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College  | Story | 5/7/2026

Coppy's Corner: May 7 POY Deep Dive

John Coppolella
Each week I huddle with Vinnie Cervino and Craig Cozart to discuss Top 25 rankings and Players of the Week. In Coppy’s Corner, I dive deeper into these Players of the Week, providing analysis from 20+ years working in baseball front offices at the highest level.  

Player of the Week: Tyce Armstrong – Baylor University 

Armstrong is a big man with a big bat that produces big power. Just the second player in the history of Baylor to reach 20 HR in a single season – if you knew the other one was Charley Carter in 1998, you get the gold star – Armstrong brings an impact bat that can turn the game around with one swing. Listed at 6’4 / 228 he is Texas-strong and has been tearing up the Big 12 this season. Armstrong spent his first three season at the University of Texas – Arlington before transferring to Baylor for the 2026 season. He had a great week, but, really, it’s been a great season with a .330 AVG / .437 OBP / .760 SLG (!) / 1.196 OPS over 179 At-Bats this year. 



Armstrong reminds me a lot of Luke Voit. Both are big and strong right-handed power bats. Voit – who finished 9th overall in AL MVP voting in 2020 – played only 1B and DH and had a little thicker body at 6’2 / 260. Armstrong is more athletic and has played 1B and some Corner Outfield. As was the case with Voit, you are buying a bat with Armstrong, and a look inside the numbers reveals some interesting data. Armstrong has more than held his own against RHP with .367 AVG / 1.327 OPS, performed on Friday nights against top pitching with .390 AVG / 1.431 OPS, and hung in there against all breaking balls hitting .303 AVG and 1.150 OPS. Armstrong is a senior who will turn 23 years old just before the MLB Draft (DOB 7-3-03), but impact right-handed power like this is hard to find. Amid a breakout senior season, his draft stock is rising and the next couple of months should be exciting. 

Carry Tool: POWER!!! I wrote that in all capital letters with three exclamation points because it’s A LOT OF POWER!!! Hitters with .760 Slugging Percentages aren’t hanging out on every corner, and Armstrong has continued to improve throughout his college career. Whatever his professional future may be, it will be completely tied into his power. Magnolia Field at Baylor Ballpark is a balanced / neutral ballpark that doesn’t favor hitters or pitchers, but I would love to see what Armstrong could do in an organization like the Colorado Rockies or the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

Pitcher of the Week: Isaiah Magdaleno – University of Hawaii  

The movie Encino Man is terrible. I’m not sure what compelled Brendan Fraser to be a part of this movie – probably money? – but it’s awful. Magdaleno, who is from Encino, but in no way affiliated with the movie, has been the opposite of awful this year pitching for the University of Hawaii at Manoa (the flagship university for the islands, but in no way affiliated with Alek Manoah). Magdaleno’s best outing of the season was Friday night, when he went CG SHO with 1 Hit, 1 BB, and 16 SO for the Rainbow Warriors. It’s the culmination of a breakthrough year that saw him pitch well in the Cape Cod League this past summer before dominating in 2026 by producing 5-4, 2.75 ERA with 89 SO vs. 29 BB and only 3 HR allowed over 72.0 IP.  

Magdaleno does it differently than most college pitchers that we profile. He’s got a five-pitch mix starting with an average FB 87-93 that is sometimes 87-91 and sometimes 90-93, and he only throws it 39% of the time. He mixes the FB with a killer CH (thrown 28% of the time), a good downer CB (17%), a CUT (8%), and a SL (7%). He is a good athlete with advanced feel to pitch, and he continues to get better. It’s not top-shelf stuff, and this isn’t a Day 1 selection, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t have a future at the highest level.  

Carry Tool: Changeup. It’s a real weapon, with a 59% Swing Rate, 49% Miss Rate, and 46% Chase Rate. Over the course of the season, hitters have only managed to hit .139 AVG / .392 OPS against the CH this season. Magdaleno reminds me of a little bit of Kris Medlen and Jair Jurrjens, two pitchers I saw a lot during my time in the Atlanta Braves front office. Medlen and Jurrjens were both very successful MLB starting pitchers using the CH as their out pitch, and both threw their CH roughly 25% of the time. I don’t know that Magdaleno has that type of ceiling – and I don’t know that he doesn’t, either – but using a similar approach will give this Encino man the best chance to thaw opposing hitters’ bats. 

