This year, his younger brother Jaison Chourio won the same categories in the same league in the same exercise. The junior Chourio, one of the Guardians’ top prospects, won two additional Carolina League categories: Best Strike Zone Judgment and Best Defensive Outfielder.

Winning four categories in a 12-team league sounds impressive, but what does it tell us about future potential? 

For the Chourios, it tells us a lot.

The post How Jaison Chourio, James Wood & Other Top MLB Prospects Compare To Past Best Tools Winners appeared first on College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects - Baseball America.

As has been the case since 1983, these winners were compiled as voted on by the managers for each league.

The post 2024 MiLB Best Tools: Managers Vote On The Top Prospects appeared first on College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects - Baseball America.

American League

Few outcomes are more certain than Aaron Judge receiving Best Tools votes in the American League best power category.

The Yankees’ 32-year-old center fielder won the category as a rookie in 2017 and then again in 2018, 2022 and now 2024. Judge also finished runner-up in 2019 and 2023.

The names surrounding Judge on the all-time Best Tools leaderboard for best power are telling: Giancarlo Stanton, Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols. That quintet has combined to hit 3,164 home runs—and counting.

What’s even more notable this year is Judge’s first win for best hitter. It is the first time he has ever earned a top-three finish, let alone first place.

It’s easy to see why Judge received so much attention for his bat. Heading into August, he led AL hitters in home runs, RBIs, on-base percentage and slugging as the favorite to win a second MVP award.

