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 11th weekly recap of the weekend action for the top college draft prospects. It’s also the final weekend of the regular season, but there will be plenty more coverage.
If you missed it from this week, we had a look at a new mock draft. We also took a look at the remaining schedule for the top college players. As a reminder, the Pirates have the highest draft bonus pool this year.
Dylan Crews was our first draft prospect profile. The LSU outfielder has struggled over the last three weeks. He went 1-for-5 with a single against McNeese in a mid-week game. He went 2-for-7 against Georgia on Thursday, with a homer and a single, as well as three strikeouts. He went 1-for-4 with a single, RBI and HBP on Friday. Crews went 1-for-5 on Saturday to finish the season, striking out three times again.
He finished up with a .423/.573/.716 slash line in 272 plate appearances, with 13 doubles, 14 homers and 56 walks.
Here’s his Thursday homer:
Dylan Crews: Properly Rated@__dc4__ | SECN+ pic.twitter.com/ASucGxnR8d
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) May 19, 2023
LSU right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes is a top five draft prospect, with almost all sources now ranking him second. He was our fourth prospect profile. He went seven innings on Thursday against Georgia, with two runs on four hits, one walk and 12 strikeouts.
He is now 10-1, 1.77 in 86.2 innings, with a .161 BAA and a 164:15 SO/BB ratio.
Here’s a video that goes out on a limb by saying he is a potential top five pick
RHP Paul Skenes (LSU, 2023) works a 1-2-3 bottom of the first vs Georgia. FB: 96-98 with late tail, CH: 87 with vertical separation off the FB, SL: 84-85 with plus sweeping life. Locating his FB very well, operation smooth and low effort. Potential top 5 overall pick. pic.twitter.com/DuTVxmbSyq
— Will Hoefer (@whoeferbaseball) May 18, 2023
Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford has a chance to go #1. He was our sixth draft prospect profile. He has been rated near the top all year, with some giving him the tools advantage over Crews. Langford went 3-for-5 on Thursday against Kentucky, with two doubles, three runs and two RBIs. He then homered twice on Friday. He finished up quietly on Saturday, going 0-for-4.
He finished the regular season hitting .399/.527/.827 in 48 games, with 20 doubles, 16 homers and 44 walks. He was trailing Crews in OPS for most of the season, but he ended up finishing 65 points higher.
Here’s a defensive highlight from Langford, and it’s a beauty:
HOW 'BOUT THAT WYATT LANGFORD
Here’s a homer from Friday:
Just an unbelievable swing by Wyatt Langford for his 2nd Home Run of the day. Easy plus bat speed, extends beautifully through the baseball, and really finishes his swing. Big fan of his backside and back knee drop. Epitome of "controlled violence." pic.twitter.com/ctenojMreC
— Peter Flaherty III (@PeterGFlaherty) May 20, 2023
Here’s another homer from Friday:
Once again, it’s not crazy to take Wyatt Langford first overall. He’s just that good. pic.twitter.com/BdgsoGdruN
— Jacob Rudner (@JacobRudner) May 19, 2023
Walker Jenkins was our third player profile article. He is one of the clear cut top five guys in this draft class. I couldn’t find anything new on him from the last week, so here’s a video Baseball America shared before the season.
Prep outfielder Max Clark was profiled here in our fifth article for the series. He is also among that top five in this class. He played a game on Friday in which he went 1-for-2 with a triple and three walks. Here’s the triple. The reporter who shared the tweet said that the opposing pitcher was hitting low 90s.
Max Clark smokes this RBI triple into left center field. University leads 8-3. pic.twitter.com/67mkjEgE0w
— Akeem Glaspie (@THEAkeemGlaspie) May 19, 2023
The Other Top Ten Prospects
The players above are the five players to follow now, as they have pulled away from the pack (see top five link above in the Jenkins recap). I still included the other three players who we have covered all year, just in case you were following along with them. These three could make up the 6-8 picks of the draft.
Jacob Wilson from Grand Canyon University had a long shot at being the #1 going into the year, but he’s still a top ten prospect. The son of former Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson went up against California Baptist this weekend. He went 1-for-4 with a solo homer and a walk on Thursday. He was 1-for-4 on Friday, followed by a 3-for-5 night on Saturday, with two RBIs.
He batted .425/.473/.665 in 45 regular season games, with 27 extra-base hits and five strikeouts in 203 plate appearances.
Here’s the Thursday homer:
Jacob Wilson gives @GCU_Baseball the 3-2 lead with this solo blast pic.twitter.com/MTFLnHVxIn
— D1Baseball (@d1baseball) May 19, 2023
Shortstop Jacob Gonzalez from Ole Miss has been ranked recently somewhere between five and ten for everyone in this draft class. He hasn’t hit enough to move up the draft charts, but he isn’t dropping either. He played Alabama this weekend, going 0-for-4 on Thursday. They played a Friday doubleheader in which he went 3-for-4 with a homer in the first game, followed by a 1-for-4 game.
He finished his regular season hitting .327/.435/.564 in 54 games, with 18 doubles, ten homers and 35 walks.
Here’s his home run:
Turn on one, Gonzo!
Chase Dollander is considered by many to still be the second best pitcher in the class right now behind Skenes. We took a closer look at him in our second prospect profile. The University of Tennessee right-hander went up against South Carolina in his final regular season game and he did well, allowing two runs on two hits in 5.1 innings, with no walks and 13 strikeouts. Reports say he was sitting 95-97 MPH, hitting 98 at times.
He finished up the regular season with a 6-6, 4.28 record over 73.2 innings, with 107 strikeouts, 25 walks and a .232 BAA.
