2023 MLB Stock Watch: Thoughts On 30 Players From The College Baseball Showdown

Brayden Taylor, 3B, Texas Christian (No. 9)

The top-ranked player in the field, Taylor entered the season with high expectations for his offensive performance given his strong track record in 2021 and 2022 and his reputation as one of the best pure hitters in the class. He lived up to that label and led the Horned Frogs with a .583/.706/.917 (7-for-12) weekend that included a home run, a double and five walks to three strikeouts.

More than any physical tools, Taylor stands out for his extremely professional approach and advanced batting eye. He’s not simply a passive hitter who is looking to draw a walk, instead employing a selectively aggressive approach where he’s looking for specific pitches and fires off his swing looking to do damage while ahead. That said, Taylor has fast hands and a clean swing from the left side and did damage against fastballs and breaking balls over the weekend. 

His most impressive hit came in a 1-0 count when he saw an 84 mph slider that didn’t slide enough and deposited the pitch deep into the right field seats for his first home run of the season. 

Defensively, Taylor looked adequate at the hot corner with solid defensive actions and hands. He made one nice play ranging to his left on a slow chopper and made a quick exchange to get a 4.14-second runner down the first base line, but on another occasion he botched a solidly-hit ground ball to his forehand that a big league third baseman should make. He has the requisite arm strength for the position and moved better than I expected him to overall, with one 4.16-second home-to-first time on a ground ball—a 55-grade time for a lefthanded hitter. 

Enrique Bradfield, OF, Vanderbilt (No. 11)

It was a quiet opening weekend for the most dynamic runner in the country, as Bradfield went just 1-for-11 (.091) with a single, two walks and three strikeouts. His one hit came on an 87 mph fastball which he squared up and hit on a line to straight away center field, but for the most part, he made inconsistent contact and got under softly hit fly balls or rolled over pitches and hit them on the ground, with few opportunities to turn those ground balls into infield hits with his blazing speed. 

Bradfield did showcase how disruptive he could be on the bases in the several instances when he was on, however. He stole one base easily and then tagged from second and advanced to third on a fairly routine fly out to left field that many players probably wouldn’t even think about attempting to tag up on.

In center field he showed impressive ability to track back to the gaps on deep fly balls and line drives—as would be expected from the player scouting directors voted as the best athlete, best defensive outfielder and fastest runner in the country.

Juaron Watts-Brown, RHP, Oklahoma State (No. 35)

Watts-Brown made his first start for Oklahoma State after transferring from Long Beach State, and it was a mixed bag. He threw four innings on Friday against Missouri and struck out six while walking just one, but allowed seven hits and three earned runs. 

Watts-Brown has a lean and skinny frame, but he’s a solid athlete on the mound with good mobility. He throws with a clean and loose arm action that comes through with a three-quarter slot, with slight crossfiring action and good balance throughout his finish. In this outing Watts-Brown pitched in the 89-93 mph range and touched 94 in the first inning. He threw a mid-80s slider, an 85-88 mph changeup and an occasional curveball around 80-82.

Watts-Brown’s slider was his best pitch in this outing, a power breaking ball with solid tilt that generated whiffs against both lefthanders and righthanders when he kept the pitch down. It flashed above-average, but at times when he left the pitch up or to his arm side it could back up and flatten out and become more hittable. The same was true of his changeup, which induced a few ugly swings at times, but got squared up when he left it too high in the zone. 

He was more control than command in this effort, as he was generally around the zone with all of his pitches, but too frequently found himself behind in counts, and that control backed up in the third and fourth innings when he began missing more frequently with both his fastball and slider—which led to more hard-hit balls in play. 

Marcus Brown, SS, Oklahoma State (No. 55)

Brown is a defense-first shortstop prospect who hit in the No. 7 spot for Oklahoma State during the opening weekend and went just 1-for-9 with four strikeouts and a walk. Brown has a compact and filled out 6-foot, 187-pound frame and didn’t show much raw power in batting practice. He’s a contact-hitting profile at the plate, but he had a quiet weekend with the bat and showed some swing-and-miss tendencies against secondary pitches—with two whiffs against sliders, one against a curveball and two more on back-to-back changeups.

