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2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,805 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
College  | Story | 3/17/2018

Wolfpack claims series victory

Photo: Elaine Day, Clemson Athletics Communications



Weekend PreviewPerfect Game College Player Database
Quick Takes: Louisiana
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Friday Recap: Mize dominant to open SEC


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.


Brian Brown, LHP, NC State



Brown returning for his senior year was somewhat expected, as he’s not a particularly hard thrower and his pro upside is limited, but he carves up college hitters and has enjoyed a great deal of success at NC State. That continued with a win over Clemson, NC State’s second win in as many games to claim a crucial early season ACC series on the road.

Although he topped out at 87 in the game he struck out the first two batters he faced, leadoff hitter Logan Davidson and Patrick Cromwell, on 86 and 87 mph fastballs. Davidson swung through the 86 mph heat while Cromwell went down looking, and he finished the trick by striking out the side by getting fellow senior Chris Williams swinging on a big, slow 72 mph curveball.

Brown comes at opposing hitters with a lower, slinging delivery, and is able to drop in his slow, loopy curveball for strikes almost at will. The pitch dipped below 70 mph at one point with a 69 showing up on the radar, and his fastball was in the 84-85 mph range by his last two frames. He did a good job maintaining the 86 mph reading, and he spotted it to both sides of the plate well. He did walk four batters in the game, but that had more to do with him not giving in and offering up something the opposing hitters could drive over the heart of the plate.

He also threw quite a few changeups, which were right around 77 mph for the first several innings, and it proved to be yet another pitch he was comfortable throwing in any count to any batter, and he still went back to his fastball just to make sure hitters knew he still had it. On the day he struck out eight and allowed a run on five hits and the four walks in six innings, moving to 4-0 on the year with the win.


Reid Johnston, RHP, NC State

Johnston picked up his fourth save of the year, a three-inning save as he came in the seventh inning to secure NC State’s victory over Clemson, a win that also claimed the series with a chance for a sweep. Johnston is a freshman righthander with a sturdy and low-waisted 6-foot-2, 195-pound frame that is fairly physical mature.

He did a very good job throwing strikes, and maintained his upper-80s velocity well during his three-inning stint. He did allow four base hits but didn’t issue a walk, and struck out three batters. While his stuff isn’t overpowering, and for the most part he is usually in or around the zone, he did a nice job working between his 85-89 mph fastball and his breaking ball that sat at 75-77 mph.

Johnston was especially good at spotting his fastball to his spots, and caught the corners well, showing an easy, repeating delivery, and upset hitters’ timing enough to get them to swing over the top of his curveball. It’s easy to envision him starting, possibly even later this year, as he continues to get more experience pitching extended innings in high-leverage situations out of NC State’s bullpen.


Brooks Crawford, RHP, Clemson



Starting opposite NC State’s Brian Brown, the physicality of Clemson’s Brooks Crawford stood out immediately. He looks every part of his listed 6-foot-5, 220-pound frame, with strength well proportioned throughout his tall and angular, high-waisted and broad-shouldered build. His lower half in particular has good strength and he uses that strength well to generate inertia towards home plate from the bottom up.

He came up firing 92-93 mph fastballs, eventually settling in more of the 89-91 range, and got some weak swings early in the game mixing between his fastball and his power breaking ball that sat in the 80-82 mph range and touched as high as 84. He racked up a couple of punchouts with his curveball in the second inning, two of the three strikeouts he recorded in his brief outing.

On the day he lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing three earned runs to score on four base hits and a walk. NC State scored those three runs as single tallies in the third, fourth and fifth innings, with the one in the fifth coming after he had been removed from the game.


Spencer Strider, RHP, Clemson



Coming in relief of starter Brooks Crawford in the bottom of the fourth inning of Clemson’s second game against NC State, Spencer Strider did a good job minimizing the damage, allowing just one to score as he inherited runners on second and third with only one out and the top of the order coming up (and the one run that did score occurred when the third baseman took too long to make a throw across the diamond on a routine ground ball). A smaller built righthander, listed at 5-foot-11, 205-pounds, he makes up for his lack of height with a big fastball thanks to his raw arm strength.

The first pitch out of his hand was actually a 82 mph slider, and he followed that up with another slider at 83 before firing his first fastball, which was recorded at 95 mph. He stayed in the 94-95 mph range to get out of the fifth inning, going right after hitters and for the most part pounding the strike zone.

Upon returning to the mound in the sixth inning Strider was greeted rudely as the first batter he faced, Evan Edwards, deposited a fastball over the wall in left-center field for a booming home run on a full count. For as hard as Strider was throwing his fastball is fairly straight, and he was catching quite a bit of the plate. After the home run Strider appeared to get out of sync as he tried to stay away from hitters with pitches well out of the strike zone, and appeared to be overthrowing as well. His fastball velocity dipped to 91 mph, possibly as a result of wanting to be too fine with his pitches.

