THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,801 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,801 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Create Account
Sign in Create Account
College  | Story | 2/20/2018

Quick Take: North Carolina

Photo: UNC Athletic Communications



Opening day heat from McClanahan | Baum, Tar Heels even series
UNC wins in extras to take series
Perfect Game College Player Database

During the season Perfect Game scouts will be traveling to some of the top series to watch the very best players in college baseball. Those observations, captured with both written notes and video, will be shared in the College Player Database as linked above, notes that can also be accessed on the players' individual PG profile pages. Throughout the season select reports will be shared in feature format to promote the players, the teams and college baseball as a whole.


North Carolina Tar Heels

What Happened: The Tar Heels performed as expected, winning their opening series against a tough South Florida team on the road. The offense struggled in game one, albeit against a 1:1 draft candidate in Shane McClanahan, but woke up over games two and three, scoring a combined 21 runs. There were a couple of close plays that could have swung games one and three in either direction, as head coach Mike Fox and his staff are likely satisfied with a series victory on the road to open the season.

Carrying Tool: Sophomore stars for the Tar Heels are going to determine which direction this team takes in 2018. Three sophomores will man the rotation in Luca Dalatri, Tyler Baum and Austin Bergner with reliever Josh Hiatt coming into big situations out of the bullpen. Meanwhile, Michael Busch looks to be one of the more dangerous hitters in the ACC and Brandon Martorano will be an impact player for the Tar Heels. Ashton McGee also hit .340 as a freshman and will be a big bat despite not receiving a ton of playing time to open the year.

Concerns: The bullpen had a rough weekend as they allowed 11 of the 17 runs scored by the Bulls. Josh Hiatt was an absolute star out of the 'pen, however key arms from last year including Rodney Hutchison and Taylor Sugg struggled in the opening series of the season. The rotation is talented, but the back end of the bullpen is going to have to step up for the Heels.

Best Player on the Field: Michael Busch did nothing but punish baseballs all weekend for North Carolina as their three-hole hitter. Busch creates a lot of leverage and lift from the left side, as he launched a three-run home run on Friday night, and should be an impact bat for the Tar Heels all season long.

Fearless Forecast: The back end of the bullpen should stabilize with the help of Hiatt serving as the team's stopper, and it will have to if the team is hopeful for a deep postseason run. No one had more appearances out of the bullpen last year than Hiatt (31), and he has already been used twice. He recorded 13 saves a year ago and his changeup is one of the best pitches in college baseball, while Fox’s willingness to use him in the big situations with the game on the line makes him even more valuable. The other bullpen arms have too good of stuff to not bounce back. Hutchison worked up to 94 mph, Sugg showed a good breaking ball and look for true freshman Joey Lancellotti to become an impact piece thanks to his 94 mph fastball and hard-biting mid-80s slider. 


Database Player Reports (13):

Tyler Baum
Austin Bergner
Michael Busch
Luca Dalatri
Kyle Datres
Trevor Gay
Josh Hiatt
Clemente Inclan
Joe Lancellotti
Brandon Martorano
Brandon Riley
Cody Roberts
Taylor Sugg


Prospect Spotlight: Michael Busch, 1B



Manning the three-hole for North Carolina for their weekend series at South Florida was Michael Busch, a lefthanded hitter that is going to play a significant role in the offense all season for the Tar Heels. Busch has lots of lift and natural leverage to the swing path and displayed above average raw power during batting practice that plays very well in game action, as he launched a home run off a hanging slider on Friday night to the deepest part of the ballpark in straightaway center field. 

From a very wide set up, Busch has a ton of bat speed and torques through the ball well to create extremely hard hit line drives. This aids him in terms of his power but also makes him particularly dangerous to the pull side where most of his hits were delivered over the weekend. Busch has tremendous wrist strength too and has the ability to drive the ball with authority to the opposite field gap. The launch angle and the position his hands are in when he starts his swing are what makes his power potential particularly exciting. Busch should be in store for a lot of home runs and he had a great start to the season, collecting five hits in 13 at-bats (.385), including two for extra bases, with seven RBI and no strikeouts. 

Busch mans first base for the Tar Heels but played shortstop in high school and could likely man third base due to his athleticism. He didn't get challenged much over at first but did drop a ball that could've been scooped to save a run on Friday night. Overall, Busch's main value is likely to come from the lefthanded batter's box which he showed over the weekend will be one of the top weapons in the ACC following a scorching fall and a hot start to the season.



