The Pittsburgh Pirates have the first overall pick in the July 2023 MLB draft. Our draft preview looked at the top prospects for the pick.
At this stage, the draft is very much up in the air. Every Monday, we’ll recap notable performances from around the prep and college ranks, with video to give you an early look at who could be available to the Pirates. This is our sixth weekly recap of the weekend action for the top college draft prospects.
Dylan Crews was our first draft prospect profile. The LSU outfielder went 1-for-4 with a single in his match-up against top pitching prospect Chase Dollander (see below) from Tennessee. Crews went 1-for-3 with a walk and hit-by-pitch on Friday. He saved his big day for Saturday, when he went 4-for-4 with a double, run scored, three RBIs and a walk. He’s now hitting .543/.664/.947 in 28 games, with 11 doubles, nine homers and 29 walks.
LSU right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes is a top five draft prospect, who is off to a tremendous start. He was our fourth prospect profile. He continued that strong pitching on Thursday against Tennessee, going seven innings on one run, five hits, one walk and 12 strikeouts. He’s 5-0, 0.81 in 44.1 innings, with an 0.61 WHIP, a .127 BAA and 83 strikeouts.
Chase Dollander is considered to be a top two pitcher in the class right now, along with Skenes. We took a closer look at him in our second prospect profile. The University of Tennessee right-hander went up against LSU on Thursday. He allowed two runs over 4.2 innings, with four hits, three walks and three strikeouts. He has a 4-2, 3.92 record in 39 innings, with 56 strikeouts, a .229 BAA and a 1.13 WHIP.
Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford has a chance to go #1. He was recently rated as the top draft prospect by The Athletic, with his athleticism being the thing that pushed him ahead of Crews for Keith Law. Baseball America had him ranked second in their latest update. Langford was supposed to be out of action for at least another month after injuring himself by getting hit with a foul ball off of his own bat. However, he has returned already, going 4-for-9 this past weekend, with a homer and eight walks against Auburn. That got him up to a .392 average in 22 games, with nine doubles, two triples, eight homers and 25 walks.
Jacob Wilson from Grand Canyon University has a long shot at being the #1, but he’s still a top ten prospect. The son of former Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson had a series against Utah Valley this weekend. He went 1-for-4 with a double, RBI, walk and two runs scored on Friday. He was 1-for-3 on Saturday, with two RBIs, a walk, HBP and a stolen base. He didn’t play on Sunday. He’s hitting .465/.504/.703 in 26 games
Here’s a play from Saturday
Flash that leather, @jacobwilsonn22!
Shortstop Jacob Gonzalez from Ole Miss is another name to watch, though he needs to make a move soon to have any chance at the #1 spot. He played against Texas A&M this weekend. He went 2-for-5 on Friday night, with a two-run homer and a single. He went 2-for-2 with a double, two RBIs and three walks on Saturday. He went 1-for-2 on Sunday, with a double, walk and an RBI on a sacrifice fly. He’s hitting .347/.481/.594 in 27 games, with ten doubles, five homers and 22 walks.
Here’s the Friday homer
Get us going @jakegonzalez717!
Walker Jenkins is the first of two high school players we plan on adding, though if anyone else starts getting mentioned higher, they will be added too. Jenkins was our third player profile article. His stats are going to be hard to come by, but I’ll add updates where I can. Here’s a home run by him from a few days ago
South Brunswick outfielder Walker Jenkins hit a ball a bajillion feet. He’s going to go good this July. pic.twitter.com/oqkfRbYvMl
— Joe Doyle (@JoeDoyleMiLB) March 30, 2023
Max Clark has been added to our watch. The Indiana outfielder was profiled here in our fifth article for the series. His season started on Saturday, so there’s not much to go on yet that isn’t in his recent profile. As with Jenkins, stats will be added when possible. Clark had three hits in his season debut.
Here’s video
No surprise here – ‘23 OF Max Clark (@maxxclarkk13) w/ a 3 hit day
6’1/200lb @VandyBoys recruit showing off his opposite field