There’s no doubting the arm strength, and he already has been thrown into quite a few high pressure situations out of the Clemson bullpen this year as a freshman, a role he likely will continue to serve during his time with the Tigers.


 

College | Story | 3/31/2026

PG Collegiate Midseason Awards

Vincent Cervino
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Midseason Awards  Perfect Game Midseason Player of the Year:  Landon Hairston, OF, Arizona State  The season sophomore outfielder Landon Hairston is putting together is generational, even amongst the Hall of Fame talent Arizona State has fielded over the years.  Hairston, the 5-11/195 sophomore outfielder from Queen City, AZ has his club on track for another postseason appearance and they will make plenty of noise in the Big 12 regular season.  To put things in perspective on Hairston’s season, he is currently 5th in the nation in batting average, 3rd in hits, 8th in hits per game, tied for 2nd in home runs, tied for 5th in runs scored and is 4th in runs batted in so far.  He holds a batting average of .469 while slugging 1.027 and reaching base over half the time with an OBP of .551.  Hairston walks more than he strikes out and has 12 doubles, 17...
High School | Rankings | 3/31/2026

High School Top 50: March 31

Tyler Russo
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Another pair of weeks has gone by this high school season and with that we have another High School Top-50 Update. Southern states are within a few weeks of the end of the season while some northern states are just getting started this week. Through the end of the spring, we will be bringing you updates to the Top-50 along with state rankings updates coming soon. For the first time in 2026, we have a new #1 in the country as Orange Lutheran (CA) takes over the top spot after winning the NHSI. Venice (FL) came in second place at the NHSI after a thrilling game against Orange Lutheran and comes in at #2. Previous #1 team in the country St. John Bosco (CA) rounds out the top-3 and will have a big showdown against Orange Lutheran starting tonight. Barbe (LA) boasts a 26-1 record and comes in at #4 while Corona (CA) continues to string together wins and holds down the #5 spot in this update....
Tournaments | Story | 3/31/2026

14u East Spring Opener Scout Notes

Perfect Game Staff
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Roman Keister (2030, Dade City, FL) Could not miss the barrel this weekend tallying 6 hits including 2 triples and 4 RBI. Starts the load early and controls his body well, the up the middle approach really plays in game. Also worked from off the mound for an inning and picked up a punch out.  Colton Russo (2030, Coral Springs, FL) Showed off the power burning outfielders all weekend. 5 hits including two triples that carried over the CF and RF heads. Has a good understanding about using the lower half in the swing and the bat to ball skills really impressed.  Karson Blakney (2030, St. Augustine, FL) Made his impact in a big way this week, collecting the win in the quarterfinals. In his outing he went 5 shutout innings and struck out 5 while only allowing 2 hits. Worked in the mid 70s with the FB and topped out at 78. Also produced on offense driving in 5 RBI on 4 hits. ...
College | Story | 3/31/2026

College Players of the Week: March 31

Vincent Cervino
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March 31st Perfect Game/Co-Players of the Week:  Landon Hairston, OF, Arizona State  The Arizona State Sun Devils (20-8) went (3-2) last week and now sit at No. 18 in our latest Top 25 poll.  They are proving that they are legitimate Big 12 contenders and Landon Hairston is making a strong case for National Player of the Year at the halfway point in the season.  The 5-11/195 sophomore outfielder from Queen City, AZ is putting up such loud numbers that they are almost hard to fathom.  In five games last week, the lefthanded hitter collected 12-hits in 19 Abs, scoring 13 runs on 6 walks, a double, 5 home runs and he drove in 11 runs on his own.  For the season, he has put together a slash line of .468/.991/.553 with 12 doubles, 15 round trippers, 45 RBIs, a 12:18 strikeout-to-walk ratio and he has swiped 8 bags so far.  It has been a special year for the...
College | Rankings | 3/30/2026

College Top 25: March 30

Vincent Cervino
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Well college baseball fans, we are officially at the half-way point of the 2026 season and what an incredible ride it has already been.  While there is some separation at the top as we start to look at programs that could be potential NCAA tournament hosts, things continue to change as clubs revitalize their seasons by winning massive series in league play.  The Top 25 seems to be getting more volatile as we reach the midway point, and the second half is setting up to be something special.  The one thing that will remain the same as it has for a month now, is that the UCLA (25-2) will still be the No. 1 team in the nation.  The Bruins are winners of 19-consecutive games and have started off Big Ten league play by sweeping 4-straight series.  The Texas Longhorns (23-4) hold tight at No. 2 this week after sweeping previous No. 11 Oklahoma (19-8) and sit atop the...
High School | General | 3/27/2026