He mostly looked the part at shortstop, where he showed solid defensive actions and arm strength, with a few nice plays on the run and one impressive play in the hole when he was able to throw out a 4.05-second runner. Brown looked like he read hops well and put himself in solid positions to throw, with a good internal clock, a quick exchange when necessary and good arm strength—though he did have less than ideal accuracy on a few off-balance throws, though both plays were still made. He made one error on a potential double play when he got eaten up on a fairly routine ball that took a tough short hop.

Nolan McLean, RHP/OF, Oklahoma State (No. 153)

McLean has power as a hitter and a pitcher and showcased some of the most impressive raw power in batting practice at the event, with at least plus raw power that plays to all fields. Pitchers didn’t give McLean much to hit all weekend, and to McLean’s credit he was mostly fine to take his free passes as they came (he walked six times and struck out twice), but he did tap into his power on Saturday against Vanderbilt, when lefthander Ryan Ginther threw a 93 mph fastball that got a bit too much of the heart of the plate in a 3-2 count. McLean hammered the ball to right-center.

McLean is a below-average runner whose arm strength is a real asset in right field—he had two close calls on impressive throws to the plate—and seems to have a decent eye, albeit with real contact questions.

As such, many teams prefer him as a pitcher (the Orioles drafted him as a righthander in the third round in 2022) and he made one appearance on the mound over the weekend, closing a Friday night win over Missouri. 

McLean threw just 16 pitches in total and mostly used a 94-96 mph fastball to overpower the Missouri hitters. He generated four whiffs with the pitch and although he missed with it a few times to his arm side, it was more than enough to get a quick inning. He allowed one hard-hit single on a 78 mph breaking ball he threw, and also showed a 90-92 mph cutter.

Hunter Hollan, LHP, Arkansas (161)

The 2023 class seems weaker than normal for lefthanded pitchers, so there’s a great opportunity for players like Hollan to raise their stock. After pitching two years with San Jacinto (Texas) JC, Hollan is now a weekend starter for Arkansas, and threw four solid innings against Oklahoma State on Sunday. 

Hollan has a tall and lean pitching frame, listed at 6-foot-5, 200 pounds, and while he had a bit of length in his arm action, he showed good arm speed and a solid operation overall. He throws from a three-quarter slot and has a tick of crossfiring action in his delivery, with solid stuff and feel to spin multiple breaking balls. 

Hollan pitched in the 92-95 mph range in the first inning, before settling down to 88-92 for the next three innings. His fastball has a bit of sinking life, and his best swing-and-miss pitch was a slider in the 82-87 mph range with solid sweeping action that flashed hard, late turn at its best. Hollan also deployed a 1-to-7 curveball in the mid 70s that had solid spin and depth, but it lacked sharpness and was more of an early-count strike getter than a pitch to finish at-bats. He also flashed a mid-80s changeup, but didn’t use the pitch frequently.

In total, Hollan threw four innings, allowed three hits, one run and struck out five, while walking a pair of batters. 

Cam Brown, RHP, Texas Christian (No. 175)

Brown got the Saturday start for TCU against Arkansas and was pulled from the game after just 1.2 innings of work. He got roughed up to the tune of five hits, including a pair of home runs, and four earned runs. He struck out one batter and walked one. 

Brown has a large, wide frame and threw four different pitches in this brief start: A 92-95 mph fastball that touched 96, an upper-80s cutter that blended into a low-80s slider at times and a firm changeup that he used only briefly and didn’t show much feel for. 

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound righty struggled to command his fastball throughout this outing, and was never able to make an adjustment, while his cutter more often than not started to his arm side before sliding over the heart of the plate, where hitters were able to do plenty of damage against it.

He’ll need to either sharpen his command or add something slower to keep hitters off his fastball/cutter combo moving forward.

Hunter Owen, LHP, Vanderbilt (178)

Owen started on Saturday against Oklahoma State and threw four innings with three hits and two earned runs, while striking out six and walking three. He was scattered with his control throughout this outing, but generated a good amount of whiffs with a lively fastball that was in the 93-96 mph range throughout the outing. 

The heater was far and away his best whiff-getter, but he also flashed a decent curveball every once in a while—an upper-70s breaking ball with 1-to-7 shape that flashed solid depth and finish at times, but was also too loopy and soft at others. He mixed in a mid-80s slider with short sweeping action that got more depth to his glove side as well as an 86-87 mph changeup that generated a few weak ground balls.