Best Hitter

1. Aaron Judge, Yankees
2. Juan Soto, Yankees
3. Steven Kwan, Guardians

Best Power

1. Aaron Judge, Yankees
2. Gunnar Henderson, Orioles
3. Yordan Alvarez, Astros

Best Bunter

1. Cedric Mullins, Orioles
2. Jose Altuve, Astros
3. Daulton Varsho, Blue Jays

Best Strike-Zone Judgment

1. Juan Soto, Yankees
2. Kyle Tucker, Astros
3. Steven Kwan, Guardians

Best Hit-And-Run Artist

1. Steven Kwan, Guardians
2. Jose Altuve, Astros
3. Salvador Perez, Royals

Best Baserunner

1. Bobby Witt Jr., Royals
2. Jose Ramirez, Guardians
3. Jarren Duran, Red Sox

Fastest Baserunner

1. Bobby Witt Jr., Royals
2. Byron Buxton, Twins
3. Dairon Blanco, Royals

Most Exciting Player

1. Gunnar Henderson, Orioles
2. Bobby Witt Jr., Royals
3. Aaron Judge, Yankees

Best Pitcher

1. Corbin Burnes, Orioles
2. Tarik Skubal, Tigers
3. George Kirby, Mariners

Best Fastball

1. Mason Miller, Athletics
2. Cole Ragans, Royals
3. Emmanuel Clase, Guardians

Best Curveball

1. Seth Lugo, Royals
2. Corbin Burnes, Orioles
3. Justin Verlander, Astros

Best Slider

1. Tanner Houck, Red Sox
2. Griffin Jax, Twins
3. Hunter Gaddis, Guardians

Best Changeup

1. Michael Wacha, Royals
2. Tyler Anderson, Angels
3. Tanner Houck, Red Sox

Best Control

1. George Kirby, Mariners
2. Zach Eflin, Orioles
3. Joe Ryan, Twins

Best Pickoff Move

1. Jon Gray, Rangers
2. Tanner Bibee, Guardians
3. Nestor Cortes, Yankees

Best Reliever

1. Emmanuel Clase, Guardians
2. Mason Miller, Athletics
3. Andres Muñoz, Mariners

Best Defensive Catcher

1. Cal Raleigh, Mariners
2. Jonah Heim, Rangers
3. Jose Trevino, Yankees

Best Defensive First Baseman

1. Nathaniel Lowe, Rangers
2. Carlos Santana, Twins
3. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Blue Jays

Best Defensive Second Baseman

1. Marcus Semien, Rangers
2. Andres Gimenez, Guardians
3. Nicky Lopez, White Sox

Best Defensive Third Baseman

1. Josh Rojas, Mariners
2. Alex Bregman, Astros
3. Jose Ramirez, Guardians

Best Defensive Shortstop

1. Bobby Witt Jr., Royals
2. Gunnar Henderson, Orioles
3. JP Crawford, Mariners

Best Infield Arm

1. Carlos Correa, Twins
2. Bobby Witt Jr., Royals
3. Gunnar Henderson, Orioles

Best Defensive Outfielder

1. Daulton Varsho, Blue Jays
2. Byron Buxton, Twins
3. Leody Taveras, Rangers

Best Outfield Arm

1. Adolis Garcia, Rangers
2. Kevin Kiermaier, Blue Jays
3. Colton Cowser, Orioles

Best Manager

1. Bruce Bochy, Rangers
2. Kevin Cash, Rays
3. Brandon Hyde, Orioles

National League

Player value can be debated ad nauseam, but major league managers are clear on one point.

Shohei Ohtani is the most exciting player in baseball.

The 30-year-old Dodgers DH has won that Best Tools category in every season since the pandemic, the first three in the American League when he was with the Angels.

This year, National League managers chose Ohtani as best hitter, best power and most exciting player.

That all checks out. As August dawned, Ohtani led the NL in batting, on-base percentage, slugging, home runs and a few other key categories.

Oh, and Ohtani is plenty valuable, too. He is the odds-on favorite to win his third MVP award this year.

Best Hitter

1. Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
2. Bryce Harper, Phillies
3. Mookie Betts, Dodgers

Best Power

1. Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
2. Bryce Harper, Phillies
3. Oneil Cruz, Pirates

Best Bunter

1. Jacob Young, Nationals
2. TJ Friedl, Reds
3. Jake McCarthy, D-backs

Best Strike-Zone Judgment

1. Freddie Freeman, Dodgers
2. Mookie Betts, Dodgers
3. Andrew McCutchen, Pirates

Best Hit-And-Run Artist

1. Luis Arraez, Padres
2. William Contreras, Brewers
3. Nico Hoerner, Cubs

Best Baserunner

1. Elly De La Cruz, Reds
2. Corbin Carroll, D-backs
3. Trea Turner, Phillies

Fastest Baserunner

1. Elly De La Cruz, Reds
2. Trea Turner, Phillies
3. Victor Scott II, Cardinals

Most Exciting Player

1. Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
2. Elly De La Cruz, Reds
3. Paul Skenes, Pirates

