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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. 
 
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