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College  | Story | 5/21/2026

Coppy's Corner: May 21 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.  

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 out 30% of baserunners in the Cape Cod League this past summer. And although he struggled offensively in the Cape, particularly with swing and miss, it’s a small sample size compared to his overall body of performance over the past two seasons. 



There are a lot of other positive indicators for Tinney. He’s hit right-handed pitching (.328 AVG / 1.170 OPS) a bit better than left-handed pitching (.304 AVG / 1.170 OPS) this season – something likely to change in professional baseball. Tinney has also thrived on Friday nights (.358 AVG / 1.225 OPS with 6 HR) facing the best pitchers in arguably the best conference in college baseball. The power plays, and if the plate discipline can continue to develop, there is real upside at a premium position.  

Carry Tool: Power. Tinney had 3 HR this past weekend and has been on a torrid pace since April 1st with .352 AVG / 1.368 OPS and 13 HR in 88 AB’s. Tinney has plus power and a plus arm and reminds me a little bit of Salvador Perez albeit with a little less hitability. The average batting line for an MLB backstop in 2025 was .235 AVG / .304 OBP / .389 SLG / .693 OPS, and those numbers were grossly inflated by a historic season from Cal Raleigh. It will be interesting to see how high Tinney goes in the MLB Draft – there is such a need for catching throughout baseball that it’s impossible to rule him out as a Day #1 pick – and wherever he goes will get a rare combination of power and arm strength at an incredible position of need. 

Co-Player of the Week: Tommy Harrison – Miami of Ohio 

Harrison had a big weekend, but, really, he has had a big year for the RedHawks, hitting .402 AVG with 17 HR, 85 RBI (!), and 3 SB in 52 Games. Yes, you read that correctly: 85 RBI in 52 Games (more on that below). Harrison also has produced a .527 OBP / .730 SLG / 1.258 OPS on the season over 204 AB. Those are impressive numbers, to be sure, but even more impressive is that Harrison – who bats left and throws right – has actually hit better against left-handed pitching (.510 AVG / 1.503 OPS) than he has against right-handed pitching (.358 AVG / 1.151 OPS), a feat that is quite rare for left-handed hitters. Likewise, he’s hit better on the Road (.405 AVG / 1.302 OPS) than at Home (.382 AVG / 1.161 OPS). 

Harrison will be 22.5 years old when the 2026 MLB Draft commences, and he’s a corner outfielder from a small conference school. If you’re an MLB team, when you draft Harrison, you are buying a bat – but there may be some hidden upside. Let me explain when I was General Manager of the Atlanta Braves, in November 2016, we acquired OF Alex Jackson and LHP Tyler Pike from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for RHP Rob Whalen and RHP Max Povse. Now do you, see? Still not? OK, let me explain further: Jackson was the 6th overall pick by the Mariners in 2014, arguably the best prep hitter in the class at the time, and was drafted as a Catcher. Seattle moved Jackson off Catcher to speed up his development. When we acquired Jackson, we went Back to the Future and reintroduced Jackson to the tools of ignorance. Jackson has played parts of six MLB season, with 3+ years MLB service time, as a Catcher.  

Harrison was also a Catcher – for almost the entirety of his 2023 season (25 Games). I don’t know if he can go back behind the dish, and this is a big man at 6’3 / 220, but I would sure like to find out because Harrison’s bat has been so good.  

Carry Tool: Hit. Harrison can flat rake with an AVG > .400 and OPS > 1.250. He’s got more walks (41) than strikeouts (32) this year and continues to improve each season. And he’s done it against the big conferences – his combined performance against Big 10, Big 12, and SEC teams this year is .375 AVG / 1.212 OPS. Yet what’s most impressive to me is the 85 RBI (!!) in 52 Games. Yes, I know, RBI are a situational statistic and don’t mean much of anything – except when you get that many, it must mean something. Harrison has almost identical numbers this year with Runners on Base (.394 AVG / 1.238 OPS) and Runners in Scoring Position (.382 AVG / 1.242 OPS). Miami of Ohio has scored a lot of runs this year and Harrison is in the middle of it. It would be foolish to bet against this bat and this hit tool. 

Pitcher of the Week: Jackson Flora – University of California Santa Barbara  

Flora is our Pitcher of the Week on the heels of a CG SHO performance on Thursday night where he only allowed 2 Hits, 0 Walks, and 12 Strikeouts against UC Riverside. I wrote about Flora in the “National Nuggets” section of Coppy’s Corner a few weeks ago (https://www.perfectgame.org/articles/View.aspx?article=24284), and he seemingly gets better and better each week. Flora reminds me of Kevin Brown, and on the strength of a devastating Cutter, is now 10-0, 1.03 ERA with 115 Strikeouts vs. 28 Walks. It’s almost a dead-cinch lock that he will be the first pitcher taken in the MLB Draft, and I wanted to write about what that means to a front office. 