Freshman of the Week: Christian Serrano – North Carolina State University 

Serrano comes from a baseball family. His father, Sammy, was a catcher who was selected in the 2nd Round of the 1998 MLB Draft by the San Francisco Giants out of Stetson University. Older brother, Eli, is an outfielder and was taken in the 4th Round of the 2024 MLB Draft by the New York Mets – and, like Christian, played for North Carolina State. Serrano was originally set to graduate high school in May 2026, but reclassified and came to Raleigh, North Carolina, a year early. Instead of getting ready for prom, he is terrorizing ACC pitching.  

Under the watchful eyes of our own Craig Cozart, following from scout seats this weekend, Serrano made the most of his first real opportunity to contribute for the Wolfpack. After a big weekend, he is sporting Landon Hairston-type numbers with a .455 AVG / .481 OBP / .682 SLG / 1.163 OPS albeit in only 27 PA’s. North Carolina State has been just as impressed with the defense – playing a perfect SS with zero errors at the time of this writing – as with the offense. It’s still early for Serrano but expect an expanded role for the remainder of the season and into 2027. This prospect is coming on at just the right time for NC State, and time will tell if his name is called before his father’s, and brothers were in the MLB Draft.  

Carry Tool: Power. Standing 6’4 / 185, Serrano is lean, athletic, and ultra-projectable with room to fill another 25-30 pounds of muscle. Serrano is an above average defender and a plus runner, who Perfect Game timed at 6.71 in the 60-Yard Dash last year, but his carry tool is Power. If you squint your eyes hard enough, you can see a little bit of a young Troy Tulowitzki build and power type upside. It’s still really early, but there is a lot to be excited about with Serrano – it will be fascinating to see how his Power develops, his career progresses, and where he is drafted. 

National Nuggets:

We celebrate performance in this column with our Players of the Week, but sometimes it’s instructive to profile a prospect after a tough outing or series … as I mentioned above, Craig Cozart was in Winston-Salem this past weekend and saw Wake Forest’s Friday Night Starter, Chris Levonas, saying he didn’t see a Fastball under 98 in the 1st inning and saw several 99’s along with strong off-speed stuff … Levonas went 4.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 7 SO at home against a resurgent Louisville lineup, but has been much better overall in the 2026 season at 8-3, 3.28 ERA with 60.1 IP, 41 BB, 27 BB, 96 SO … it’s a big step forward from an uneven freshman season (5.91 ERA) for the New Jersey prep product who has two plus-plus offerings with his FB and a wipeout hard CB … the CB has been his out pitch and, this year, hitters are only hitting .104 AVG / .424 OPS with 42 SO in 67 AB against the CB … the opportunity for Levonas is to develop a third pitch, as he has thrown his CH less than 5% of the time and has struggled more against LH hitters (.247 AVG / .885 OPS) than he has against RH hitters (.154 AVG / .493 OPS) … good organizations can help him neutralize LH hitters in pro ball by developing a CH, but it’s hard to teach 98-99 with a plus-plus hard CB … Levonas was the highest-drafted prep pitcher (#70 overall by the Milwaukee Brewers) not to sign in the 2024 MLB Draft … it makes sense the Brewers took a chance on Levonas because that plus-plus CB frequently exceeds 3,000 RPM and his pure stuff (if not his physical appearance) probably most closely resembles that of Milwaukee ace Jacob Misiorowski – how scary would that starting pitching tandem be? … the only player not to sign taken ahead of Levonas was Tyler Bell (#66 overall by the Tampa Bay Rays), who has a chance to go in the top-half of the first round in the 2026 MLB Draft … watch for Levonas to be taken in a similar range, if not higher, in the 2027 MLB Draft, especially if he can continue his development and progression 
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College | Story | 5/25/2026

Field of 64 Projections
Vincent Cervino
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The 2026 season was one of the most exciting and unpredictable editions of college baseball in recent memory, and as quickly as it flew by, we are ready to start the “Road to Omaha”.  After hours of deliberation, we are ready to release our projected region field and “Field of 64” as we see it.  The UCLA Bruins (51-6) start us off as the anticipated No. 1 National Seed as they put the finishing touches on a historic season, including a 27-game win streak, a Big 10 Regular Season title and Big 10 Tournament championship.  The Big 10 looks like they will have (4) teams in the field, with (3) host sights, representing the West Coast well.  The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (48-9) should secure the No. 2 Nation Seed and lead the charge for (8) teams from the ACC in the field with (3) of them securing host opportunities.  Meanwhile, the Georgia...
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Tournaments | Story | 5/24/2026