Best Pitcher

1. Zack Wheeler, Phillies
2. Chris Sale, Braves
3. Paul Skenes, Pirates

Best Fastball

1. Paul Skenes, Pirates
2. Hunter Greene, Reds
3. Reynaldo Lopez, Braves

Best Curveball

1. Aaron Nola, Phillies
2. Tyler Glasnow, Dodgers
3. Max Fried, Braves

Best Slider

1. Chris Sale, Braves
2. Ryan Helsley, Cardinals
3. Dylan Cease, Padres

Best Changeup

1. Cristopher Sanchez, Phillies
2. Logan Webb, Giants
3. Freddy Peralta, Brewers

Best Control

1. Aaron Nola, Phillies
2. Logan Webb, Giants
3. Shota Imanaga, Cubs

Best Pickoff Move

1. Charlie Morton, Braves
2. Patrick Corbin, Nationals
3. Max Fried, Braves

Best Reliever

1. Ryan Helsley, Cardinals
2. Tanner Scott, Marlins
3. Robert Suarez, Padres

Best Defensive Catcher

1. Patrick Bailey, Giants
2. JT Realmuto, Phillies
3. Gabriel Moreno, D-backs

Best Defensive First Baseman

1. Christian Walker, D-backs
2. Freddie Freeman, Dodgers
3. Matt Olson, Braves

Best Defensive Second Baseman

1. Brice Turang, Brewers
2. Ketel Marte, D-backs
3. Nico Hoerner, Cubs

Best Defensive Third Baseman

1. Matt Chapman, Giants
2. Ke’Bryan Hayes, Pirates
3. Ryan McMahon, Rockies

Best Defensive Shortstop

1. Ezequiel Tovar, Rockies
2. Dansby Swanson, Cubs
3. Elly De La Cruz, Reds

Best Infield Arm

1. Masyn Winn, Cardinals
2. Oneil Cruz, Pirates
3. Elly De La Cruz, Reds

Best Defensive Outfielder

1. Brenton Doyle, Rockies
2. Jacob Young, Nationals
3. Michael Siani, Cardinals

Best Outfield Arm

1. Nolan Jones, Rockies
2. Fernando Tatis Jr, Padres
3. Brenton Doyle, Rockies

Best Manager

1. Rob Thomson, Phillies
2. Pat Murphy, Brewers
3. Dave Roberts, Dodgers

The post MLB Best Tools 2024: Managers, Scouts & Execs Vote On The Best Players appeared first on College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects - Baseball America.

In the case of Bobby Witt Jr., foresight also was 20/20.

The Royals’ 24-year-old shortstop does everything well and is one of MLB’s brightest young superstars. Witt’s future potential on the field came into sharp focus three years ago during minor league Best Tools voting at midseason.

The post Was Bobby Witt Jr. The Superstar We Saw Coming? appeared first on College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects - Baseball America.

Tennessee won 60 games this season, more than any team in 22 years. The Volunteers collected every trophy they could, winning both the Southeastern Conference regular season crown and SEC Tournament on their way to Omaha greatness. They were the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, becoming the first No. top-seeded team to win the championship since Miami did it in 1999.

It was a complete team effort. The Volunteers led the nation in home runs, ranked 11th in scoring and finished sixth in ERA. They had All-Americans, Freshman All-Americans, present first-round picks, future first-rounders and some gritty, veteran college players amid the stars. 

At the heart of it all was Vitello, the program’s architect and the man responsible for bringing Tennessee from the cellar of the SEC to the pinnacle of college baseball.

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Vitello did it in a truly modern way, embracing the transfer portal, the rule changes around name, image and likeness rights and the offensive surge in college baseball. But he also did it through traditional recruiting, hard work and a dedication to player development. 

Vitello’s story—and Tennessee’s, because the two are intertwined—is uniquely of the moment, but also one that followed a blueprint familiar to any program-building in college baseball over the years. Vitello took over in Knoxville in 2017 and built Tennessee into a powerhouse, reaching the greatest heights this June in Omaha. 

For those reasons and more, Vitello is the 2024 Baseball America College Coach of the Year. He is the second coach in program history to win the award, joining Rod Delmonico in 1995.

When Vitello arrived in Knoxville in the summer of 2017, Tennessee was in a tough spot as a program. There was history and tradition on Rocky Top, but it had been a difficult 12 years since the Volunteers had last made the NCAA Tournament. They were coming off back-to-back last-place finishes in the SEC East and had finished in the cellar of the division in six of the last 10 years.

Vitello was 38 years old and had never been a head coach before. But he had prepared for that moment for much of his life. His father Greg was a baseball and soccer coach at De Smet Jesuit High in St. Louis for 46 years, winning six state titles and earning a place in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

Tony Vitello knew early on he wanted to be a coach himself. He began his career at Missouri, his alma mater, where he developed a reputation as a top recruiter before moving on to TCU and Arkansas. He served as both a hitting and pitching coach while working up the ranks as an assistant for Dave Van Horn, Jim Schlossnagle and Tim Jamieson, an all-star cast of coaches from which to learn.

