Dylan Lesko

Lesko has been paving his way as the top pitching prospect in the 2022 class for years now. His track record of performance on the travel circuit and with Buford High in Georgia is exceptional, and he was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year in 2021 as an underclassman after posting a 0.35 ERA over 60 innings with 112 strikeouts. He pitched his way into consensus top pitching prospect status in the 2022 class—college or high school—this spring and was looking like a top-five pick before suffering an elbow injury that required Tommy John surgery. When healthy, Lesko showed a unique combination of power and polish, with three pitches that have flashed plus and two which consistently reach that grade. His arsenal is headlined by a fastball routinely in the mid 90s that touches 97, with impressive riding life that plays nicely at the top of the zone. While the velocity is impressive, Lesko’s touch and feel for the pitch and his ability to locate it in the zone at will is extremely advanced and the combination of velocity plus command remind many scouts of Josh Beckett at the same time. His best secondary offering is a low-80s bugs bunny changeup that routinely earns double-plus grades and is one of the best changeups the industry has seen from a high school pitcher. He sells the pitch with fastball arm speed and will double and triple up on the pitch for swings and misses in the zone and below it to both lefthanded and righthanded hitters. It’s an elite out pitch presently with no projection necessary. His curveball is less consistent, but also flashes plus at its best. The pitch is a high-spin breaking ball (2,700-3,000 rpm) that varies in shape but shows depth and hard finish when he breaks off a good one. All his stuff comes together with clean arm action and a highly polished delivery that one scout described as “poetry in motion.” Lesko is a standout athlete and would be a strong prospect as a shortstop and hitter if he didn’t pitch, and he still has some projection remaining in a lean, 6-foot-3, 195-pound frame. His injury clouds his draft stock a bit, and a Vanderbilt commitment could make things tricky as well, but there’s no doubting he is the highest upside pitcher in the class.