College Baseball’s Best: Weekend’s Top Performers Shine with Power, Dominance, and Clutch Moments
The college baseball season is off to a roaring start, with towering home runs, record-breaking performances, and dominant pitching duels stealing the spotlight. From clutch bombs to electric strikeouts, these opening weekend stars wasted no time making their presence felt on the diamond.
Opening Day delivered everything we love about college baseball: dominant pitching, explosive bats, and jaw-dropping moments. From future MLB Draft stars to breakout performers, here’s who stole the show on Day One!
College baseball is back, and the 2025 season is shaping up to be one for the ages! With powerhouse programs reloading through the transfer portal, elite draft prospects returning for another shot at glory, and championship ambitions fueling every pitch, this year’s Preseason Top 25 is stacked with talent and storylines that will define the road to Omaha.
In recent years, Major League Baseball has seen a surge of pitching prospects drafted after the first round skyrocket up prospect lists. These pitchers generally have one or two things in common. They’re either exceptional movers with considerable projection, or they’re metric darlings with outlier pitch-shaping qualities.
The Preseason Top 25 of 2023 is upon us and the LSU Tigers stand alone atop our proverbial mountain. Jay Johnson and staff have put together a Wardaddy lineup with a stable of arms the envy of the rest of college baseball. Outfielder Dylan Crews enters the season as our Preseason Player of they Year. He’s complimented by a myriad of premium arms in Paul Skenes, Thatcher Hurd, Grant Taylor, Ty Floyd, Blake Money, Christian Little and more. Pitching depth was an issue at times in 2022 for the Tigers. That doesn’t appear to be a problem in 2023.
Tennessee is our No. 2 overall ranked team and it’s a close second. The Volunteers are headlined by elite arms headlined by our Preseason Pitcher of the Year; Chase Dollander. Mix in guys like Chase Burns, Wyatt Evans and Drew Beam and they’ll be a headache for opposing lineups. Tennessee brings a ton of wallop into their lineup this season too.
Two teams we’re rather bullish on are the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (No. 3) and the Iowa Hawkeyes (No. 18). Both of these programs have more pitching than they know what to do with. Wake Forest also features some real offensive firepower in 1B/OF Nick Kurtz, supplemented by a stable of really nice hitters. Iowa doesn’t have quite as much thump in their lineup, but they do possess an anchor in 1B/OF Keaton Anthony. On the pitching side, Iowa may have the two pitchers with the best pure stuff in college baseball in RHP Marcus Morgan and RHP Brody Brecht. They’ve both struggled with command at times, but if they lock it in, the Hawkeyes may have two first rounders in 2024 there. True freshman Cade Obermueller has also been up to 96 this spring and has an argument to go really early next July too.
In today’s game, “stuff” rules supreme. It’s a three-true-outcome meta and strikeouts are king. Organizations believe they can turn pure raw stuff into usable big league pitching no matter the command woes. Frankly, in most cases they’re correct. There will always be a threshold where “effectively wild” dissipates and a pitcher’s control becomes a liability, but by and large, teams will always take shots on guys with special arms.
On New Year’s Day last year, Jackson Holliday ranked as the No. 42 overall prospect on our 2022 MLB Draft Top 300. It’s not just our board either. MLB Pipeline had Holliday the No. 52 overall prospect this time last year. The rest is history. In 2021, Henry Davis surged from a late-first round projection to going first overall. In 2020, Arkansas outfielder Heston Kjerstad ended up going No. 2 overall, but just six months prior he was more thought to be a guy that’d go in the 25-40 range. Surely 2023 is likely to offer similar narratives.
For a couple years now, ever since arriving to Baton Rouge, Louisiana State outfielder Dylan Crews has been revered by just about everyone in the baseball industry as one of the most feared hitters on the amateur scene. A career .356 hitter with 40 homers to his name in just two seasons, Crews has put his name in the lights among some of the most impressive bats to ever bulldoze the SEC. The seemingly invincible Crews has bludgeoned pitchers with increasing authority the last two years. So how does one get him out? Is he already too advanced for college baseball? Is there a blueprint to balance the scales?
The 2021 and 2022 MLB Drafts were both a bit prep-heavy at the top featuring five and four preps in the Top 10 picks respectively. It was high school shortstops galore. Early projections point to 2023 being a bit heavier on the college side; generally a good sign for the health of a draft class historically speaking.
The 2021 and 2022 MLB Drafts were both a bit prep-heavy at the top featuring five and four preps in the Top 10 picks respectively. It was high school shortstops galore. Early projections point to 2023 being a bit heavier on the college side; generally a good sign for the health of a draft class historically speaking.
Since 1987, Area Code Games has been a staple on the prep showcase circuit. A week-long tournament featuring some of the most talent high school players in the country, Area Code Games is was once again swarmed with scouts and media looking to get an extended look at guys many expect to be selected early next summer. Per usual, Prospects Live was in attendance.
It’s impossible to grade or gauge a draft class before these players have had the chance to develop into professional athletes. With that being said, a handful of teams do standout with their process, their philosophy in the draft, and their willingness to follow a model. These are six draft classes that really stood out in 2022.
It’s no secret that some teams are better at developing talent than others. Some teams flourish developing pitching, while others really do well in developing bats. There’s a track record to prove it with some of these teams. With that said, with over 300 picks in thee books, these players, in my opinion, are best-suited to really flourish with their new ball clubs.
Every year a handful of college starters are overlooked for several reasons. Potential mid-rotation horses fall into the third round and beyond after being disqualified from their future ceiling. With that said, here are five names who have impressed me in 2022 with how they move on the bump, the stuff they’re currently working with, and what it could all look like in a couple years.