College | Story | 12/25/2025

2025 Year in Review: College

Craig Cozart
Article Image
The LSU Tigers Win It All Again For the second time in the last three years, the LSU Tigers, led by head coach Jay Johnson secured the national title. The national championship was the eight in LUS program history as they swept Coastal Carolina in the MCWS championship series. As a result, Johnson was virtually a unanimous choice for National Coach of the Year on media outlets and is the fastest coach to win multiple CWS championships at a single school. The tournament’s Most Outstanding Player was Tigers’ lefthanded ace and Perfect Game First-Team All-American, Kade Anderson highlighted by his complete-game shutout in Game 1 of the CWS Finals. The roster was a tremendous blend of offensive firepower, frontline pitching and elite defense, leaving opponents with very few avenues to victory. PG Second-Team All-American, Jared Jones was the heart of the lineup with his 20...
Tournaments | Story | 12/29/2025

PG Expands Presence in Pacific Rim

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
    667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923  www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA      FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    PERFECT GAME EXPANDS PRESENCE IN PACIFIC RIM, STRENGTHENING YOUTH BASEBALL DEVELOPMENT    Sanford, Florida (Monday, December 29, 2025) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, today announced a significant expansion of its presence across the Asia-Pacific Zone, with a strategic focus on the 10-15 year-old age group. The initiative will be led in partnership with longtime Japanese youth baseball executive and coach Takaharu Nasu, as Perfect Game continues to grow its global footprint and strengthen pathways for elite youth...
Showcase | Story | 12/27/2025

Main Event Invades Fort Myers

Perfect Game Staff
Article Image
    667 Progress Way | Sanford, FL 32771 | 319-298-2923  www.perfectgame.org | facebook.com/perfectgameusa | @PerfectGameUSA      FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    PERFECT GAME CLOSES OUT 2025 WITH MAIN EVENT SHOWCASE  AT JETBLUE PARK IN FT. MYERS, FLORIDA    Nearly 1,000 players expected at largest showcase of the year  that has produced over 1,000 MLB Draft picks    Ft. Myers, Florida (Saturday, December 27, 2025) - Perfect Game, the world’s largest youth baseball and softball platform and scouting service, will host its 2025 Main Event Showcase from December 28–31 at JetBlue Park, the spring training home of the Boston Red Sox, in the Fort Myers area.    The Main Event is the largest showcase Perfect Game holds annually,...
Draft | Rankings | 12/26/2025

2026 MLB Draft Board Update

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
The calendar is just days away from being flipped over to 2026, and while the players may be on break, it’s clear that they are just itching to get back on the field and compete once again, with another season of college baseball right around the corner. For prep players (especially in warm-weather states), the season’s right around the corner, and players will be back on the ball fields sooner than later. With that said, the PG Draft Team came together and got to work on a 2026 MLB Draft Board update. A little pre-season shake-up and expansion as we took our board from the Top 150 names to the Top 300 names, in preparation for the 2026 college and prep seasons to begin. The 2025 MLB Draft Lottery occurred earlier in December and shed some light on what the draft order will look like in 2026, with the Chicago White Sox taking home the first overall pick, followed by the Tampa...
High School | General | 12/24/2025

2025 Year In Review: High School

Cam McElwaney
Article Image
IMG Academy Takes Home the National Title Every year IMG Academy comes into the spring with top-to-bottom one of the top rosters in the country and every year have the expectation of winning the national championship. Well in 2025 they did just that after finishing the spring 24-1, winning the High School Showdown, and winning 15 straight games to end their season. Their high end offensive ability was on full display throughout the year and they will once again be one of the most talented teams in the country in ’26 as they look to go back-to-back. Two Top-10 Picks in the MLB Draft Headline National Players of the Year It was another loaded crop that took home the National Players of the Year as both Ethan Holliday, the National Player of the Year, and Seth Hernandez, National Pitcher of the Year, heard their names called within the first-10 picks in the MLB Draft. Another first...
Draft | Rankings | 12/24/2025

