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 | 4/4/2018

Midseason College Honors

Photo: Illinois Athletics




Perfect Game Top 25 | Player/Pitcher of the Week | College Player Database

With seven weekends behind us and seven more to be played during the 2018 regular season we are officially at the halfway point. Conference tournaments and postseason play extends that season, important to point out considering conference play just began across the country. Because of that it's time to hand out some hardware, recognizing two full Midseason All-America teams as well as a Midseason Player, Pitcher, Freshman, Coach and Team of the Year.

Not surprisingly some of the nation's very best teams also boast some of the nation's very best players/performers. Six teams had multiple players listed on the two 17-team Midseason All-American teams, including No. 1 Florida (Jonathan India and Michael Byrne), No. 2 Stanford (Kris Bubic, Jack Little), No. 4 Oregon State (Adley Rutschman, Trevor Larnach) and No. 5 NC State (Brett Kinneman, Brian Brown). Stetson (Logan Gilbert, Brooks Wilson) and UNLV (Kyle Isbel, Bryson Stott) also have two players represented.

Of the 34 total players recognized, 23 play for teams that are either currently ranked in the Top 25 or were at some point this season.

A week or two ago it looked as though the Midseason Player of the Year was going to be Cal's Andrew Vaughn. However, another first baseman, Illinois' Bren Spillane, caught fire within the past month and surpassed Vaughn in almost every statistical category while leading Illinois to a 17-7 record. Although Illinois isn't ranked they have been considered for the Top 25 for several weeks after going a perfect 3-0 at the Dairy Queen Classic in early March with wins over three formidable Pac-12 opponents: UCLA, Arizona and Washington.

Spillane is among the nation's leaders in pretty much every significant offensive category. He leads the nation in total bases (100) and slugging percentage (1.149) and is tied for first in home runs, with Vaughn, at 14. He is second in the nation in both batting average (.494) and on-base percentage (.579), and his 38 RBI are tied for fifth-best. His name also appears among the leaders in hits, runs and doubles, making him the biggest threat at the plate so far during the 2018 season. Spillane has accounted for nearly half of the team's home runs and over a quarter of Illinois' total bases for a squad hitting .281 as a unit.

In addition to Vaughn, Florida's Jonathan India also received serious consideration.

The Midseason Pitcher of the Year is Casey Mize, who has not only been the most impressive pitcher from a performance perspective during the first half of the 2018 college baseball season, but he is also in the running for the No. 1 overall pick of the 2018 MLB Draft in early June. Similar to Spillane, Mize's numbers are thoroughly impressive, and his overall success is highlighted by the no-hitter he tossed in mid-March. That performance was one error from being a perfect game, as Mize himself did not allow any baserunners to reach, and it also marked the first of three straight performances with double-digit strikeouts.

Mize has recently out-dueled Texas A&M's Stephen Kolek and Mizzou's T.J. Sikkema and is currently 6-0 with a 2.11 ERA. In 47 innings he has allowed just 25 base hits with a remarkable 70-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Auburn is currently ranked 13th in the nation coming off of a series loss against Missouri, and Mize was the only player seriously considered for Midseason Pitcher of the Year honors.

Freshman of the Year honors go to Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad, who leads a powerful Arkansas offense that currently ranks seventh in the nation in both batting and runs scored. Kjerstad is first on the Razorbacks in the triple slash categories (.396/.492/.679) as well as in hits (42), doubles (9), RBI (30) and total bases (72) while being tied for the team lead in homers, with three others, with seven.

Other players considered for Midseason Freshman of the Year honors include Kjerstad's teammate Casey Martin, LSU righthander Ma'Khail Hilliard and Auburn's Steven Williams, among a small handful of others.

You can always take a few different directions when recognizing the top coach. While there were no shortage of candidates, when having the discussions for the Midseason Coach of the Year one name came to the surface immediately: Stanford's David Esquer.

