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.
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 seventh weekly recap of the weekend action for the top college draft prospects.
If you missed it from Thursday, we covered the mid-week games here.
Dylan Crews was our first draft prospect profile. The LSU outfielder went 1-for-4 with a triple, walk and two runs on Friday against Ole Miss. He homered in his first two at-bats on Saturday, finishing 3-for-5 with six RBIs. He went 3-for-4, with three singles and a walk on Sunday.
Crews has a .496 average through 39 games, with 12 doubles, one triple, 11 homers, 44 walks and nine HBP.
Here’s the first homer from Saturday
That Man Is Dangerous @__dc4__ | ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/XkUrqld0Jq
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) April 22, 2023
Here’s the second homer
When it comes to
Hitting a home run
Maybe plating up
3 or 4 runs
He wrote the book
Yeah, he wrote the book@__dc4__ | ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/7MmIkFA42o— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) April 22, 2023
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. His last two starts were his worst of the year, though neither was terrible. He took on Ole Miss on Friday and put in a quality start, though once again he was far from his early season domination. He gave up three runs on four hits and three walks in six innings, while picking up 11 strikeouts. Three of the hits he allowed went for extra bases, including a homer.
Skenes is 7-1, 1.97 in 59.1 innings, with a .153 BAA and a 115:12 SO/BB ratio.
Here’s one of his strikeouts.
SKKKKKKKKKKKENES@Paul_Skenes | SECN+ pic.twitter.com/QZ1fS828cY
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) April 22, 2023
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 Vanderbilt this weekend. Dollander has slipped a bit in the rankings, but this start should help. He pitched a complete game in a contest ended early due to the ten-run rule. He went seven innings, allowing one run on six hits, three walks and nine strikeouts.
He is 5-4, 3.81 in 54.1 innings, with a .221 BAA and an 80:19 SO/BB ratio.
Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford has a chance to go #1. He was 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. He was our sixth draft prospect profile. He did not have a strong weekend.
Langford went 1-for-3 with a walk against South Carolina on Thursday. He was 1-for-5 with a single on Friday. He went 0-for-3 with a walk on Saturday. He’s hitting .370/.527/.739 in 34 games, with 23 extra-base hits and 37 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 went up against Utah Tech this weekend. He went 1-for-5 with a double on Friday. He had a 2-for-5 night on Saturday, with a grand slam. He had just one hit on Sunday, but it was another grand slam.
He’s hitting .424 in 34 games, with 12 doubles, four triples, four homers and 15 walks.
Here’s his Saturday homer
Here’s the Sunday homer. Check the score
Shortstop Jacob Gonzalez from Ole Miss needed to keep up his recent hot streak to have any chance at the #1 spot. He was unable to do that against a top team. He faced Paul Skenes on Friday night. Gonzalez struck out in the first and the fourth, then hit a fly out in the fifth, going 0-for-3 against the top pitcher. He was hit by a pitch in the eighth after Skenes left. He went 1-for-4 with a double on Saturday. He went 2-for-5 on Sunday, with two singles and a run.
He is hitting .331 in 40 games, with 16 doubles, seven homers, 30 walks and eight HBP.
Walker 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. He has been walked a ton this year, so the video highlights are few and far between. Here’s a recent home run he crushed
Max Clark has been added to our watch recently. The Indiana outfielder was profiled here in our fifth article for the series. His season started on April 1st, so there’s still not much to go on yet that isn’t in his recent profile. As with Jenkins, stats will be added when possible. Clark didn’t have any specific stats available over the last week, but these videos were posted since our last check-in
After a big top of the inning for the Warriors, @maxxclarkk13 blast a home run to right center to kick things off for the Grizzly Cubs. @GoGrizzlyCubs pic.twitter.com/HQ6kuMoinl
— Grizzly Cub Network (@GrizzlyCubNet) April 18, 2023
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