In 2017, as Braves GM, we took Kyle Wright with the #5 overall pick in the MLB Draft. Wright was the first college pitcher taken in the 2017 Draft (note: 1B/LHP Brendan McKay went #4 overall to the Tampa Bay Rays, and they preferred McKay as a hitter – we did, too). Wright (6’4 / 215) and Flora (6’5 / 205) have similar builds, stuff, and performance. Wright reached Atlanta a year after he was drafted. I was no longer with the Braves, but I remember watching him on TV as he hit triple digits in his first appearance. A few years later, in 2022, Wright was the first 20-game winner in MLB. It’s a shame he got hurt – another casualty in this pitching injury epidemic – and hopefully he can get back to health and the show the talent that led to such a quick rise to MLB success. 

Carry Tool: Quick-to-MLB Impact Starting Pitcher. The benefits of an organization being able to produce a homegrown frontline starter cannot be overstated. You have that pitcher under contract for essentially the league minimum his first three years in MLB, and then the club has three club options (aka “arbitration years”) at below market values for that pitcher. How much is that worth in today’s game? Merrill Kelly – who has had a really good career – signed a 2-year, $40 million contract as a 37-year-old free agent this past offseason; Kelly has never won more than 13 games and only thrown over 180 innings pitched three times in his career. Wright went 21-5, 3.19 ERA over 180.1 innings pitched in 2022 and made $720,000 that season. Flora can have this type of impact – maybe even better if he can stay healthy. I could see him going as high as #3 to the Minnesota Twins and no later than #8 to the Athletics. 

Freshman of the Week: Clayton Namken – Texas State University 

Namken’s big weekend has added to a terrific freshman season for the Texas State backstop, who has produced a .309 AVG, 10 HR, 31 RBI, 1 SB with 24 BB vs. 40 SO, including a .407 OBP / .591 SLG / .998 OPS. Namken is a plus athlete, who played both ways in high school, showing good makeup and leadership as a catcher. Perhaps more importantly, at least in the Lone Star State, he was also a Quarterback. For his high school team. In Texas. If you don’t think that’s a big deal, check out Friday Night Lights – either the movie or the series would suffice – and you will see it is a big deal. Rest In Peace, James Van Der Beek. Gone way too soon. 

NIL stands for Name, Image, and Likeness – but it could also stand for Namken Is Legit. And I think he will be in high demand in the college baseball transfer portal with a lot of programs willing to throw around some money for a catcher with his skill on both sides of the ball. Catching is hard, and freshman catching is really hard. To put up a performance like Namken has invites a lot of larger programs to see if there is a fit. In fact, if and when Co-Player of the Week Tinney departs in the MLB Draft, Namken could be a potential fit at the University of Texas – or pretty much any other school. Or maybe he will stay at Texas State, which has built an exciting team this year and is a program on the rise. It will be fascinating to see how it all plays out.  

Carry Tool: Hit. Diving deeper inside the numbers makes Namken look even more impressive. Namken has hit better against right-handed pitching (.331 AVG / 1.065 OPS in 118 AB) than he has against left-handed pitching (.276 AVG / .752 OPS in 31 AB). It’s a small sample size against LHP, the kind of pitchers he should eventually crush with more experience, but that’s not important. What’s important is that he’s posted a 1.065 OPS in predominately righty-righty matchups as a freshman catcher. That’s impressive. And so is the fact that he can hit the fastball, with a .364 AVG against pitches 94 miles per hour and higher. 

National Nuggets:

Last week, I wrote about draft-eligible sophomore hitter rising up draft boards in Derek Curiel … this week I want to write about a draft-eligible sophomore pitcher risking up draft boards in Tegan Kuhns … our own Craig Cozart was in Knoxville last weekend and saw Kuhns shut down then-#4 Texas on Friday night, sitting 94-97 with good life … Kuhns went 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 15 SO – not a no-hitter so he didn’t qualify for Pitcher of the Week that week – and has had a strong sophomore season going 5-4, 3.39 ERA with 77.0 IP, 76 H, 15 BB, 100 SO … Kuhns pitches primarily off his plus-to-double plus FB that generates a 55% Swing % and 37% Chase % … his CB flashes plus, but has led to less success than it should, as Kuhns has actually been better against LH hitters (.228 AVG / .664 OPS) than against RH hitters (.282 AVG / .763 OPS) this season … there is a lot of upside in this arm with continued development … two other domination notes on Kuhns: he absolutely dealt in the Cape Cod League (1.35 ERA with 1 BB vs 20 SO in 13.1 IP) and has been lights-out the first time through a lineup, allowing .188 AVG / .527 OPS in the 1st inning and .208 AVG / .567 OPS in the 2nd inning of the 2026 season … the most impressive thing about Kuhns has been how he has cut his BB/9 IP ratio from 3.93 in 2025 to 1.75 in 2026 … alas, I would be remiss if I didn’t make a Tegan and Sara at some point in this writeup, and Kuhns’ song for this season could well be “Everything is Awesome” …with a prototype pitcher’s build (6’3 / 190), easy velocity and good stuff, it’s not a question of whether or not he’s a 1st round talent, but rather how high will he fly up draft boards 

 

 

 
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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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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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