Roc Riggio, 2B, Oklahoma State (No. 183)

Riggio was a standout hitting prospect out of high school and has established himself as a standout bat at the college level as well. He had a strong weekend and led Oklahoma State in hitting, with a .364/.462/.364 line and plenty of hard hit-balls that didn’t wind up falling for hits.

A firebrand of a player, Riggio was loudly booed by a large Arkansas crowd all weekend, thanks to his home run trots against the team last June, and seemed to thrive under the scrutiny. Against Arkansas, he went 1-for-2 with a loud single in his first plate appearance that would have been a double had he not tripped after rounding the first base bag (much to the enjoyment of Razorback supporters), a hit by pitch in his second trip to the plate (again, Arkansas fans loved this) and a loud fly out in his third plate appearance that came off his bat at 106 mph.

Riggio is small, at 5-foot-9, 180 pounds, but he has plenty of strength and impressive power that plays to the pull side. He was a barrel machine all weekend and while he showed a bit of swing-and-miss against spin, he impressed with the bat and also made all of the routine plays he needed to make at second base.

Other Notable 2023 Prospects

Texas Christian

• Righthander Ryan Vanderhei got the nod in TCU’s Friday game against Vanderbilt, and he pitched five solid innings, allowing two hits and three earned runs while striking out three and walking none, though he did hit a pair of batters. Vanderhei is a tall righty who stands 6-foot-6, 185 pounds. He doesn’t have the loosest arm action you’ll see, but drove a lot of ground balls and weak contact with a fastball/slider/changeup combination. He touched 97 mph in the first inning, but settled into 90-94 mph for the most part, and showed good feel for a mid-80s slider that showed occasional hard and late turn and was a consistent pitch. He broke out a mid-80s changeup during his second time through the order and did a nice job spotting it down in the zone.
• Center fielder Elijah Nunez went 6-for-12 (.500) at the plate with a double and a pair of stolen bases. He consistently turned in above-average run times from home-to-first and covered a decent amount of ground in the outfield, though on one occasion he let a ball drop in shallow center that he probably should have been able to catch with a better first step and more intentional closing speed. Nunez did a nice job driving fastballs on a line and should be able to get plenty of doubles with a handsy swing, though it’s not geared for much home run power and he showed a tendency to get out in front on secondary pitches. 
• Kurtis Byrne caught and DH’d for TCU over the weekend and I liked his defensive actions. He threw out one runner with a 2.11-second pop time and actually had a better throw to second on a successful stolen base, which was taken almost entirely with a great jump on the pitcher, with a 1.97-second pop and an on-line throw. Byrne is in his fourth year with the program and has some strength and raw power offensively, though I wonder how often he’ll be able to get to it with a super low handset and bat speed that I questioned after he was consistently late on fastballs. 
• Tre Richardson showed plenty of quick-twitch on both sides of the ball as TCU’s starting second baseman. He went 4-for-11 (.364) with a double and a stolen base, and I liked his feel for the barrel offensively. He did a nice job finding the sweet spot against fastballs and a curveball, and also made a few slick defensive plays. He made a sliding stop on a hard-hit ground ball up the middle before popping to his feet and making an acrobatic spin and throw to first to get a 4.44-second runner and later showed fast hands to corral a high throw to second base and make a quick tag.

Vanderbilt 

• Left fielder Calvin Hewett impressed on both sides of the ball over the weekend for Vandy. He found plenty of barrels at the plate, made a highlight-reel diving catch in left field and showed good tracking ability on a fly ball deep down the line and also showed speed and instincts on the bases. He turned in a 4.18-second home-to-first time, which is a plus grade for a righthanded hitter, and overall went 3-for-11 (.273) with a triple, a double and was 4-for-4 in stolen base attempts. 
• Righthander Grayson Moore was draft-eligible in 2022, when he took a big step forward with velocity. He has a great frame and great pure stuff, but couldn’t harness any of it in his one-inning relief appearance against TCU. Moore pitched with a 90-95 mph fastball, showed great spin on a 70-73 mph 12-to-6 curve and flashed a 10-to-4 slider at 80-81. He also hit a pair of batters and threw his curveball behind a lefthanded hitter. 
• Righthander Nick Maldonado pitched one scoreless inning to close out a win against Oklahoma State. He has a 6-foot-1, 207-pound frame and pitches from the first base side of the rubber and showed a good fastball/slider combination. The fastball was 93-94 mph and the slider was 83-88 mph with varied shape and power. 

