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 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 2-for-5, with two singles and a walk in a mid-week game against Tulane. He went 0-for-2, with two walks and a HBP in the first game of a three-game series against Kentucky. He went 2-for-2, with a double, two walks, three runs and an RBI on Friday. He was 1-for-3 with a single and two walks on Saturday. He’s hitting .500/.648/.842 in 35 games, with 12 doubles, nine homers, 39 walks and nine HBPs.
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 had his first rough start of the season last Thursday against South Carolina, allowing three runs (two earned) on two hits (both homers) in three innings.
His start against Kentucky this Thursday wasn’t his best performance either. He went six innings, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits, one walk and 13 strikeouts. Skenes is 6-1, 1.69 in nine starts this year, with a .150 BAA and a 104:10 SO/BB ratio in 53.1 innings.
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 Arkansas on Saturday and had a mediocre outing, allowing three runs (two earned) on two hits and two walks, while striking out eight batters. He needed 93 pitches to get through his somewhat limited outing.
Dollander now has a 4-4, 4.18 record in 47.1 innings, with a .220 BAA and 71 strikeouts.
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.
Langford went 1-for-3 with a single and a walk in a mid-week game against Florida State. Florida faced Georgia for three games over the weekend. He went 2-for-3 with two runs, three walks and a stolen base on Friday. He was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts on Saturday. He went 2-for-4 with two singles and a HBP on Sunday. He’s hitting .377/.537/.783 in 30 games, with ten doubles, three triples, nine homers and 34 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 didn’t play last weekend because he was hit on the hand with a pitch last weekend. There were no breaks, so he was able to return this weekend, after missing about ten days total.
He came off of the bench on Friday and singled in his only at-bat. He went 3-for-5 with a double, walk and three runs on Saturday against Abilene Christian. He went 1-for-4 with two walks and a stolen base on Sunday. He’s hitting .464 in 29 games, with 11 doubles, four triples, two homers, 14 walks and five strikeouts in 130 plate appearances.
Shortstop Jacob Gonzalez from Ole Miss is another name to watch, though he needs to keep up his recent hot streak to have any chance at the #1 spot. He put up strong stats over the past two weeks after a slow start to the season. This week he went 0-for-4 with a walk on Tuesday against Memphis. He played a second mid-week game against Alcorn State, going 1-for-2 with a double and four RBIs. Two of the RBIs came on sacrifice flies.
Gonzalez played a weekend series against Mississippi State. He went 1-for-5 on Friday with a solo homer. He went 2-for-4 with two doubles, two RBIs and a walk on Saturday. He was 2-for-3 on Sunday, with a double and two walks. He’s now hitting .348/.477/.621 in 36 games.
Here’s Friday’s homer
Just kidding. We found a workaround for clips.
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. He has been walked a ton this year, so the video highlights are tough to come by. He had a double during a mid-week game that can be seen here.
‘23 Walker Jenkins | South Brunswick@DiamondHeels recruit
Smokes this ball through the wind to RCF for a 2B@SbhsBaseball @ShooterHunt #MLBDraft pic.twitter.com/uC4lSOre5M
— PBR North Carolina (@PrepBaseballNC) April 10, 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 April 1st, 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, the hit his first homer of the year a few days later. In his first eight games this year, he is 14-for-21, with six extra-base hits and 14 walks.
