Andrew Abbott

Abbott ranked as the No. 132 prospect in the 2020 class and was one of many players who expected to hear his name called but got squeezed out of the shortened five-round draft. He might look back one day and be thankful for that, as Abbott has transitioned into Virginia’s Friday night role after being an excellent reliever for three years and tremendously improved his draft stock. Abbott posted a 2.85 ERA in 15 starts and 94.2 innings, while sitting near the top of the leaderboard in the country with 142 strikeouts (13.5 K/9) compared to just 29 walks (2.8 BB/9). He doesn’t have a classic starter’s frame—listed at 6 feet, 180 pounds—but has a solid three-pitch mix fronted by a fastball/curveball combination that has proven lethal in the ACC. Abbott sits around 90-91 mph with his fastball but has been up in the 95-98 mph range a handful of times. The pitch plays up thanks to some of the best riding life in the class, though, and he has some of the best whiff rates against his fastball of any college arm in the class. His go-to secondary is an upper-70s, 12-to-6 breaking ball that plays well off his fastball and is at least an above-average offering and this spring he’s more than doubled the usage of a mid-80s changeup that has developed well and gives him a solid third pitch. Abbott was coached by big league reliever Billy Wagner in high school and has the mentality to succeed in the bullpen, but there’s no reason a team shouldn’t try him out as a starter given his success this spring. It would be surprising to see him get past the third round.