That isn't to say Stanford's success wasn't predicted, or expected, as the Cardinal opened the year ranked 10th and have steadily climbed ever since. They're currently ranked second, behind only the top-ranked Florida Gators, coming off of a series win over Oregon. Their early season slate, and the subsequent results, have been particularly impressive, with arguably the most challenging non-conference schedule with series wins against Cal State Fullerton, Rice, Michigan and Texas. With a pair of recent mid-week wins over Gonzaga and Santa Clara, Stanford is currently 22-3 as they prepare for another big weekend opponent in No. 21 UCLA in Los Angeles.

Not surprisingly the pitching staff is getting the job done, currently ranked second in the nation with a cumulative 2.21 ERA. The team's four starting pitchers – Tristan Beck, Kris Bubic, Erik Miller and Brendan Beck – are a combined 13-2, and their top two bullpen arms – Jack Little and Jacob Palisch – have 11 saves between them and have allowed only one run in over 40 combined innings of relief.

But what makes Stanford's success especially impressive is that they're winning as a unit, doing so in the first year without long-time head coach Mark Marquess. Esquer was no stranger to Stanford, having both played and coached for them previously, and he also is no stranger to winning, coming to Stanford with 525 career wins as Cal's head coach.

The Midseason Team of the Year is always an easy choice, awarded to the club that currently sits at No. 1 in the nation. That team is the Florida Gators, who opened the year as the top-ranked team and have yet to be knocked off that spot as they defend their National Championship. Head coach Kevin O'Sullivan is one of the best in the business, and the recruiting efforts he and his staff have made have formed an incredible amount of talent in Gainesville, not just this year, but over the past 10-15 years, and that wealth of talent should continue to flow given how highly ranked future recruiting classes are early in the process.

While the Gators have their signature collection of hard-throwing pitchers, highlighted by their ballyhooed, hard-throwing weekend rotation and one of the best closers in the nation, the offense looks significantly different this season from what it did a year ago. Third baseman Jonathan India is enjoying a huge season at the plate and is in the mix for the Golden Spikes Award as the nation's best college baseball player. Senior catcher J.J. Schwarz has re-found his power stroke while Will Dalton, Nelson Maldonado and Deacon Liput have been steady contributors on offense. Centerfielder Nick Horvath seemingly makes at least one highlight reel catch in every game, as the team's defense as a collective unit is also one of the nation's best.

Florida will continue to play in the always-challenging SEC with a huge target on their backs, and while it seems unlikely that they can play the entire season without suffering a weekend series loss, their objective this season is pretty simple: to repeat as National Champions.


Midseason Perfect Game/Rawlings College Baseball Awards:

Player of the Year: Bren Spillane, 1b, Illinois
Pitcher of the Year: Casey Mize, rhp, Auburn
Freshman of the Year: Heston Kjerstad, of, Arkansas
Coach of the Year: David Esquer, Stanford
Team of the Year: Florida Gators


Midseason Perfect Game/Rawlings College Baseball All-American Teams
Statistics for games played through Monday, April 2

First Team

Pos. Player School AVG OBP SLG R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
C Adley Rutschman Oregon State .400 .491 .622 21 36 10 2 2 28 1
1B Bren Spillane Illinois .494 .579 1.149 32 43 13 1 14 38 12
2B Kody Clemens Texas .359 .477 .680 26 37 8 2 7 25 3
3B Jonathan India Florida .433 .542 .911 32 39 6 2 11 26 5
SS Tyler Frank Florida Atlantic .330 .458 .651 30 35 8 1 8 15 1
OF Kyle Isbel UNLV .390 .453 .707 33 48 9 3 8 34 4
OF Gage Canning Arizona State .447 .504 .737 26 51 11 8 2 20 4
OF Brett Kinneman NC State .336 .418 .750 25 39 6 3 12 36 3
DH Andrew Vaughn California .467 .598 1.011 34 43 8 0 14 39 2
UT Tristin English Georgia Tech .342 .379 .556 23 40 8 1 5 39 1