East Memorial Day Scout Notes: Days 1-2

Perfect Game Staff
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‘27 IF Braylon Sheffield (FL) with an absolute 🚀 here, launching high off the RCF wall for a 3B. Super polished LH stick; hit over .400 last year on the circuit. #GoHoos commit. #EastMemorial pic.twitter.com/mdehqpR5v5 — Perfect Game Florida (@Florida_PG) May 23, 2026 Braylon Sheffield (2027, Fort Myers, Fla.) got the event started with the loudest swing of the night on Friday at Terry Park, rocketing a triple off the wall in the stadium. Sheffield, ranked 121 and committed to Virginia, is a super polished left-handed hitter with left side of the infield projection long term. The swing is tension-free with loose wrists and he generates easy bat speed with already present power to the pull side. This blast came inches away from being a home run and hitting a ball that far at Terry Park stadium is a significant shot. Sheffield also tripled in his second game of the weekend at...
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Tournaments | Story | 5/24/2026

West Memorial Day Scout Notes: Days 1-2

Tyler Henninger
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Colton Floyd (‘27,AZ) just misses a HR here. Can really impact the baseball & shows over the fence power potential. Took 3 QAB’s today. He’s the #1 ranked 3B in the state and #4 in the country. #MDWest https://t.co/ReMh7D0v4y pic.twitter.com/w1dzssSy8N — Perfect Game Four Corners (@PG_FourCorners) May 23, 2026 Colton Floyd, 3B, Chandler, AZ. Canes West National (2027) Floyd is a high-upside prospect with physical tools and burgeoning power. His combination of size, bat speed, and raw strength makes him one of the top power-hitting third basemen in the country. Currently ranked the #1 third baseman in Arizona and #4 nationally in his class. With continued refinement of his approach and defensive consistency, he has all the ingredients to be a middle-of-the-order bat at Texas A&M and a legitimate MLB Draft prospect JJ Utash (‘27,AZ) with a triple here....
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Tournaments | Story | 5/21/2026

Memorial Day Classics Set to Kick Off

Perfect Game Staff
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Southeast Memorial Day East Cobb Baseball will welcome more than 100 teams spanning the 13-17u age groups this weekend as summer baseball gets underway with the highly anticipated PG Southeast Memorial Day Classic, commencing on Thursday, May 21st. This weekend’s annual premier event will feature 11 nationally ranked teams across the five age groups with the No. 9 16u East Cobb Astros headlining the 17u division alongside top prospects such as No. 11 ranked Bryan Johnson Jr. And No. 22 ranked Georgia Tech commit, Malachi Butler. The No. 34 17u ranked 643 DP Cougars will also be a squad to watch as they will look to challenge the Astros for the championship amongst the other 14 17u division teams. While the oldest division will draw lots of attention with highly touted prospects, the 16u field is stacked with 29 total teams including three nationally ranked clubs. Over 30 top 1000...
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High School | General | 5/22/2026

Northeast High School Notebook: May 22

Anthony Gambardella
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‘26 RHP Hunter Brown (@NHLionsBaseball - NJ) struck out 1️⃣5️⃣ thru 6 IP w/ 0 BB & 2 H allowed. FB lived 90-92, T93 w/ ASR & late life. Froze bats with his 11/5 CB both early/late in counts (2600rpm). Mixed in fading CH & short/tight SL. #WeAre commit. @PG_Draft#PGHS @PG_Scouting pic.twitter.com/NbSSOmCyD0 — Perfect Game Mid-Atlantic (@PGMidAtlantic) April 23, 2026 Hunter Brown - 2026 RHP, North Hunterdon Reg (N.J.) was utterly dominant in his start against Franklin last month, tossing six shutout innings with 15 strikeouts, zero walks and just two hits allowed. The 6-foot-5 215-pound right-hander has pitched to a 0.97 ERA this spring with 78 punchouts over 36 innings of work. Brown has been one of the many northeast arms receiving increasingly more buzz ahead of the MLB Draft this July. Brown’s heater lived in the low-90s throughout the duration of his...
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Press Release | Press Release | 5/22/2026

