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.
Previewing the 2022 Bowman Draft baseball card product with a focus on every player that has a 1st Bowman card. Here you will find the most desirable prospect cards from the majority of players from the 2022 MLB Draft including Jackson Holliday, Termarr Johnson, Elijah Green, Kumar Rocker, and over 100 more prospects getting their first official Bowman card.
As part of our offseason draft coverage, we wanted to go further in depth on draft prospects that you might not be highly aware of--even if you are a draft hound. Brady Smith has emerged into a high draft follow for area scouts covering eastern Tennessee this Spring. The right handed pitcher from Bean Station, TN put up gaudy strikeout totals during the 2022 showcase circuit, and has some of the highest breaking ball spin rates in the 2023 draft class.
The Kansas City Royals have been known to have a ton of pitching talent in the minor leagues, but faced a lot of scrutiny for their ability to develop their top pitching prospects this past year. This offseason they made significant changes to their coaching staff hiring Brian Sweeney as their pitching coach and Zach Bove as their assistant pitching coach. Both Daniel Lynch and Jackson Kowar have shown flashes of success, but have struggled to find consistency at the major league level. What might this new pitching regime mean for their development going into 2023?
One of my favorite aspects in scouting the MLB Draft and amateur baseball in general is uncovering the sleepers, or the underrated if I may.
Going to the ballpark with the intention of seeing a player and leaving with possibly two dudes who were off your radar completely. It’s what drives me, and it’s clear it’s what teams are hunting too.
Guys like Xavier Issac and even Jackson Merrill were relatively unknown as Top 50 targets in the last few years, but both found their way into the first round. It’s a yearly occurrence where a prep (or multiple) makes the jump into the spotlight and it happens before you know it. Maybe these names can help get you started early on some names to watch this upcoming spring.
While there’s a few high school backstops who garner a majority of the national attention, Scherrer has been quietly evolving into one of the most complete catchers in the class.
The Cal Poly commit is the rare high school catcher you can easily project will stick behind the dish for the next decade. Athletic in the crouch, while explosive getting out with simple, deliberate actions that translate it very well in-game and led to the fastest pop time (1.80) earlier this year at the Perfect Game National Showcase. Tons of present strength in his lower half out of a physical frame (6-2, 210) with a whippy, accurate arm that he deploys from a lower arm slot then you would rarely see with most catchers. Advanced blocking and footwork give Scherrer close to above-average defensive tools across the board. To tie it all together, The Yucaipa product has been lauded as an excellent game manager with a high-level IQ on and off the field.
Where the true helium is coming from though is with the stick. Scherrer has been displaying a strong hit tool all year long, starting with an all-tournament bid at NHSI back in April and continued to hit through the summer and into a strong Jupiter performance at WWBA in October. It’s a simple, compact right-handed swing that shows above-average bat speed with a bat path that creates easy loft. Scherrer’s ability to get into his strong lower half paired with a present feel for the barrel have shown above-average raw power, especially to the pull-side, and there's now a clear path to a possible plus tool as there is still some projection remaining. When talking with a prominent amateur evaluator recently about Scherrer recently, it was a simple “He might just rake.” and I couldn't agree more.
Navigating the high school catcher demographic is always one of the toughest evaluations in every draft class, but there always seems to be an outlier who rises to the occasion and Luke Scherrer has the profile to be that guy.
Here’s a look at the long homer from Scherrer in game two. Quick bat w/ obvious strength. #CalPoly commit @California_PG #WWBAWorlds https://t.co/CvlJerBq3S pic.twitter.com/wRyvnWTxxk
— Perfect Game Scout (@PG_Scouting) October 10, 2022
It’s hard to have an underrated article without talking about a high-level projection arm, and Max Stanley fits that bill to a tee after making huge strides across 2022.
Hear me out, but the BYU commit offers some of the best “pitch feel” in the 2023 class. What I mean by that is Stanley is able to display a five-pitch mix with an above-average feel to spin and average or above command throughout. Two distinct different fastballs with a four-seam with both hop and late arm-side run that currently sits in the low-90s, touching 95 this past spring and a sharp, upper 80s cutter that was the separator over the summer. Two breaking balls as well for Stanley, led by an above-average 12-6 curveball with huge shape and plus command that creates current swing and miss and shows signs of being a true put-away pitch going forward. Slider has a short gyro-esque break in the low-to-mid 80s with present feel to land for both strikes and whiffs against right-handed bats. Changeup is firm, but shows promise with some arm-side fade and feel to land for strikes. It has a chance to be a really quality offering if the fastball velocity continues to trend up.
Projectability is substantial when talking about Stanley with electric arm speed and high-level athleticism evident. Exudes easy ability to get down the mound with advanced lower-half mobility and drive that allows him to repeat consistently. Standing a high-waisted 6-3, Stanley has just begun tapping into his physicality, and has the clay to grow into an imposing presence on the mound.
Case Williams (2020, COL) and Alec Willis (2021, STL) were the last two Colorado prep pitchers drafted in the Top 5 rounds, and the combination of stuff and projection that Stanley offers could push him even higher in this upcoming 2023 MLB Draft.
A slo-mo look at a Cutter from 2023 RHP Max Stanley, out of Colorado. The @BYUBaseball commit offers some of the highest level projection in the class. #MLBDraft pic.twitter.com/GB9vgoucMQ
— Ian Smith (@FlaSmitty) December 12, 2022
A switch hitting, Swiss-army-knife with the highest level body projection and an SEC commitment, Trenton Lyons is one of the best players you’re not talking about.
I don’t believe there are very many players in the 2023 class, prep or college, who have the ability to project as above-average glove at catcher and another position, but I believe you can project Lyons as an everyday player at catcher, third base or either corner outfield role. An above-average athlete with a plus run tool and elite 10 yard split, the Ole Miss commit has impressive footwork and ability to move laterally both behind the plate and at third base. The 6-3, 190lb. Lyons has the arm strength to make all the throws necessary across the diamond and the accuracy to make his arm play up even more. It’s a defensive profile at 3B that could be among one of the best gloves in the class if he makes third base a long term home.
At the plate, Lyons offers a near mirror image from both sides of the plate with bat speed and ability to manipulate the barrel into an all-fields approach. That being said, It’s a slightly more direct, contact oriented approach from the right side and from the left, allows the hips to open and creates leverage, leading to above-average pull side power. The power possibilities are immense as Lyons continues to fill out with a strong baseline of above-average bat to ball skills.
I don’t know if there’s a better body to project turning extremely physical this upcoming spring than Trenton Lyons. Where he ends up defensively long term remains to be seen, but with strong offensive upside and an above-average glove, the profile is extremely conducive to an early round pick to mold.
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.
Covering the major product releases and news in the baseball card hobby for the week of December 5th through December 11th, 2022. Releases include 2022 Topps Heritage High Number, 2022 Panini Donruss Optic Baseball, 2022 Onyx Vintage Extended Series, and possibly 2022 Bowman Draft 1st Edition (no longer likely). 2022 Bowman Platinum and 2022 Bowman Chrome X were dropped unannounced by Topps this week as well. 2021 Leaf Perfect Game also went on sale from Leaf. Add in 2022 Topps Japan Edition as an unannounced late week drop.
Covering the major product releases and news in the baseball card hobby for the week of November 28th through December 4th, 2022. Releases include 1952 Topps X Naturel, 2022 Topps Stadium Club and 2022 Panini Donruss Optic Baseball. Updated to include 2022 Topps Rip and 2022 Topps Holiday online releases as well as the news about the Topps 582 Montgomery Club memberships for 2023.