Arkansas

• Jared Wegner is a fifth-year senior who previously played with Creighton, but he was an absolute barrel machine over the weekend and finished the tournament as the leading hitter on Arkansas’ high-octane offense. He went 6-for-11 (.545) with a pair of home runs and a double and was consistently producing 100-plus mph exit velocities and turning on baseballs with authority to the left side.
• The leadoff man and center fielder for Arkansas, Tavian Josenberger is a switch-hitter who had a strong game against Oklahoma State, when he went 2-for-4 with a double and a home run on a 95 mph fastball. I liked Josenberger’s swing better from the left side. His right side swing looked overly steep and less easy, and he looked like an above-average runner as well. 

Missouri

• Like Wenger, Luke Mann is an old guy who mashed over the weekend. The leadoff hitter and third baseman for Missouri in his fifth year with the team, Mann went 5-for-15 with one home run and a pair of doubles, as well as a few nice plays at third base. He’s got a pull-heavy approach but showed a solid eye and battled through a few tough at-bats, including one left-on-left matchup against TCU lefthander Ben Abeldt (who I touch on below) where he hit a hard single against a 93 mph fastball.

2024 Prospects

Hagen Smith, LHP, Arkansas (2024, No. 25)

The most impressive arm over the weekend was Smith, who took the ball for Arkansas on Friday against Texas. Smith was a highly regarded prep prospect who dominated the Eastern Texas* competition he faced in high school, and in this outing showed significantly louder stuff than he did a year ago with Arkansas. 

Smith averaged 95 mph on his fastball and didn’t throw a fastball slower than 94 until the fifth inning. He touched 97 at peak velocity and generated whiffs with the pitch in each inning he threw, and he paired it with a hard, slider/cutter that looked like a plus offering. The pitch ranged in velocity from 82-91 mph and looked more like a cutter in the low 90s, with more tilt and depth in the mid 80s. Even as the velocity of the pitch tracked down throughout the outing, it still showed impressive late biting action.

He generally threw both pitches for strikes consistently, though at times he spiked both the fastball and slider. In his final frame in the fifth inning, he got into a bit of trouble after walking back-to-back hitters, but used the slider to finish off a pair of strikeouts to end the game and complete a shutout effort. In addition to the fastball/breaking ball combination, Smith showed a firm changeup around 89-90.

He threw five innings, allowed one hit and run while striking out eight and walking two. Smith worked from the first base side of the rubber and threw with some effort and a bit of head whack, with some herky-jerky actions overall, but with a compact arm action and three-quarter slot he repeated fairly well. 

*Editor’s note: we previously referred to Eastern Tennessee for Smith’s high school competition. That was incorrect and has been fixed.