Top 2027 Collegiate Draft Prospects

Isaiah Burrows
Article Image
With the 2025 cycle officially behind us and the calendar nearly flipping over to 2026, it is time to start looking ahead to the future. More importantly, start looking ahead to the next season of college baseball and what that may mean for draft-eligible players with big dreams of continuing their journey. While the 2026 MLB Draft is now on the horizon, we are looking ahead to the future even further – to see which players have already made impacts upon their arrival to college campuses. We have already dropped our 2028 Top 75 collegiate prospects board, but this one is our Top 100 college prospects who will be eligible for the 2027 class. These are the Top 100 players in our eyes for this group, and many of them have already shown up on campus and been impactful in many ways. Whether its our top-ranked player in Oregon State’s Dax Whitney or ninth-ranked William Schmidt...
Draft | Rankings | 12/23/2025

Top 2028 Collegiate Draft Prospects

Vincent Cervino
Article Image
The college players in the 2028 draft class have yet to step on campus, but they're positioned to make an immediate impact. Several high end talents either turned down significant money last year or honored strong college commitments, resulting in their arrival on campus this fall. The class is currently led by a trio of high-upside arms in Jack Bauer, Angel Cervantes, and Cameron Appenzeller. They are followed by a deep group of bats that rounds out a strong, high end Top-10. Rk. Name Level Pos. B-T School Hometown State 1 Jack Bauer C LHP L-L Mississippi State Frankfort IL 2 Angel Cervantes C RHP R-R UCLA Lynwood CA 3 Cameron Appenzeller C LHP L-L Tennessee Springfield IL 4 Brayden Jaksa C C R-R Oregon Fremont  CA 5 JD Stein C SS R-R Wake Forest Carmel IN 6 Mason Ligenza C OF L-L Pittsburgh Brockton PA 7 Ty Peeples C OF L-R Georgia Lavonia GA 8 Lucas Franco C SS L-R TCU Katy TX 9...
Juco | Story | 12/23/2025

2025 Year in Review: JUCO

Blaine Peterson
Article Image
Looking Back at the 2025 Top 10  Matt Barr (‘25 Niagara, ‘26 Minnesota Twins) Bursting onto the scene last winter, footage of an indoor bullpen rocketed Barr onto the radar of many. Explosive fastball reaches near triple digits with incredible spin numbers across the secondaries. Huge numbers at Niagara earned him the title of the first Juco player drafted in 2025. JC Vanek (‘25 Chipola, ‘26 Kansas City Royals) Just a professional hitter. Vanek for two years at Chipola was an impossible out. While there are questions if the power will ever reach what it takes to play first base at the big league level, the bat and quality defensive skillset at first base may carry. Donovan Becerra (‘25 New Mexico, ‘26 Texas Tech) One of the more high octane arms anywhere in the country last year. Can reach back for upper 90’s and has shown serious swing and...
Draft | Story | 12/22/2025

2025 Year in Review: Draft

Isaiah Burrows
Article Image
2025 Year in Review: Draft We’ve reached the end of the 2025 calendar year, and while we’ve already jumped in on the 2026 cycle with some of the fall events and post-draft content we’ve had here at Perfect Game, there’s still one more piece on the docket, and that’s the 2025 Year-In-Review piece here from the PG Draft staff.  The 2025 MLB Draft took place in July, when many highly talented players heard their names called and continued their journey through the game to the next level. There’s already been some of those names making noise in the minors and guys who are moving up prospect lists and becoming names to know for MLB fans digging deep into the future of their organizations. While we are going to “close the book” on 2025 with this article, these players still have many years ahead of them, and many blank pages to continue...
College | Recruiting | 12/22/2025

Recruiting Notebook: December 22

Jheremy Brown
Article Image
Lucien Saint Cyr, INF, Class of 2026 Commitment: Bucknell Saint Cyr announced his pledge to Bucknell, giving the Bison an interesting blend of present tools and projection. Saint Cyr stands 6-foot-1 and offers room to fill in his medium frame, profiling in the middle infield defensively. The New York product starts wide at the base in the right-handed box, keeping his hands high behind the ear. He works into a subtle outward step load, firing through a compact barrel that showcases bat speed and gap-to-gap impact. For head coach Scott Heather and Bucknell, they land a high-quality Northeast infielder in the ’26 cycle, adding to a class that takes the quality over quantity approach. Patrick Diaz ('26, NY) 102 EV off the bat. Impact to the pull side. #PGNational @PGMidAtlantic @PG_Uncommitted pic.twitter.com/NN0L3FRdO9 — PG Showcases (@PGShowcases) July 9, 2025 Patrick Diaz,...
Loading more articles...