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 this weekend, we had a look at two new mock drafts here and here. We also took a look at the strengths and weaknesses of this draft class. As a reminder, the Pirates have the highest draft bonus pool this year.
Dylan Crews was our first draft prospect profile. The LSU outfielder went 2-for-5 with a single and a double in a 10-0 win over Southeastern on Tuesday. He had a very quiet night against Auburn on Friday, going 1-for-4 with a single. Saturday wasn’t any better, with an 0-for-4 night, while drawing one walk. He wrapped up his worst weekend (by far) with a 1-for-4 night. He went 2-for-12, with two singles and a walk.
Despite the weekend, he’s hitting .463/.609/.800 through 47 games. His OPS dropped 75 points over the weekend.
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. He hit a little rough patch of three starts that weren’t up to par for him, before getting on track last week against Alabama. He stayed on track against Auburn on Friday, going 7.1 scoreless on six hits, one walk and 15 strikeouts.
He is now 9-1, 1.73 in 72.2 innings, with a .165 BAA and a 139:13 SO/BB ratio.
Have fun watching 14 strikeout pitches
14 of Paul Skenes' 15 strikeouts vs. Auburn. pic.twitter.com/FOsjPMcrX1
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 6, 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 Georgia on Saturday. He allowed three runs on eight hits, two walks and six strikeouts in six innings.
He now has a 5-5, 4.26 record, 88 strikeouts and a .240 BAA in 63.1 innings.
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-3 on Tuesday against Florida State, with a homer, two walks and a stolen base.
He played Texas A&M over the weekend, starting with a 2-for-3 night on Friday, with a double, walk and a stolen base. He was 0-for-3 on Saturday, as Florida got spanked 15-2 in seven innings with their ace on the mound. Langford went 1-for-3 with a homer and a walk on Sunday.
He’s now hitting .399/.538/.784 over 42 games, with 30 extra-base hits and 42 walks.
Here’s the Sunday homer. A memorial service will be held for this baseball
⛈️ BRING. THE. THUNDER. ⛈️#GoGators //
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 Arizona on Tuesday, when he went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs. He left the game early due to getting injured on a headfirst slide into first base. He played just one game of a Saturday doubleheader and left in the fourth inning after going 2-for-2 with two doubles. He did not play on Sunday.
Wilson is hitting .427/.475/.682 in 41 games, with five strikeouts in 179 plate appearances.
Here’s a defensive play from Tuesday
Jacob WILSON making a great play at shortstop? You don’t say
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 Little Rock on Tuesday, where he went 2-for-4, with two singles and a walk.
He had a weekend series against Missouri, which started with a 2-for-5 night on Thursday, including a home run. He went 2-for-5 on Friday, collecting a double. He finished things off by going 2-for-4 on Saturday, with a double, walk and five RBIs. He’s now hitting .330/.447/.581 in 48 games, with 18 doubles, nine homers and 34 walks.
Here’s the Thursday homer
The Real Deal
Here’s the Friday double
One pitch, two bases. @JakeGonzalez717 smacks the game's first offering for extra bases. pic.twitter.com/2TIxBG2Yjo
— Ole Miss Baseball (@OleMissBSB) May 5, 2023
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. He played his final regular season home game on Thursday. He had a stand-up triple in the game, but no other details.
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 went 2-for-3 on Friday, which boosted him to a .638 average. He also had a walk and two steals. He had a 2.039 OPS going into the game.
Here’s one of his Friday hits
Max Clark wasting no time making his presence known. Ringing single to right with one out in the top of the first. pic.twitter.com/ZWAoiiT1Bg
— Jim Gordillo (@JimGordillo) May 5, 2023
