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 eighth weekly recap of the weekend action for the top college draft prospects.
If you missed it from Saturday, we had a look at two new draft prospect rankings. If you are following our draft coverage, you might recognize all of the names they mention.
Dylan Crews was our first draft prospect profile. The LSU outfielder went 0-for-3 with a walk in a shocking loss to Nicholls during a mid-week game. He then took on Alabama over the weekend, starting with a 2-for-4 night on Friday, when he hit his 12th homer and drove in four runs. He also added a walk. Crews went 2-for-4 on Saturday, with two singles, two runs, an RBI and a walk.
He went 2-for-3 on Sunday, with a homer, three RBIs and two walks. He’s hitting .490 in 43 games, with 12 doubles, 13 homers, 49 walks and ten HBP.
Here’s his wall-scraper from Friday night
Dilly Dilly@__dc4__ | SECN pic.twitter.com/qa5HMUyYNf
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) April 28, 2023
Here’s his Sunday homer
Beautiful day for a rocket launch
LSU right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes is a top five draft prospect, with many sources now ranking him second. He was our fourth prospect profile. His last three starts have been his worst of the year, though none would qualify as bad. He took on Alabama on Friday and had a strong performance, going six innings on one run, five hits, no walks and nine strikeouts. The only possible downside here is that he threw 109 pitches over those six frames.
Skenes in now 8-1, 1.93 in 65.1 innings, with a .159 BAA and a 124:12 SO/BB ratio.
Here’s a video. It’s just one pitch, but they show three different angles
Pauly Strikeouts@Paul_Skenes | SECN pic.twitter.com/vNob0VdlAo
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) April 28, 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 Mississippi State this week. Dollander hasn’t been performing as hoped this year, and this outing won’t help his case. It appears that his #1 hopes have completely slipped after going three innings on Friday, with four runs on five hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
Dollander is now 5-4, 4.24 in 57.1 innings, with a .229 BAA and 82 strikeouts.
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 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored against North Florida in the mid-week game. He then took on Missouri over the weekend.
He went 1-for-3 with a walk, stolen base and RBI on Friday. He went 3-for-5, with three singles and three RBIs on Saturday. He went 4-for-5 with a double and a homer on Sunday. He’s hitting .397/.536/.765 through 38 games, with 14 doubles, three triples and ten homers.
Here’s the Sunday homer
Wyatt Langford. Future millionaire.
425ft homer to give the Gators the lead pic.twitter.com/6r16zuyPd6
— 11Point7: The College Baseball Podcast
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 Oregon State on Monday, when he went 0-for-3 in a 12-3 loss. GCU had two games against Long Beach State and two against Nevada over the weekend. He went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs on Friday.
Wilson went 3-for-4, with a double, walk and an RBI in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday. He had an 0-for-5 night in the second game, though he had a run, RBI and stolen base in the game. He went 2-for-4, with a homer and two RBIs on Sunday. He’s hitting .412/.463/.654 in 39 games, with 23 extra-base hits and five strikeouts in 175 plate appearances.
Here’s the homer, which should have been caught, but at least you get to see Wilson’s speed around the bases
Round those bases, @jacobwilsonn22!
It's an inside-the-parker to plate two Lopes runs.
3-0 Lopes, mid 5. pic.twitter.com/2pJIxwyeqT
— Grand Canyon Baseball (@GCU_Baseball) April 30, 2023
Shortstop Jacob Gonzalez from Ole Miss has probably lost his shot at going #1 by now, but he could be helped by finishing strong. He has to do better than the 0-for-4 he had against Mississippi State on Monday. He played Georgia over the weekend. Gonzalez went 0-for-4 with an RBI on Friday. He was 1-for-3 with a single and HBP on Saturday. He went 1-for-3 on Sunday, with a home run, three runs, two RBIs and two walks.
He’s hitting .315/.442/.562 in 44 games, with 16 doubles and eight homers
Here’s his Sunday homer
Jog Mode: Engage
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 video of him from the past week, lining a triple into the gap
@DiamondHeels Commit, Walker Jenkins (@WalkerJenkins6) launching the ball into the gap for a 2 run triple! pic.twitter.com/9EFAPfCAst
— Hype (@ShotByHype) April 27, 2023
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 had two hits this week in a game, including a triple. Video is shown here. At the time he had a .615/.776/1.179 slash line through 15 games.
‘23 OF Max Clark with another outstanding night at the dish, going 2 for 3 w/ a 3B & RBI
The @VandyBoys recruit is slashing .615/.776/1.179 through 15 games for @FCHS___Baseball @maxxclarkk13 || @ShooterHunt #MLBDraft pic.twitter.com/FNOHT84k6b
— PBR Indiana (@PBRIndiana) April 27, 2023
