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College  | Story  | 3/5/2023

College Reports: March 4

Photo: Andrew Walters (Miami Athletics)
College Reports: March 3
Players Featured: Andrew Walters (Miami), Karson Ligon (Miami), Hurston Waldrep (Florida), Jasper Nelson (Sac State), Alonzo Tredwell (UCLA), Khristian Curtis (Arizona State), Liam Sullivan (Georgia), Kolten Smith (Georgia)


Andrew Walters, RHP, Miami
Andrew Walters was a consensus First Team All-American both at the conclusion of 2022 and in the preseason of 2023, gaining notoriety as one of the top closers in the country. He allowed just 6 earned runs in over 32 innings last year, striking out two batters per inning on average and allowing very few walks. Walters was brought into the game during the 8th inning, looking for a two inning closeout to ensure that the Canes could tie the series up and send it to Sunday.



It’s a fairly standard delivery with a big rocker and a whippy arm action and there’s a lot of strength behind Walters’ 6-foot-4, 222-pound frame. Walters has a huge fastball, both metrically and traditionally, as the pitch was up to 98 mph, 99 on the stadium gun, and the underlying metrics on it allow it to play up even further than that. The fastball soars out of the hand, getting a ton of ride and carry as the pitch was spinning in the 26-2700 rpm range, topping out at 2756 on his 98 mph bolt by Ty Evans for his first strikeout. Walters does a nice job at repeating his arm action and delivery along with throwing a lot of strikes. It’s a refreshing throwback to relievers challenging hitters with the fastball and metrically Walters has one of the best so he’s not going to lose very often. He threw only a handful of sliders at 84-85 mph with nice shape and firm velocity but he really only needs the fastball to succeed at this level. Walters would have been one of the first college relievers off the board last year and nothing should dissuade that from happening again this year. He’s an elite college closer with the stuff to be a dominant MLB reliever down the line.


Karson Ligon, RHP, Miami
It wasn’t the best start in Karson Ligon’s career but he was still able to keep his team in the game and showed off a fairly polished three pitch repertoire. Ligon started fourteen games last season, solidifying himself in the starting rotation heading into 2023. He’s a stockily built 6-foot-2, 206-pounds with a good bit of physicality and strength throughout. There’s good rhythm to his delivery with a full arm swing and a pretty solid repertoire. Ligon was up to 95 mph early, living mostly in the 90-94 mph range with the fastball showing some good arm side life. The slider is firmer in the mid-80s with shorter break but enough to get off barrels. The changeup is his best pitch with parachuting action in the low-80s and was really a weapon to left-handed hitters. Ligon didn’t pitch poorly but unfortunately got touched up by a couple of mistakes to the nation’s hottest hitter Jac Caglianone. It’s a balanced arsenal with a good pitch mix and it seems like a fairly safe college starter profile. With a good year in 2023 and 2024 Ligon could find himself in a solid draft position.


Hurston Waldrep, RHP, Florida
Hurston Waldrep is one of the college arms with the most buzz surrounding his name as he’s been jockeying for position with Tennessee’s Chase Dollander, LSU’s Paul Skenes, and Wake Forest’s Rhett Lowder as to who the top college arm in the draft is. Waldrep certainly showed the swing-and-miss in this one, garnering whiffs on nearly 25% of his pitches and punching out 14 in 6+ innings pitched. Waldrep comes to Gainesville by way of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, serving as Southern Miss’ Sunday starter last year where he had an ERA of 3.20 with 140 strikeouts in 90 innings.

There’s a ton of good here for Waldrep, from the stuff to the athleticism to the upside and even his downright fiery competitiveness. He throws a splitter at 84-87 mph that might be the best pitch in college baseball, a true 70-grade Bugs Bunny pitch that just dies when it reaches the plate. He threw it often and got an absurd 20+ whiffs on the pitch alone, turning to the splitter whenever he got in jams and needed strikeouts. Miami left-handed hitters had no chance of touching the split today but even right-handers struggled with it, as the bottom just falls out and the pitch moves at the last second.

Waldrep is listed at 6-foot-2, 210-pounds and is very defined in terms of his physicality and athleticism. It’s a higher effort delivery with a big drive off the back leg and a high front side through an over the top arm slot. He repeats well and the delivery creates some deception as well. The fastball topped out at 97 mph in the first inning, settling mostly in the 92-95 mph range as the outing went on. Waldrep made it into the seventh inning today, the longest of his Gator career, but it's clear the stuff ticked down a bit as the outing wore on. The fastball was the primary source of Waldrep’s problems today as the majority of the hits came off the heater including both home runs he’s allowed. Waldrep’s curveball is of the hammer variety and comes in hard at 80-82 mph. The pitch shows shape, bite, and sharp break and he should absolutely consider throwing it more as it was fairly consistently above average.

