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College  | Story | 3/28/2019

Weekend Preview: Week 7

Patrick Ebert
Mike Rooney
Photo: Asa Lacy (Texas A&M Athletics)

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

Another week and Mississippi State hosts another ranked opponent with LSU in Starkville for a three-game set kicking off tonight (Thursday) in front of a large, nationally-televised audience. Zack Hess and Ethan Small will provide the starting theatrics, Hess coming off of a 1-0 shutout of Georgia while Small has been especially stingy allowing baserunners, something his 1.75 ERA attests to.

No. 8 Arkansas hosts No. 21 Ole Miss in another SEC West showdown, the second of only two matchups this weekend between Top 25-ranked opponents. The Rebels present Arkansas with their first true test of the season, while Ole Miss will have their work cut out for them looking to avoid their second straight SEC road series loss after Mizzou got the best of them a week ago. Friday's starting pairing of Arkansas' Isaiah Campbell and Ole Miss' Will Ethridge is every bit as good as Hess vs. Small.

In the Pac-12, UCLA plays their crosstown rivals, USC, while both No. 3 Stanford and No. 4 Oregon State will be in the state of Washington taking on Washington State and Washington, respectively. No. 17 Arizona State will be at home looking to continue their red-hot start to the 2019 season by hosting their in-state rival Arizona Wildcats.

The full Top 25 in Action can be viewed just below as we also profile the SEC's talented sophomore class of pitchers projected early on to be first round picks in the 2020 MLB Draft.
 
Stay tuned to Perfect Game this weekend as Brian Sakowski will be on hand for the home-and-away Michigan State/Michigan series in East Lansing and Ann Arbor while both Vinnie Cervino and Steve Fiorindo will be on the beat in Southern California.


Top 25 in Action
Rk. Team Opponent Location
1 UCLA at Southern California Los Angeles, CA
2 Mississippi State home vs. No. 16 LSU Starkville, MS
3 Stanford at Washington State Pullman, WA
4 Oregon State at Washington Seattle, WA
5 Vanderbilt home vs. Tennessee Nashville, TN
6 NC State home vs. Virginia Raleigh, NC
7 Georgia at Kentucky Lexington, KY
8 Arkansas home vs. No. 21 Ole Miss Fayetteville, AR
9 North Carolina home vs. Duke Chapel Hill, NC
10 Auburn at South Carolina Columbia, SC
11 Texas A&M home vs. Missouri College Station, TX
12 Louisville home vs. Wake Forest Louisville, KY
13 East Carolina at South Florida Tampa, FL
14 Texas home vs. Xavier Austin, TX
15 Texas Tech at Kansas State Manhattan, KS
16 Louisiana State at No. 2 Mississippi State Starkville, MS
17 Arizona State home vs. Arizona Phoenix, AZ
18 Coastal Carolina home vs. Arkansas State Conway, SC
19 Texas Christian home vs. Oklahoma State Fort Worth, TX
20 Florida home vs. Alabama Gainesville, FL
21 Mississippi at No. 8 Arkansas Fayetteville, AR
22 Florida State home vs. Boston College Tallahassee, FL
23 UC Irvine at Hawai'i Honolulu, HI
24 Connecticut at UCF Orlando, FL
25 Oklahoma at West Virginia Morgantown, WV


Sensational SEC Sophomores

Much was made a season ago when several pitchers from SEC schools routinely grabbed the weekly headlines, high-octane arms that not only enjoyed a great deal of success in college but also had lofty prospective value when it came to the MLB Draft. Former Auburn ace Casey Mize, the eventual No. 1 overall pick, dazzled us all every time he took the mound as his performances matched his potential, traits that aren’t always so evenly paired.

Mize is now one of the top pro prospects in all of baseball. He was joined on the first day of the 2018 draft by fellow SEC hurlers Brady Singer (Florida), Ryan Rolison (Ole Miss), Jackson Kowar (Florida), Sean Hjelle (Kentucky) and Mitchell Kilkenny (Texas A&M). In addition, Mississippi State’s Konnor Pilkington was selected early in the third round to kick off the second day of the draft.