High School Notebook: March 27

Vincent Cervino
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Hudson December (2027, Woodland Hills, Calif.) showed flashes of his upside despite a somewhat uneven three-inning outing. The 6-foot-2, 170-pound right-hander struck out three while working through a couple of tough jams, though his command was inconsistent at times. He ran his fastball up to 87 mph on a pair of occasions and generally sat in the 83–85 range. He mixed in an upper-70s slider with varying shape and execution where it was most effective when thrown with proper intent, showing shorter, tighter depth. He also flashed a changeup against a few left-handed hitters. Mechanically, there’s a blend of positives and areas for development. He incorporates his lower half fairly well and moves down the mound with some pace and intent. The arm is quick, though it can be late getting up at times, and his taller finish limits full torso extension through release. With...
Draft | Mock Draft | 3/27/2026

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The spring season is well underway and the board is starting to take shape. Last week, the draft team put together the Top-300 and this week we take a stab at our first mid-season mock draft. While there still is plenty of time for things to shake out differently, here is how we see things shaping up at this point in the draft cycle.  Pick Team Selection Position School 1 Chicago White Sox Roch Cholowsky SS UCLA 2 Tampa Bay Rays Justin Lebron SS Alabama 3 Minnesota Twins Grady Emerson SS Fort Worth Christian 4 San Francisco Giants Jackson Flora RHP UC Santa Barbara 5 Pittsburgh Pirates Vahn Lackey C Georgia Tech 6 Kansas City Royals Drew Burress OF Georgia Tech 7 Baltimore Orioles Ace Reese 3B Mississippi State 8 Athletics Jacob Lombard SS Gulliver Schools 9 Atlanta Braves Eric Booth Jr. OF Oak Grove 10 Colorado Rockies AJ Gracia OF Virginia 11 Washington Nationals Gio Rojas LHP...
Juco | Rankings | 3/25/2026

JUCO Top 25: March 25

Blaine Peterson
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Another strong week of Juco baseball for teams in our Top 25, and as you may see, our field is the same from a week prior with each and every team handling business in their weekend sets to hold fast to their spots on the board. Some notable movement though inside the Top 5 with Gaston jumping up to number 2 after a 33-2 start to the 2026 season as well Cloud County cracking the Top 15 for the first time all year. Looking forward to watching conference play around the country as we approach the final stretch of the regular season. Rk. School Record 1 Johnson County (KS) 30-2 2 Gaston (NC) 33-2 3 Florida Southwestern (FL) 26-7 4 Walters State (TN) 26-6 5 Chipola (FL) 29-5 6 Florence-Darlington (SC) 29-6 7 Blinn (TX) 22-8 8 McLennan (TX) 20-7 9 Cochise (AZ) 28-6 10 Pearl River (MS) 25-7 11 Georgia Highlands (GA) 30-8 12 Southern Nevada (NV) 24-6 13 Northwest Florida (FL) 21-12 14 Cloud...
College | Rankings | 3/25/2026

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Every preseason, analysts and voters pour enormous effort into ranking the small college baseball landscape — poring over returning rosters, transfer additions, coaching changes, and historical trends to assemble the most accurate picture they can of who will be contending when the postseason arrives. And most years, they get it largely right. But the nature of college baseball, with its massive rosters, unpredictable development arcs, and ever-churning transfer portal, guarantees that a handful of genuinely elite programs will slip through the cracks every spring. A team loses too many seniors. A key transfer hasn’t yet suited up. A new coaching staff hasn’t had the chance to prove itself. The voters see the question marks and leave the blank space, and then the season begins and the blank space starts filling itself in — loudly. As the 2026 season heads into its...
College | Story | 3/24/2026

College Players of the Week: March 24

Vincent Cervino
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March 24th Perfect Game/Player of the Week: Quinton Coats, IF, Cincinnati The Cincinnati Bearcats (19-7) are on the cusp of the Top 25 and are playing their best ball of the season. The offense has been the driving force behind their success, and it has been incredibly consistent having averaged 8.5-runs per game. In the middle of it all, Quinton Coats, is on pace for a historic season both within the program and on a national level. The 6-3/225 infielder from Olathe, KS has been launching home runs at a record pace and opponents seem to be powerless to stop his onslaught. With incredible strength in his hands, Coats creates easy loft and in 5 road games last week he collected 9 hits in 20 at-bats, with 4 home runs, 9 runs scored, and he drove in a total of 9 runs as well. As for his pursuit of history, the modern day BBCOR bat standard single season home run record is 34, set back in...
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