Gavin Cross

Cross was one of the breakout stars in college baseball in 2021 with Virginia Tech. He hit .345/.415/.621 with 11 home runs, 13 doubles and five triples, then followed that up by being the most consistent hitter with USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team over the summer. In fact, he’s been tremendously consistent as a hitter throughout his collegiate career, never hitting below .300 for the Hokies and turning in a .318/.399/.627 line in 2022, with a career-best 14 home runs, while adding 13 doubles and 11 stolen bases. Cross is a large and physical, 6-foot-3, 210-pound outfielder who primarily played right field before transitioning solidly to the everyday center field job during his junior season. While moving to the middle of the outfield, Cross also showed an improved approach at the plate as a junior, cutting his strikeout rate from 20% in 2021 to 14% in 2022 and boosting his walk rate from 7% to 11%. While Cross has made improvements, scouts still view him as a power-over-hit lefthanded bat, thanks to a long-striding, low bat path that has been exploited at times and a tendency to chase out of the zone—though he showed progress in this area in 2022. While most of his power came to the pull side, Cross has easy plus juice and can homer to the opposite field, with exit velocity numbers that stack up with (and in many cases surpass) the elite college hitters in the class. Cross has annihilated fastballs—including impressive results against 93-plus mph velocity—but does swing and miss against breaking stuff and offspeed offerings, which could cap his overall hitting upside at the next level. Cross profiles as a corner outfielder at the next level despite his impressive showing in center with Virginia Tech, where he is an average runner and fielder with a big, plus throwing arm that could allow him to profile as a classic powerful, lefthanded-hitting right fielder. Given his track record of performance in both the ACC and with Team USA, as well as his power and physicality, Cross should be drafted somewhere among the top 15 picks.