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.
At this stage, the draft is very much up in the air. 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 fifth weekly recap of the weekend action for the top college draft prospects.
Dylan Crews was our first draft prospect profile. The LSU outfielder went 3-for-5 on Friday against Arkansas, with his seventh homer, two RBIs and a run scored. He went 3-for-4 with a homer, a HBP, two runs and two RBIs in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader. He went 2-for-4 with a homer, four runs, three RBIs and a walk in the second game. He’s hitting .531/.658/.988 in 24 games, with ten doubles, nine homers and 26 walks.
Here’s the Friday home run
Dylan Crews shows why he may be the top pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. ⚾️
Here’s another homer
It's a beautiful day to go yard.@__dc4__ | SECN pic.twitter.com/TIBtbQ5SxX
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) March 25, 2023
Here’s the third homer
That's four HR's in four games for 3️⃣@__dc4__ | SECN+ pic.twitter.com/c4F14CEMuV
— LSU Baseball (@LSUbaseball) March 26, 2023
LSU right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes is a top ten draft prospect, who is off to a tremendous start. He was our fourth prospect profile. He continued that strong pitching on Friday against Arkansas, going seven innings on one run, two hits, three walks and 12 strikeouts. He’s 5-0, 0.72 in 37.1 innings, with an 0.56 WHIP, a .112 BAA and 71 strikeouts.
Here are some highlights
Paul Skenes' 1st Inning.
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 Texas A&M on Friday, trying to rebound from his worst college start. He had a bit of a bounce back against Texas A&M, but he wasn’t dominant. He went 6.2 innings, with three runs on three hits, two walks and eight strikeouts. He is 4-2, 3.93 in 34.1 innings, with a .228 BAA and an 8:53 BB/SO ratio.
Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford has a chance to go #1. He was recently 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. However, Langford is out of action for at least another month after injuring himself by getting hit with a foul ball off of his own bat. That’s going to cost him some big opportunities to prove himself in front of scouts.
Jacob Wilson from Grand Canyon University has a long shot at being the #1, but he’s still a top ten prospect now. The son of former Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson had a series against Sam Houston this weekend. He went 0-for-3 with an RBI and a walk on Friday. He went 4-for-7 on Saturday in a high scoring/extra-innings contest. He had a double, two runs and three RBIs. Wilson went 4-for-4 with a double and run scored on Sunday. He has a .495 average in 24 games, with ten doubles, four triples, two homers, six walks and four strikeouts in 99 plate appearances.
Shortstop Jacob Gonzalez from Ole Miss is another name to watch. He played against Florida this weekend in a big test, starting with a doubleheader on Saturday. He went 1-for-4 with a double, walk, RBI and run scored in game one. He went 1-for-5 with a run scored in game two. Gonzalez went 1-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a walk on Sunday. He’s hitting .326/.466/.543 in 24 games.
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.
Here’s a video where Baseball America talks about him and shares highlights. They give Jenkins an Austin Meadows comp, but don’t let that scare you off just because Meadows is 28 years old with 6.7 career WAR. He’s been hurt a lot in his career. No one is drafting Jenkins in the first round hoping for that outcome as a ceiling. The comp is based on the tools from a lefty swinging high school outfielder, though their arm strength puts them in completely different area codes. Jenkins has a plus arm, which you can see here. The rest of the comp fits.
