THE WORLD'S LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE SCOUTING ORGANIZATION
| 2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,804 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
2,384 MLB PLAYERS | 15,804 MLB DRAFT SELECTIONS
Create Account
Sign in Create Account
College  | Story | 3/18/2018

Kilkenny strong as Aggies win

Vincent Cervino
Photo: Texas A&M Athletics



Weekend Preview | Perfect Game College Player Database
Quick Takes: Louisiana | Mississippi State | Kentucky | Texas Tech
Friday Recap: Mize dominant to open SEC | Saturday Recap: Wolfpack claims series victory

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.


Mitchell Kilkenny, RHP, Texas A&M



Texas A&M Sunday starter Mitchell Kilkenny checks in at no. 204 on the Perfect Game Top 250 Draft Prospects list and he showed exactly why with a tremendous outing against Auburn to give the Aggies their first victory in conference play. Kilkenny allowed just four hits in 6.2 innings of one run baseball and held a potent Tigers offense at bay all afternoon long. 

The righthander is a tall and slender 6-foot-3, 205-pounds with long limbs and by all indications could put on some more strength and size to the overall build. The delivery itself is pretty low effort and he gets really good extension down the mound toward the hitter. Kilkenny moves very quickly through the windup and the combination of his size and slot help to create lots of downhill plane on the fastball. He gets on top of all his pitches very well and it makes it tough to square up when it looks as if Kilkenny is throwing down to the opposition. 

Kilkenny's fastball was up to 95 mph early before settling in the 90-93 mph range for the duration of the performance. The command was pretty solid for the junior righthander as there were a good amount of strikes and he created plane to both sides of the plate. There weren't a ton of swings and misses but his combination of plane and present fastball command help him to work predominantly with a ground ball approach. His low effort delivery indicates that there is more velocity in the tank, and it wouldn't shock to see him work up to the upper-90s in the future. 

The slider was the primary out-pitch for Kilkenny as it showed solid-average throughout in the 81-84 mph range, and projects as even better. The pitch could be thrown for strikes and got a decent number of ugly swings when down and out of the strike zone against righthanded hitters. The slider flattened out a bit as he worked toward the tail end of the start, but the pitch was sharp early on. He also showed a 11/5 curveball in the 72-75 mph range that he could work in the strike zone and a changeup in the 80-82 mph range that he spiked at times, but was effective at neutralizing lefthanded hitters. 

College pitchers always rise during the spring season as far as MLB draft status goes, and Kilkenny has been tremendous for the Aggies this season. The righthander has a good amount of polish and projection remaining on the mound and could be a pretty high upside pick while looking to be a very strong top 5 rounds selection in June.


Tanner Burns, RHP, Auburn



Freshman righthander Tanner Burns has been otherworldly in the starting rotation for Auburn to begin the season, and Burns got his first test of SEC play as he matched up with Texas A&M on the Sunday of conference play opening weekend. Burns got some serious draft buzz toward the end of his senior season, but landed at Auburn with a chance to contribute immediately. 

He had the worst start of the season, however because he had been so spectacular, it was not a bad start overall. Burns is an extremely physical righthander, with lots of strength and physicality well-proportioned throughout the frame. The delivery is fairly simple with some intent through release, but the delivery looks more crossfired with his landing leg than he did in high school, perhaps trying to add more deception to the stuff. The new wrinkle to his delivery didn't cause any control issues as Burns was still able to attack the strike zone. Burns also featured a lot of extra motion that he would vary in an effort to disrupt the opposition's timing. Whether it be from double pumps on the leg lift, or just turning and firing, Burns was able to still throw strikes when he changed up the delivery. 

The righthander worked 92-94 mph in the first couple of innings and bumped 95 mph early in the first. The fastball is relatively straight, though it will flash downhill plane when he works into the lower third of the strike zone. He pounded the fastball for strikes, however the command wasn't outstanding as he would leave the pitch in the middle of the plate at times for some hard hit contact. 

The slider has been the bread-and-butter weapon for Burns since high school and it certainly flashed plus at times as it was up to 85 mph with hard biting downward action. The consistency of the pitch is what holds it back overall as there were times he got around the pitch or hung it in the middle of the strike zone. However, when the pitch is on it is a legitimate swing and miss offering as one of the top breaking pitches around. He also flashed a couple of changeups in the 80-81 mph range with some arm side life as well. 