The year before SEC pitchers Kyle Wright, Clarke Schmidt, Alex Faedo, Alex Lange were all first-round picks. In 2016 AJ Puk, Dane Dunning, Dakota Hudson and Jordan Sheffield were all taken in the first round, as were Carson Fulmer and Walker Buehler in 2015.

I think you get the point, the SEC churns out high-quality arms on a near annual basis. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case for this year’s draft.

At this point in time it would seem as though there’s only one pitcher from an SEC school, Kentucky’s Zack Thompson, that is a lock to be taken in the first round. Texas A&M’s John Doxakis could join Thompson, as could Ole Miss’ Will Ethridge if both of their early season successes continues, but we’re not looking at the same number of high impact draft-eligible performers from the conference.

That will change in 2020.

Currently there are five sophomores serving as weekend starters that are projected to be taken on the first day (the top two rounds) of the 2020 MLB Draft. At this point in time four of the five could go as high as the top 10 overall selections, with Georgia’s Emerson Hancock frequently mentioned on the short list of favorites that could go first overall like Mize did in 2018.

Here’s a breakdown of those five pitchers:

Emerson Hancock
Looking ahead to next week, Hancock is in the early running for PG’s Midseason Pitcher of the Year honors thanks to a dominant season thus far. Similar to Casey Mize a year ago, it’s not often you see a young hurler match their potential with equally dominant performances, at least not so consistently. Whether you’re Randy Johnson, Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer, the journey isn’t as always as smooth as the finished product.

That could have very well been said about Hancock a year ago during his freshman season, but not at all to this point this year. While he was out-dueled by Zack Hess in a 1-0 win for LSU in his most recent start, overall he is 5-1 with a 0.69 ERA. The peripheral numbers support his dominance, allowing just 18 hits and 10 walks over 39 innings with 41 strikeouts.

View Hancock’s recent report with video of his performance against LSU by Greg Gerard here (requires a PG subscription): PG College Player Database, Emerson Hancock.

Tanner Burns, Auburn
Burns was a Freshman All-American a season ago, and down the stretch it was Burns, and not former teammate Casey Mize, that was the most dominant leading up to the postseason. He has carried that success over to this year and is currently 3-0 with a 1.41 ERA over six starts with a Mize-esque 52-to-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 38 1/3 innings of work.

Burns’ stuff is similar to that of Mize’s and he was already named Pitcher of the Week earlier this season with a 15-strikeout complete game shutout over Cincinnati during the third week of the year. The accolades keep piling up for Burns as he was a PG All-American during the summer of 2016 and was named Perfect Game’s Two-Way Player of the Year after his dominant senior year of high school that saw him go 10-1 on the mound while hitting .467 with 16 home runs. With a mid-90s fastball that touches higher, Burns’ future is on the mound.

We’ve yet to see Burns in person this year (we should in mid-April), but you can view his report from the SEC Tournament late last may here: PG College Player Database, Tanner Burns.

Asa Lacy, Texas A&M
The Aggies’ 1-2 punch of lefthanders John Doxakis and Asa Lacy has been nearly unbeatable to this point of the 2019 season, and it’s been Lacy, the team’s Saturday starter, that has been the more dominant of the two. Currently 5-0 with a 1.80 ERA, Lacy’s secondary numbers (35 innings, 18 hits and 15 walks allowed with 56 strikeouts) are just as impressive as Hancock’s and Burns’.

Lacy’s physical profile matches his statistical one, with a strong and still-projectable 6-foot-4, 215-pound frame. He throws comfortably in the low- to mid-90s while throwing a full four-pitch mix that includes a curveball, slider and a changeup. He throws all four pitches for strikes, frequently turning to his curveball for swings and misses.

Brian Sakowski saw Lacy in early March at the Shriners College Classic, read his full report here: PG College Player Database, Asa Lacy.

