stuff is so good.

Brock Wilken, 3B, Wake Forest (No. 24)
Callis: I'm pretty sure he's set the school record and school career record in home runs this year. He's a guy who's got a ton of power, a strong arm, some questions on the swing-and-miss but he's tightened that up some this year. Some questions on him playing third base, but he's probably adequate there with the strong arm helping his cause. I think he can go late first round.

Brayden Taylor, 3B, Texas Christian (No. 30)
Callis: We've yo-yo'd him around a little bit with where we ranked him. He was kind of a hit over power guy coming into the year, the reputation of a 'he does a little bit of everything, not anything that was a definite-plus'. Scouts said we'd like to see him hit for a little more power, and so he did hit for more power and his average was down for a while. But he's really heated up down the stretch, I believe he was Big 12 Conference Tournament MVP, and I know we're going to do a 250 list at the end of the month and he might jump up about 10 spots. He's got the up arrow next to his name right now.

Remaining Top 200 Draft prospects in Super Regionals:

Tanner Witt, RHP, Texas (No. 41)
Jake Gelof, 3B, Virginia (No. 42)
Maui Ahuna, SS, Tennessee (No. 47)
Brandon Sproat, RHP, Florida (No. 79)
Teddy McGraw, RHP, Wake Forest (No. 81)
Grayson Hitt, LHP, Alabama (No. 84)
Ty Floyd, RHP, LSU (No. 87)
Tanner Hall, RHP, Southern Miss (No. 92)
Grant Taylor, RHP, LSU (No. 98)
Alex Mooney, SS, Duke (No. 108)
Seth Keener, RHP, Wake Forest (No. 110)
Josh Rivera, SS, Florida (No. 111)
Jared Dickey, OF/C, Tennessee (No. 112)
Jack Mahoney, RHP, South Carolina (No. 115)
Quinn Mathews, LHP, Stanford (No. 119)
Sean Sullivan, LHP, Wake Forest (No. 120)
Will Sanders, RHP, South Carolina (No. 133)
Tre’ Morgan, 1B, LSU (No. 136)
Sabin Ceballos, 3B, Oregon (No. 153)
Ethan O’Donnell, OF, Virginia (No. 154)
Camden Minacci, RHP, Wake Forest (No. 159)
Jonah Cox, OF, Oral Roberts (No. 160)
Dylan Campbell, OF, Texas (No. 168)
Andrew Lindsey, RHP, Tennessee (No. 169)
Lebarron Johnson, RHP, Texas (No. 170)
Hunter Furtado, LHP, Alabama (No. 177)
Cam Brown, RHP, Texas Christian (No. 183)