Burns has already shown that he is one of the top freshmen in the country, and appears dead set on being one of the top arms regardless of class. The stuff is real and legitimate, and the third pitch shows potential. With Burns he already shows strikes and stuff late in the game, still touched 94 mph in his final inning of work, while having a legitimate out pitch in the slider when he gets on top of it well. It will certainly be worth monitoring to see how Burns packs together his quality pitching tools. 


Calvin Coker, RHP, Auburn



Head Coach Butch Thompson's most trusted arm out of the bullpen this season has been Calvin Coker and the sidearmed righthander logged 5.2 innings over two games, including a save on Friday night of the opening SEC series. Coker tossed another four during the Sunday game and proved to be one of the more difficult at-bats. 

Coker features a longer arm path that concludes through a sidearm slot. That in conjuncture with an extreme crossfire element to the delivery allows the stuff to play up and to make at-bats against righthanded hitters particularly devastating. The fastball worked up to 90 mph with lots of sink and run, though it lived in the 86-89 mph range. Coker works exclusively out of the stretch, but the complex delivery and slot can cause some strike issues. 

He does rack up a lot of swings and misses though, particularly with his slider, that he uses arguable more than the fastball. Coker will occasionally raise his arm slot on the pitch, but it showed pretty sharp two-plane bite and snap. The pitch worked in the 78-80 mph range and he can throw the pitch for strikes. It is particularly devastating as he sells the slider well and tunnels it with his fastball. 

Coker also flashed a changeup in the 80-82 mph range that he used exclusively against lefthanded hitters, which showed that he can legitimately get lefties out too. Coker has good career numbers and will likely be a nice senior sign type of pick in this June's draft. In the meantime, however, Coker has a big role to play out of the Tigers bullpen as the late inning ace of an elite, CWS-contending team. 
 
Give us your feedback
College | Story | 2/10/2026

Conference Preview: America East
AJ Denny
Article Image
2026 College Preview Index | Preseason Top 25 | Preseason Collegiate All-Americans For all of Perfect Game's conference previews as part of the 2026 college baseball preview content, the 2025 records and all-conference teams are available for free. The conference top prospects and individual team breakdowns can be viewed with a subscription. 2025 Records Teams are listed in alphabetical order* Team W L W L Binghamton  13 11 28 26 Bryant  18 6 36 18 Maine  13 11 20 31 NJIT  14 10 27 26 UAlbany  10 14 22 32 UMass Lowell  8 16 18 35 UMBC  8 16 18 28 Preseason All-Conference Team Pos. Name School Stats/Notes C Levi McAllister UAlbany 2025 2nd Team America East All-Conference; hit .310 last season w/ 9 HRs and 25 XBH. Do-it-all guy for UAlbany, reliable behind dish w/ ability to hit for both AVG + power offensively 1B Sean O'Leary UMass...
Read More
High School | Rankings | 2/10/2026

Texas Region Top Teams

Tyler Russo
Article Image
Texas All Region & Top Tools Rk Texas Record 1 Grapevine 36-3 2 Memorial 28-6-1 3 Lake Travis 28-12-3 4 Kingwood 39-4 5 Aledo 31-8 6 Atascocita 33-12-2 7 Calallen 35-2 8 Pleasant Grove 36-6 9 Prestonwood Christian 25-5 10 The Bennett School N/A 11 Lovejoy 30-9 12 Allen 16-16-1 13 Prosper 33-10-1 14 Flower Mound Marcus 30-13 15 Tomball 34-7-1 16 Waco Midway 35-8 17 Dallas Jesuit 23-9-1 18 Flower Mound 21-12 19 Buda Johnson 26-13 20 The Woodlands 29-6-1 21 Katy Taylor 26-13-1 22 Rockwall Heath 15-9 23 Rockwall 29-10 24 Lutheran South 34-3-1 25 Keller 29-11
Read More
Softball | Softball Tournament | 2/9/2026