Tommy Mace, Florida
The transition from one trio of promising hurlers to the next hasn’t gone as smoothly so far this year for Florida as it has in recent seasons for a program that has had no shortage of high-powered arms under the leadership of Kevin O’Sullivan and his staff. But that isn’t to say that Tommy Mace and the Gators have been bad, it’s just that the bar has been set so incredibly high.

Similar to other Florida pitchers, including his 2018 teammates Brady Singer and Jackson Kowar, Mace saw some time as a midweek starter for Florida during his freshman season a year ago, but most of his action came out of the bullpen. He went 5-0 in that swing role with a 4.16 ERA and has stepped up his game this year serving as the Florida ace, currently 4-2 with a 3.99 ERA. He hasn’t allowed a particularly high number of hits (32) or given up a lot of walks (12) in his 38 1/3 innings, striking out 34 during that time. And like the other pitchers mentioned here he certainly is not lacking in stuff either with a low- to mid-90s fastball and a sharp low-80s breaking ball.

We’ll be able to catch up with Mace later this season, but here’s his report from a year ago when Florida played Kentucky in late April: PG College Player Database, Tommy Mace.

Jack Leftwich, Florida
Not surprisingly Florida has not one but two promising young sophomore righthanders in their weekend rotation with Leftwich serving as the Gators’ Saturday starter. The results haven’t been quite a impressive as Mace’s, or the other SEC sophomore hurlers mentioned, but his promise is equally high.

Like Mace, Leftwich was eased into action and actually received more starts, and overall time on the mound, during his freshman year. Also like Mace he’s currently 4-2, although he’s proven to be more hittable (41 hits in 31 innings of work) despite his impressive 30-to-5 strikeout to walk ratio.

We last saw Leftwich, who was no stranger to PG events while in high school, in late February of 2018 and you can view that report here: PG College Player Database, Jack Leftwich.

Sophomore lefthanders Hugh Fisher (Vanderbilt) and Garrett Crochet (Tennessee) are both enjoying big seasons out of their team’s bullpens and it will be interesting if either or both gets starting time before their collegiate careers are over. JT Ginn (Mississippi State) and Cole Wilcox (Georgia) may not be sophomores this season but they will be draft-eligible as sophomores a year from now with clear first round potential, adding onto the already promising 2020 draft class.

The best part about all of this is that we all get the opportunity to watch them develop at the college level for at least another calendar year.

– Patrick Ebert



Opening Day

In honor of Opening Day let’s highlight one notable college player from each MLB team. There’s something truly special about the first day of Major League Baseball. Every player has a story, and for some of them that story included a college baseball experience that shaped them.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
David Fletcher (Loyola Marymount) was named WCC Defensive Player of the Year as a true freshman in 2014 and the shortstop was selected in the sixth round as a draft-eligible sophomore in 2015. He is the older brother of Dominic Fletcher (Arkansas).

Houston Astros
Justin Verlander (Old Dominion) went an identical 7-6 in all three of his college seasons and never averaged less than 10 strikeouts per nine innings. His 427 career strikeouts remain a CAA record.

Oakland A’s
Khris Davis (Cal State Fullerton) played part-time for two years before breaking out as a junior in 2009. That season saw him amass 25 doubles, 16 home runs and 17 stolen bases.

Toronto Blue Jays
Marcus Stroman (Duke) became the first player in school history to be selected in the first round (2012). The righthander also stole 25 bases in his college career.

Atlanta Braves
Sean Newcomb (Hartford) is one of three former Hawks who have made it to the Big Leagues. Earl Snyder and Jeff Bagwell are the others.

Milwaukee Brewers
Ryan Braun (Miami) was named the 2005 ACC Player of the Year and also broke Pat Burrell’s school record with 76 RBI in his freshman season. Braun was named National Freshman of the Year in 2003.

St. Louis Cardinals
Paul Goldschmidt (Texas State) is the Bobcats’ all-time leader in home runs (36) and RBI (179) and helped lead the program to the 2009 Southland Conference Championship.