Pos. Player School ERA W-L CG SV IP H SO BB BAA
SP Casey Mize Auburn 2.11 6-0 1 0 47 25 70 3 .152
SP Nick Sandlin Southern Miss 1.31 4-0 0 0 48 27 73 6 .161
SP Mitchell Kilkenny Texas A&M 1.59 6-0 0 0 45.1 32 40 11 .199
SP Chris Holba East Carolina 1.35 6-0 0 0 40 32 42 10 .221
SP Kris Bubic Stanford 0.96 5-0 0 0 37.2 19 42 10 .150
RP Jack Little Stanford 0.00 0-0 0 9 20.1 8 24 4 .123
RP Michael Byrne Florida 0.38 1-0 0 7 24 15 22 2 .176
UT Tristin English Georgia Tech 3.43 1-0 0 1 21 23 20 2 .280


Second Team

Pos. Player School AVG OBP SLG R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB
C Ryan Jeffers UNC Wilimington .364 .476 .747 27 36 14 0 8 29 1
1B Rylan Thomas UCF .432 .507 .712 36 48 7 0 8 36 2
2B Gabe Holt Texas Tech .398 .514 .566 28 45 6 2 3 19 15
3B Luke Heyer Kentucky .376 .453 .792 29 38 9 0 11 34 6
SS Bryson Stott UNLV .395 .486 .629 34 49 16 2 3 19 7
OF Kevin Strohschein Tennessee Tech .415 .462 .729 27 49 11 1 8 35 0
OF Trevor Larnach Oregon State .347 .458 .694 21 34 10 0 8 36 0
OF Devlin Granberg Dallas Baptist .423 .537 .753 24 41 9 1 7 38 9
DH Kameron Misner Missouri .371 .522 .629 34 39 9 3 4 25 12
UT Aaron Schunk Georgia .303 .384 .404 27 33 7 2 0 17 2


Pos. Player School ERA W-L CG SV IP H SO BB BAA
SP Logan Gilbert Stetson 2.25 6-0 0 0 48 28 69 13 .169
SP Shane McClanahan South Florida 1.55 3-3 0 0 40.2 23 73 19 .160
SP Jake Irvin Oklahoma 2.27 5-0 0 0 43.2 26 50 13 .165
SP Brian Brown NC State 0.41 4-0 0 0 43.2 28 41 13 .187
SP Kyle Brnovich Elon 1.53 4-0 0 0 47 25 75 19 .156
RP Brooks Wilson Stetson 0.34 1-0 0 12 26.1 14 34 6 .156
RP Parker Caracci Ole Miss 0.89 2-0 0 6 20.1 18 38 3 .237
UT Aaron Schunk Georgia 0.71 1-0 0 3 12.2 8 16 1 .178




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,...
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...
High School | General | 12/19/2025

Huntington Beach HS World Series Recap

Steve Fiorindo
Article Image
MVPitcher: Duncan McLeod The uncommitted junior toed the slab in three of the four games for Team Mick, tossing 3 2/3 innings.  Zero walks, zero hits and 6 punchouts for the lefty who was used both as a starter in the series clinching game 4 and he closed out game 3 on Friday in quick fashion.  McLeod was very efficient as well, needing just 42 pitches over all his outings.  In the game 4 start, over two innings he punched out 3, with one strikeout with all of his offerings.  The mid 80’s fastball regularly played up, set up with efficient use of the secondaries, with the breaking ball 73/74 and fading change-up 72-74.   Owen Bone (2026) at it again... Solo shot in the 5th to tie things up. Back to back days with a home run for Bone. #PGHS pic.twitter.com/2JC9qETI5h — Perfect Game California (@California_PG) December 13, 2025 MV Hitter: ...
Tournaments | Story | 12/19/2025