Perfect Game Softball Winter Warm Up 18U Division

Erica Beach
Article Image
Perfect Game Softball Winter Warm Up Burlington, IA Jan 30-Feb 1, 2026   BURLINGTON, IOWA- 23 teams across two age divisions converged onto Fun City Turf last weekend to compete to be the Winter Warm Up champions. In the 18U division, the Iowa Nationals 18U came out on top in a hard-fought game, defeating the Iowa Gold Prospects 2-1. On the weekend, several athletes stepped up big for their teams and below we highlight some of the top performers of the tournament.   18U Division   Julia Roth (2026, Dubuque, IA) of the Lady Expos Blue was one of the most effective hitters of the weekend. She finished her weekend batting .583, tallying seven hits, four of them being home runs. Her power was on display, and she came in clutch multiple times, driving in nine runs for her team. This right-handed hitter showed great composure in the box, working counts, and making defenses earn...
Read More
High School | General | 2/9/2026

Deep South Region Top Teams

Tyler Russo
Article Image
Deep South All Region & Top Tools Rk Deep South  Record 1 Magnolia Heights (MS) 39-5 2 Barbe (LA) 35-7 3 Catholic (LA) 37-5 4 The Baylor School (TN) 22-8 5 Nolensville (TN) 20-14 6 Hoover (AL) 22-20 7 Sam Houston (LA) 36-8 8 Christian Brothers (TN) 26-13 9 Hartselle (AL) 35-8 10 Lipscomb Academy (TN) 28-9-1 11 Lewisburg (MS) 21-10 12 Farragut (TN) 32-11 13 Tuerlings Catholic (LA) 36-5 14 Tuscaloosa County (AL) 33-13 15 Petal (MS) 18-10 16 West Monroe (LA) 26-9-1 17 Brandon (MS) 24-14 18 Auburn (AL) 21-18 19 Oak Ridge (TN) 36-9 20 Bob Jones (AL) 37-12 21 Thompson (AL) 30-15 22 University Lab (LA) 29-12 23 Knoxville Catholic (TN) 23-16-1 24 Sumrall (MS) 25-9 25 Benton (LA) 35-6
Read More
College | Story | 2/10/2026

Conference Preview: Horizon

Scott Rankin
Article Image
2026 College Preview Index | Preseason Top 25 | Preseason Collegiate All-Americans For all of Perfect Game's conference previews as part of the 2026 college baseball preview content, the 2025 records and all-conference teams are available for free. The conference top prospects and individual team breakdowns can be viewed with a subscription. 2025 Records Teams are listed in alphabetical order* Team W L W L Milwaukee 22 35 16 13 Northern Kentucky 31 25 18 12 Oakland 18 41 10 20 Wright State 40 21 25 5 Youngstown State 15 42 11 19 Preseason All-Conference Team Pos. Name School Stats/Notes C Jake Paulick Northern Kentucky Slashed .265/.404/.518 with 8 homers and 41 RBI in ‘25  1B Jp Peltier Wright State 1st team All-Horizon playing OF in ’25 and hit 20 homers with a 1.019 OPS 2B Hunter Warren Wright State 1st team All-Horizon in ’25...
Read More
High School | General | 2/9/2026

Deep South All Region & Top Tools

David Rawnsley
Article Image
DEEP SOUTH REGION (AL, LA, MS, TN) The Deep South Region is absolutely loaded with position talent and would certainly have a chance to outscore any of the other Regions in a straight offensive battle.  And this trend doesn’t look like it’s going to change soon looking at the 2027 and 2028 classes for the Region. All the starting lineup, for instance, is made up of Perfect Game All-Americans if you excuse the recently re-classified Will Brick.  That leaves a pair of Louisiana All-Americans, Miller Sheets and Braylon Montgomery, out of the starting lineup.  Also missing is another re-classified player, Alabama shortstop Rocco Maniscalco, who has been talked about as a potential Day One draft in 2026. A strange twist in the Region is that it is abnormally well supplied with catchers, more so than any other region in the country really.  Nowhere does that...
Read More
College | Story | 2/9/2026