Chicago Cubs
Kris Bryant (San Diego) hit 31 home runs in 2013. He out-homered 223 of the 296 Division I teams that year. I repeat, he out-homered 223 teams.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Nick Ahmed (Connecticut) was a junior shortstop on the 2011 UConn team that won the Clemson Regional and advanced to the Columbia Super Regional.

Los Angeles Dodgers
Justin Turner (Cal State Fullerton) played in Omaha three times in four years (2003, 2004, 2006) and was a key member of the Titans’ 2004 National Championship team.

San Francisco Giants
Joe Panik (St. John’s) had a career on-base percentage of .474 for the Johnnies and struck out just 57 times in 787 plate appearances.

Cleveland Indians
Trevor Bauer (UCLA) won 33 games at UCLA (2009-2011). His teammate was Astros pitcher Gerritt Cole and the duo led the Bruins to the CWS Finals in 2010.

Seattle Mariners
Mike Leake (Arizona State) won a remarkable 40 games (in just 47 starts) over a three-year span in Tempe and finished with more complete games (11) than losses (6). He also hit .299 for his career.

Florida Marlins
Curtis Granderson (Illinois-Chicago) hit .483 in 2002, finishing second in the nation in hitting to Southern’s Rickie Weeks.

New York Mets
Michael Conforto (Oregon State) played in both the College World Series (2013) and the Little League World Series (2004). He led the Pac-12 in RBI (76) as a true freshman in 2012.

Washington Nationals
Anthony Rendon (Rice) hit 46 home runs in his first two college seasons. He came within a few RBI of winning the C-USA triple crown as a true freshman.

Baltimore Orioles
Jimmy Yacabonis (St. Joseph’s University) was a 13th round pick in 2013 and this Philly school has produced just two big leaguers. The other would be 269-game winner Jamie Moyer.

San Diego Padres
Eric Lauer (Kent State) went 10-2 with a 0.69 ERA in 2016. That led the nation and was the lowest qualifying ERA in Division I Baseball in over 30 years.

Philadelphia Phillies
Aaron Nola (LSU) finished his career with a 30-6 record and won SEC Pitcher of the Year in both 2013 and 2014.

Pittsburgh Pirates
Adam Frazier (Mississippi State) was the starting shortstop for the Bulldogs team that played UCLA in the 2013 CWS Finals.

Texas Rangers
Lance Lynn (Ole Miss) made 48 career starts for the Rebels, breaking the school’s single season (146) and career (332) strikeout records. Fellow Major Leaguer Drew Storen and he were teammates at Brownsburg High School in Brownsburg, Indiana.

Tampa Bay Rays
Joey Wendle (West Chester, Pa.) led the Golden Rams to the 2012 Division II National Championship. Wendle struck out just five times in over 240 at-bats that season.

Boston Red Sox
Andrew Benintendi (Arkansas) won the Golden Spikes Award in 2015. He jumped from one home run as a freshman in 2014 to 20 as a sophomore in 2015.

Cincinnati Reds
Sonny Gray (Vanderbilt) won 27 games in his Commodore career and led the school to its first-ever CWS appearance in 2011.

Colorado Rockies
Kyle Freeland (Evansville) was the 2014 MVC Pitcher of the Year and he is the second highest drafted player in Purple Aces’ history behind Andy Benes, who was taken first overall in 1988.

Kansas City Royals
Whit Merrifield (South Carolina) hit a walk-off single in Game 2 of the 2010 CWS Finals to win the National Championship for the Gamecocks.

Detroit Tigers
Jordy Mercer (Oklahoma State) had 25 career home runs for the Cowboys while also notching 17 career saves on the mound.

Minnesota Twins
C.J. Cron (Utah) became the school’s first-ever first round pick and also owns the program record for career batting average (.396). He averaged 15 home runs and 65 RBI per year for the Utes.

Chicago White Sox
Carlos Rodon (NC State) was a college teammate of Trea Turner and the duo led the Wolfpack to the 2013 CWS.

New York Yankees
Troy Tulowitzki (Long Beach State) played shortstop for the Dirtbags in 2005 and his third baseman was fellow Major League All-Star Evan Longoria.

– Mike Rooney
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