As he got tired the command wavered some but he never lost the splitter. He’ll have to work to be able to keep the delivery in sync and throw strikes while the offspeed stuff is plenty good now. The splitter is going to carry him in tough spots and it’s shaping up to be a first round July for Waldrep, but some overall fastball and strike concerns might buoy him along the way.


Jasper Nelson, RHP, Sac State
Nelson is a low slot reliever with interesting arsenal and tossed 2.2 out of the 'pen allowing no runs. He works quick, attacking hitters with running heater that worked 92-94 mph early in the outing, settling 90-93. Mixed in secondaries a lot, with sweeping slider, showing spins into the 2800's at 78-79 mph. He turned over several change ups 80-82 mph with sink and fade. Came out looking like a late inning leverage reliever but was able to give the Hornets some quality length.


Kolten Smith, RHP, Georgia
Smith entered in relief of Sullivan and showed lots of present polish for a freshman. Fired a heavy dosage of  secondaries and looked very comfortable pitching backwards. Sat 91-93 with the heater and popped a 94 late in his second inning of work. He gets good downhill angle on the pitch and has some late zip on it. The curveball and changeup were the difference makers and both showed potential to be above average. He landed the upper-70s curveball at will with huge depth and some occasional late sweep. It’s really sharp and has healthy shape to it that changes eye-levels. His changeup was flat-out filthy and easily one of the better pitches seen all weekend. In the mid-80s, it’s firm with hard run and dive to it and he was comfortable throwing it in any count to either dexterity. Smith is a great athlete and has a clean and easy delivery with a very fast arm. The body shows that there’s more in there and being just a freshman, he looks poised to make some noise during his time in the SEC. -Brendan Kelley

Khristian Curtis, RHP, Arizona State
Khristian Curtis did not post the statline he was hoping for, but the righthander still showed the loud stuff and power arm potential that has made him a popup arm early this spring. Curtis sat 94-96 mph with the fastball. The offering can overwhelm hitters with quality carry through the zone. Quick arm speed allows the ball to jump out of the hand. A tilting slider showed swing and miss ability at 84-86 mph. Curtis also has advanced feel for a fading changeup with tough arm speed deception that gives it plus potential. A short breaking cutter and slower curveball were also shown. The pitch mix has high-end potential when it is located well, but Curtis has struggled to avoid walks and staying out of the middle of the zone over his last two starts. If the command can show signs of improvement, Curtis has a chance to skyrocket up draft boards. There are some questions surrounding the profile, but the stuff is loud and potential upside makes Curtis a name to watch this spring. -Tyler Henninger


Alonzo Tredwell  RHP, UCLA
 Pretty dominant outing for the big righty striking out 9 over 6 innings of work.  The one mistake left the yard for a 2 run HR, but felt like he was in control throughout his six innings of work, allowing just 4 hits and no walks.  Big, long frame, gets extended really well and downhill with FB that lived 91-94 entire outing, don't believe anything under 91 for the duration.  2 pretty distinct breaking balls, both with spins north of 2400 RPM.  Showed better feel for the 77-79 mph curveball with great depth, consistently landing it for strikes, often stealing strikes early in at bats.  Slider worked 80-83, not great feel for it early in the outing, his best coming later in the outing.  Worked well as chase pitch.  Was some blending at times between the two breakers, looked to get on the side of the curve at 80/81 showing more depth with lateral action than the normal CB.  Flashed a handful of change ups at 85.  Has the frame to eat innings. -Steve Fiorindo


Liam Sullivan, LHP, Georiga
Sullivan has been really good on the mound to start the year and was more of the same this afternoon. Worked around some traffic to start and settled in nicely going 5.1 innings, allowing just one run on three hits, walked two, and punched out eight. He sat in the 89-92 range and held that throughout the outing. It’s a really tough look from his enormous 6-foot-6 245 pound frame, releasing from a steep angle with heavy plane. Did a nice job mixing it up utilizing both his upper-70s slider and low-80s changeup. Sullivan can vary shapes on the breaker and is at its best when back-doored. He showed really strong feel for the changeup today using it to both righties and lefties generating plenty of whiffs. He pronates well on it and gets late arm-side life on the offering. Sullivan set the tone early for the Dawgs and let their red hot offense go to work. He really knows how to pitch and could be a name that generates more buzz in this July’s draft. The big lefty is going to continue to be counted on and will be a huge piece to this team’s success. -Brendan Kelley
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