Post by chinmusic on Jul 17, 2024 5:12:57 GMT -8
College baseball: Who were the winners?
The number of prep players drafted in the top 10 rounds continues to be less than 20%, and this year’s draft had the fewest number of prep players drafted in the first 20 rounds ever. All that means MLB is siphoning off fewer elite players before they get to college baseball.
When you combine those numbers with the fact that the first eight picks of the draft were all collegians, things look even better for college baseball. There are a lot of reasons why all of that happened—the strength of this year’s prep class, MLB rule changes and name, image and likeness deals to name a few—but the upshot is that college baseball comes out of the draft in a great place.
The talent pipeline that has raised the level of play in the sport remains strong. The biggest signing bonuses of the year are going to go to college players, which you can be sure will make it into recruiting pitches across the country. The future of college sports and college baseball may be uncertain, but at the highest level of the game, things are looking very rosy.
Oregon State
The Beavers had what has become a pretty normal draft for them, which is to say, they crushed it. Second baseman Travis Bazzana went first overall, giving the program two No. 1 picks in the last six years. Oregon State also became just the fourth college to have produced more than one first-overall pick and joined Vanderbilt as the only school with two No. 1 picks in the 21st century. In all, Oregon State produced seven draft picks this season, tied for eighth-most nationally. The player development machine in Corvallis remains strong.
Meanwhile, for the third straight year, Oregon State held on to a top-100 recruit. Righthander Dax Whitney, the Idaho Gatorade Player of the Year, went undrafted after being ranked No. 45 in the class. He will now head to Corvallis, following in the footsteps of Gavin Turley (2022) and Trent Caraway (2023), who were among the highest ranked players in their classes to make it to campus.
That would be reason to celebrate in any draft, but it feels like an even bigger deal this year. With Oregon State left out of this summer’s conference consolidation and preparing to play an independent schedule in the spring, showing that it can both still produce elite talent and haul in new recruits is of even bigger importance. Mission accomplished for Mitch Canham and his staff this week.
The number of prep players drafted in the top 10 rounds continues to be less than 20%, and this year’s draft had the fewest number of prep players drafted in the first 20 rounds ever. All that means MLB is siphoning off fewer elite players before they get to college baseball.
When you combine those numbers with the fact that the first eight picks of the draft were all collegians, things look even better for college baseball. There are a lot of reasons why all of that happened—the strength of this year’s prep class, MLB rule changes and name, image and likeness deals to name a few—but the upshot is that college baseball comes out of the draft in a great place.
The talent pipeline that has raised the level of play in the sport remains strong. The biggest signing bonuses of the year are going to go to college players, which you can be sure will make it into recruiting pitches across the country. The future of college sports and college baseball may be uncertain, but at the highest level of the game, things are looking very rosy.
Oregon State
The Beavers had what has become a pretty normal draft for them, which is to say, they crushed it. Second baseman Travis Bazzana went first overall, giving the program two No. 1 picks in the last six years. Oregon State also became just the fourth college to have produced more than one first-overall pick and joined Vanderbilt as the only school with two No. 1 picks in the 21st century. In all, Oregon State produced seven draft picks this season, tied for eighth-most nationally. The player development machine in Corvallis remains strong.
Meanwhile, for the third straight year, Oregon State held on to a top-100 recruit. Righthander Dax Whitney, the Idaho Gatorade Player of the Year, went undrafted after being ranked No. 45 in the class. He will now head to Corvallis, following in the footsteps of Gavin Turley (2022) and Trent Caraway (2023), who were among the highest ranked players in their classes to make it to campus.
That would be reason to celebrate in any draft, but it feels like an even bigger deal this year. With Oregon State left out of this summer’s conference consolidation and preparing to play an independent schedule in the spring, showing that it can both still produce elite talent and haul in new recruits is of even bigger importance. Mission accomplished for Mitch Canham and his staff this week.