Wolforth Throwing Mentorship: Article 65

Ron Wolforth
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The Insidious Lie That Hurts Pitchers Thep Most How many of you have ever had a terrible outing and afterward couldn’t really explain what went wrong? And how many of you have ever had a great outing and couldn’t explain what you did differently either? That gap between what is happening and your awareness of what is happening may be one of the most important gaps in player development. Closing that gap has a name. It is called metacognition. In simple terms, metacognition means thinking about your thinking. It is the ability to understand how you learn, how you perform, how you respond under pressure, and how you make adjustments when things are not going your way. For a pitcher, that matters because no matter how good your coach is, he cannot stand on the mound with you. Your coach cannot take the ball with the bases loaded, two outs, and the best hitter in the league...
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College | Rankings | 5/20/2026

DII/DIII/NAIA Rankings Update: May 20

Nick Herfordt
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There is a reason the preseason pick to win it all rarely does. College baseball's postseason is a gauntlet — double elimination, best-of-three’s, then a full World Series format — and the team that looks unbeatable in February has to prove it again in May against opponents who have had just as long to get ready. Plenty of programs have entered the tournament as the obvious favorite and gone home early. It happens every year. Nobody should be shocked when it does. Top-ranked teams flaming out in regional weekends happens so many times it has become its own genre of schadenfreude Which makes this particular moment worth noting. The Perfect Game preseason picks to win the NAIA, NCAA Division II, and NCAA Division III national titles — Tennessee Wesleyan, UT Tyler, and the University of Lynchburg — are all still alive heading into the final rounds. All three...
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College | Story | 5/21/2026

Coppy's Corner: May 21 POY Deep Dive

John Coppolella
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Each week I huddle with Vinnie Cervino and Craig Cozart  to discuss Top-25 rankings and Players of the Week. In Coppy’s Corner, I dive deeper into these Players of the Week, providing analysis from 20+ years working in baseball front offices at the highest level.   Co-Player of the Week: Carson Tinney – University of Texas  As a Notre Dame alumnus, it pained me to see Tinney transfer from the Golden Dome to the University of Texas after an All-American sophomore season for the Irish. He’s picked up in Austin right where he left off in South Bend and is currently hitting .321 AVG, 20 HR, .475 OBP / .695 SLG / 1.170 OPS on the 2026 season. It’s plus right-handed power and a plus arm; with the numbers I have found indicating that Tinney has erased more than half of attempted base stealers over the past two seasons of college baseball. Tinney threw...
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Tournaments | Story | 5/19/2026

Best of the Best Event Preview

Jheremy Brown
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In simplistic terms, the Best of The Best tournament is an absolute gauntlet as seemingly every game brings a playoff game atmosphere. Coaches must strategically map out their pitching to ensure they can get through Pool Play while also making sure they have arms to make a deep playoff run. Each and every age group is loaded with the best teams, composed of some of the best players that travel baseball has to offer. The 9u & 10u age groups will respectively have 9 out of the Top 10 Teams within the latest PG National Team Rankings participating in the event. At 9U, LTP-Reign will look to hold on to their #1 ranking but will have plenty of competition with the likes of ZT National Prospects and HTX-Wildcatters 9U looking to take over that #1 spot. In the 10u age group, Elevate National will look to fend off plenty of talent with #2 ranked Kaos National, East Cobb Astros and ZT...
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College | Story | 5/19/2026

College Players of the Week: May 19

Vincent Cervino
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May 19th Perfect Game/Co-Players of the Week:  Carson Tinney, C, Texas  The Texas Longhorns just finished off another stellar regular season and are heading to Hoover for the SEC Conference Tournament as the No. 2 Seed this week.  To secure their 2nd place finish, they had to sweep Missouri at home last weekend and did so in large part to the power bat of Carson Tinney.  The 6-4/240 catcher from Castle Pines, CO transferred to Austin after two sensational seasons at Notre Dame and has thrived in his draft year.  In the 3-game set, Tinney collected 7 hits in 13 at-bats, scoring 5 runs, with a double, 3 home runs and he drove in 10 runs all told.  With some of the most prodigious power in the college game this year, Tinney is now slashing .321/.695/.473 with 10 doubles an incredible 20 home runs and 54 RBIs while playing in the most spacious ballpark in the...
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