• Vanderbilt lefthander Carter Holton (No. 9) didn’t have his best stuff over the weekend. He threw 3.2 innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits, two walked batters and a pair of hit batters against a strong TCU team. He threw a fastball in the 91-95 mph range and touched 96, but he had no command or feel for the pitch throughout and consistently missed high. He does have solid feel to spin a breaking ball, and threw both a low-80s slider and a mid-to-upper 70s curveball that he had better feel for than his fastball. He flashed one 85 mph changeup in the fourth inning but spiked the pitch. 
• Anthony Silva (No. 95) would have ranked as a top-200 prospect in the 2022 class, but he opted out of the draft and is now TCU’s starting shortstop as a true freshman. He’ll be draft-eligible in 2024 and showed the impressive defensive instincts and actions that scouts praised him for in high school. He made a few tough plays in the hole and on slow rollers in front of him, using an above-average arm when necessary on both play types. He needs to work on his breaking ball recognition, but showed a great swing on a 93 mph fastball from Holton, which he drove to the warning track in straight away center field.
• Arkansas second baseman Peyton Stovall (No. 53) has a reputation as a bat-first, defense-later profile, but it was surprisingly the opposite for him during the College Baseball Showdown. He did hit a few balls hard, but overall went just 2-for-9 (.222) with a pair of singles—though he did walk four times to one strikeout. His defense was impressive throughout the weekend, though, as Stovall not only converted all 16 of his defensive chances, but made a few highlight-reel plays including a diving stop up the middle with a glove flip to second base, a solid play running in on a slow-rolling ground ball and a sliding grab up the middle on a 104 mph ground ball. I wasn’t expecting much from his glove work but came away impressed. 
• Arkansas righthander Brady Tygart (No. 46) entered a one-run game against Texas and completely shut the door on the Longhorns. He came into the game with two runners on and one out in the eighth inning and got out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts: the first coming on a 94 mph fastball and the second on a devastating, 80 mph breaking ball. He then induced a pair of ground outs and struck out the final hitter of the game in the ninth inning. Tygart creates some deception by working from the far third base side of the rubber and he showed good feel for his 93-94 mph fastball and 79-82 mph breaking ball—the latter of which is one of the best breaking pitches in the country and features tremendous movement and two-plane break.
• Righthander Andrew Dutkanych IV (No. 13) was one of the most talented players to make it to campus from the 2022 draft class. He ranked as a top-50 prospect before withdrawing from the draft after a Jekyll and Hyde senior season where he showed elite pure stuff, but with control that eluded him. That was the case for him over the weekend as he walked five batters in just two innings of relief work. He pitched in the 90-95 mph range with his fastball but had no feel for where the pitch was going, and the same was true of a 12-to-6 curveball in the mid 70s with tons of depth that was consistently below the zone. He showed the best feel for a mid-80s slider in this outing, but in total threw just 24 of his 54 pitches for strikes. The arm talent is real, but the control needs to come a long way.
• Justin Colon showed impressive defensive ability at shortstop for Missouri throughout the weekend, though his bat is fairly light currently and he has a lean and skinny frame that doesn’t project for much power. He looked smooth on the double play turn and threw with both power and accuracy while on the run and off-balance on plays up the middle. He went 3-for-10 (.300) with three singles, four strikeouts and a walk.

2025 Prospects

Sam Horn, RHP, Missouri

Horn ranked as the No. 106 prospect in the 2022 draft, but proved a tough sign thanks to a football and baseball commitment to Missouri. He looked electric in his college debut, and threw three shutout innings against TCU on Sunday in a tight game that Missouri eventually won, 9-8. 

Horn struck out three and allowed a pair of hits and walks, but it was the standout arm talent that impressed the most. He has a fantastic frame and stands 6-foot-4, 217 pounds and while his direction to the plate isn’t always ideal, the arm is lively and he showed a pair of potential plus offerings. 

Horn pitched in the 93-96 mph range with his fastball and touched 97 several times, and showed a slider that flashed plus at 81-83 mph with good spin and tons of sweeping action. The slider wasn’t as consistent as his fastball, and was more sharp in his first inning than his second two, and his control with both pitches was below-average in this outing. 

Horn could do a better job repeating his release point and there are a few elements in the delivery that could hinder his control, including depth in his arm stroke, a crossfire landing and a spinoff to the first base side in his finish. Still, the stuff was great and it was particularly impressive when he dotted a 97 mph glove-side fastball on the black to strike out David Bishop looking and finish his third and final inning.

Horn is a key name to watch for the 2025 class.

• Arkansas third baseman Jayson Jones wasn’t in the team’s starting lineup on opening day, but he entered as a pinch hitter on Saturday in a blowout against TCU and hit a screaming home run to left field against a 90 mph fastball up in the zone. Jones started on Sunday and showed a solid approach with a few good takes against sliders, and he swings with plenty of intent and power. 
• Oklahoma freshman righthander Gabe Davis ranked as a top-200 prospect in the 2022 draft class and showed exciting stuff in his debut, though it was less than impressive on the box score: with five earned runs allowed on two hits, including a home run, and four walks in just 1.2 innings. Davis stands an imposing 6-foot-9 and pitched in the 93-96 mph range, with a hard slider/cutter at 86-90 mph that has replaced a slurvy breaking ball he threw in high school. He struck out back-to-back hitters when he initially came into the game, but things unraveled after he gave up a home run to Tavian Josenberger.
• I had little knowledge of TCU freshman lefthander Ben Abeldt prior to this weekend, but as soon as he stepped on the mound in a high-leverage situation against Missouri I was intrigued. He’s a lanky lefthander with a 6-foot-3, 200-pound frame and attacks hitters from a terribly tough angle with massive crossfiring action and a side arm slot. He threw a fastball in the 92-93 mph range with tons of running and sinking life which should prove difficult for lefties to square up (Luke Mann singles notwithstanding), and his sweeping, mid-70s slider should play up from that angle as well.