Conference Preview: Ivy League

Jason Phillips
Article Image
2026 College Preview Index | Preseason Top 25 | Preseason Collegiate All-Americans For all of Perfect Game's conference previews as part of the 2026 college baseball preview content, the 2025 records and all-conference teams are available for free. The conference top prospects and individual team breakdowns can be viewed with a subscription. 2025 Records Teams are listed in alphabetical order* Team W L W L Brown 7 14 11 28 Columbia 16 5 30 19 Cornell 7 14 12 22 Dartmouth 8 13 11 25 Harvard 9 12 14 28 Penn 13 8 21 20 Princeton 8 13 12 31 Yale 16 5 31 14 Preseason All Conference Team Pos. Name School Stats/Notes C Owen Estabrook Columbia 9 HRs in 109 ABs, Buster Posey Award Midseason Watchlist 1B Giovanni Colasante Harvard .314-10-33, 7 2Bs/ 31.2 IP, 36 SO, 2025 1st Team Ivy League UTL/P INF Jack Kail Columbia .312-7-45, 14 2Bs, 2025 1st Team Ivy League INF Davis Baker...
Read More
High School | General | 2/8/2026

California Region Top Teams

Tyler Russo
Article Image
California All Region & Top Tools Rk California 2025 Record 1 St. John Bosco 30-4 2 Orange Lutheran 23-7 3 De La Salle 29-4 4 Corona 28-3 5 Huntington Beach 24-5 6 Harvard-Westlake 19-10 7 Mater Dei 19-15 8 Aquinas 25-3 9 Norco 22-9 10 Cathedral Catholic 19-12 11 Sierra Canyon 16-13 12 St. Mary's 26-9 13 Santa Margaraita Catholic 20-14 14 La Mirada 21-7 15 Notre Dame 15-14 16 Gahr 17-13 17 JSerra Catholic 17-10 18 Eastlake 21-11-1 19 Patrick Henry 23-11-2 20 Ganesha 23-3 21 St. Ignatius College Prep 17-10-2 22 Mira Costa 28-3 23 Cypress 18-11 24 Redondo Union 16-13 25 Oaks Christian 20-9
Read More
College | Story | 2/6/2026

Conference Preview: Ohio Valley

Kyler Peterson
Article Image
2026 College Preview Index | Preseason Top 25 | Preseason Collegiate All-Americans For all of Perfect Game's conference previews as part of the 2026 college baseball preview content, the 2025 records and all-conference teams are available for free. The conference top prospects and individual team breakdowns can be viewed with a subscription. 2025 Records Teams are listed in alphabetical order Team  W  L  W  L  Eastern Illinois  17  77  31  22  Lindenwood  14  12  30  30  Little Rock  8  16  27  34  Morehead State  4  23  14  39  SIUE  18  8  26  28  Southeast Missouri  16  11  30  25  Southern Indiana  15  12  27  29  Tennessee Tech  18  9  37 ...
Read More
College | Story | 2/9/2026

Conference Preview: Summit

Jay Vossler
Article Image
2026 College Preview Index | Preseason Top 25 | Preseason Collegiate All-Americans For all of Perfect Game's conference previews as part of the 2026 college baseball preview content, the 2025 records and all-conference teams are available for free. The conference top prospects and individual team breakdowns can be viewed with a subscription. 2025 Records Teams are listed in alphabetical order* Team W L W L Northern Colorado 18 33 9 21 North Dakota State 21 34 13 15 Omaha 20 30 12 16 Oral Roberts 37 22 21 9 South Dakota State 16 36 12 18 St. Thomas 29 21 21 9 Preseason All-Conference Team Pos. Name School Stats/Notes C Wailele Kane-Yates Oral Roberts .341/.425/.576 12 HR, 50 RBI. Big time power bat with pro looks. 1B Jackson Trout Omaha .328/.404/.451 5 HR, 37 RBI. One of better athletes in the League. Versatile defender. 2B Tanner Recchio St. Thomas .324/.418/.415 30...
Read More
Loading more articles...
About Perfect Game :: Contact us :: Terms of Use :: Privacy Policy :: Testimonials :: Job Opportunities
Copyright 1994-2026 by Perfect Game. All rights reserved. No portion of this information may be reprinted or reproduced without the written consent of Perfect Game.