13u Tourney All-American Team

Jheremy Brown
Article Image
What a year it was in 2025 on the national landscape at the 13u level as Perfect Game continues to expand its reach around the country, providing an even bigger schedule of events coast-to-coast which has allowed players all over show out and gain their deserved recognition. Whether in Texas for the Houston 1000 or the 13u WWBA in West Palm Beach, we saw huge, eye opening performances from the players placed below, knowing that we could EASILY build a third team and likely a fourth without much effort.  As we do every year with this exercise, it's worth pointing out the trickiness of this age group and putting the teams together with the 13u group. While the players are all members of the Class of 2030, some are younger for the grade, which allowed them to play at the 12u level where's it's a smaller field, shorter mound distance and different bats, so we'll separate them out and...
Tournaments | Story | 12/18/2025

14u Tourney All-American Team

Tyler Russo
Article Image
Player of the Year: Asher Williams It was an incredible year for Williams that was rewarded with a trip to the 14U Select Fest, before some more impressive play in the fall. He came to the plate almost 250 times in PG tournaments throughout 2025 and reached base in well over half of them, hitting to a .500 AVG while slugging a 14U circuit best 12 bombs and driving in 113 runs. The numbers on the surface are ridiculous, but when you look at the high-level events he put them up in, it makes it even more impressive. Pitcher of the Year: Tristan Blalock Blalock earns this honor after a dominant 2025 where he struck out 85 batters in just 48.2 innings of work with a minuscule 1.58 ERA. This included several strong performances at many national level tournaments and showcases where he was able to bully some of the best hitters in the country. It’s hard not to fall in love with...
Draft | Story | 12/18/2025

PG Draft: Gut Feel Guys

Tyler Henninger
Article Image
While we are nearing the turn of the calendar to the 2026 year, that means we are just inching closer to the beginning of the season for many high school players and college baseball is on the horizon. We are prepping for a reshuffle of the 2026 MLB Draft Board as well here amongst the PG Draft staff. But before we get to that, we sat down and have each picked a couple of players who are in the mix to get selected in a couple of different buckets.  We have prospects who could go into the Top 30 picks or so, prospects who could be selected in the Top 5 rounds, and prospects who could go inside of the Top 10 rounds. With the draft quite far down the road and a lot of re-shuffling to be done as these players play themselves into certain spots on the draft board, our scouts picked some players who fit into these “buckets” who are gut-feel guys. These are the guys that our PG...
Tournaments | Story | 12/17/2025

15u Tourney All-American Team

Jason Phillips
Article Image
Hitter of the Year: Landon Bonner The 2028 class saw many players from across the country take the next step in their development as they entered the High School ranks. There were huge performances from highly ranked players on the PG circuit as well as some under-the-radar guys who burst onto the scene. Landon Bonner came into Sophomore National as a Top 500 ranked player and after an impressive showing, left with all eyes on him as a rankings riser in the class. The left-handed hitting shortstop from The Colony, Texas, had a summer to remember with All-Tournament Team selections in three of his next four events culminating with a historic performance at the 2025 PG 15U WWBA National Championship. The Hebron High School prep went 20-for-24 in nine games for 5 Star Mafia 15U Black with four homeruns and 12 runs batted in. He also scored 17 runs and finished with a mind-boggling 2.500...
Tournaments | Story | 12/16/2025

16u Tourney All-American Team

AJ Denny
Article Image
Hitter of the Year: Koa Romero is the Hitter of the Year for the 16u group, as he would come to every premier event of the summer and earn All-Tournament honors (Beast of the East, 16/17u WWBA, Jupiter) in every single one. Over 82 plate appearances, Romero would pump ten homeruns with forty two RBI and sixteen walks, good for a .378 average and 1.339 OPS. The performance on volume at the best events of the year pushed Romero over the edge here, as he’d hit a pair of homeruns in Jupiter (one of them at 112 EV) as an underclassmen and collect double digit hits in BOTH WWBA events with a combined six jacks over the two tournaments. It was a summer that combined performance and winning on the biggest stages for Romero. It’s a quiet left-handed swing that packs a punch. He would reap the benefits of his performances, earning a commitment to LSU and jumping to the #74 prospect in...
Loading more articles...