The cupboard wasn’t completely bare when Vitello arrived in Knoxville. Third baseman Andre Lipcius is a now big leaguer, while righthander Garrett Stallings is in Triple-A. First baseman Luc Lipcius ended his career as Tennessee’s all-time home run leader. But Vitello knew he needed to upgrade the talent level and find a niche for the program if it was going to make headway in the nation’s premier baseball conference.

Having spent a few years in the SEC already, Vitello had seen firsthand how important having a niche was for programs. At Arkansas, he recruited players knowing they’d coached by Van Horn, one of the game’s best coaches, and play in Baum-Walker Stadium, one of the sport’s crown jewels. 

Other SEC schools had similar built-in appeal.

Mississippi State had Dudy Noble Field. Florida and Texas A&M had access to rich hotbeds of talent in their own states. LSU had an elite tradition and a history of winning. Mike Bianco and Tim Corbin had been in their jobs for more than a decade each and had long since figured out the winning formula at Mississippi and Vanderbilt. South Carolina had won back-to-back national titles less than a decade ago. 

What could set Tennessee apart? After long internal consideration, Vitello settled on building the Volunteers around a gritty, competitive mentality. That influenced his coaching staff hires and how they started recruiting players.

“We’ve got to play with some attitude,” Vitello said. “We’ve got to play with some grit. And we’re going to have to get some guys who maybe don’t want to say ‘yes’ to a school with a better winning record than us.”

Tennessee, to be clear, was no scrappy upstart. It’s a huge state school with plenty of athletic history. But battling out of the cellar of the SEC is no easy task. It’s a zero-sum game, and if you’re going to go up, you have to climb over other teams rather than have space created for you.

“We’ve got all the resources in the world with where we’re at,” Vitello said, “but it’s a place where we kind of had to build a foundation to catch up with, again, some of these other storied programs.”

Vitello hired Frank Anderson as his pitching coach and Josh Elander as his hitting coach/recruiting coordinator. Anderson brought plenty of experience. He was Oklahoma State’s head coach for nine years and had a long, well-respected career as a pitching coach at Houston, Texas and Texas Tech. Elander was just 26 and two years removed from his playing career but had played for Vitello at TCU and was a volunteer assistant coach at Arkansas. Both Anderson and Elander have remained in those roles throughout Vitello’s tenure at Tennessee.

Quickly, Vitello and his new staff started winning on the recruiting trail. Less than a month after taking over, they landed Mississippi prep lefthander Garrett Crochet, who had previously committed to a junior college. Crochet went on to be an impact freshman in 2018 and ultimately became the program’s first first-round pitcher since R.A. Dickey in 1996. This year, Crochet is a first-time MLB All-Star. 

In 2018, Tennessee went 29-27 and again finished last in the SEC East. But more high-level talent followed Crochet, and soon the Volunteers were vaulting forward. They went 40-21 in 2019 and made the NCAA Tournament, marking the first time since 2005 that Tennessee won 40 games or made regionals. That momentum rolled into 2020, with Tennessee’s record sitting at 15-2 before the pandemic canceled the season in mid-March.

The Volunteers hit a new high in 2021. They won 50 games, took the SEC East and reached the College World Series. While they went 0-2 in Omaha in their first CWS appearance since 2005, it still was one of the better seasons in program history. Tennessee hadn’t won 50 games since 1995—a College Player of the Year season for Todd Helton—and it hosted a super regional for the first time ever.

That 2021 season only set the stage for what was to come. Tennessee had the best team in the country under Vitello in 2022. His Volunteers went 57-9 that season and won the SEC going away with a 25-5 mark. The roster was loaded, led by the likes of outfielders Jordan Beck and Drew Gilbert, third baseman Trey Lipscomb and righthander Chase Dollander. About 25 months after the 2022 season ended, that Volunteers team had already produced three big leaguers—Beck, Lipscomb and reliever Ben Joyce—and it could still add about a half-dozen more, including Gilbert, Dollander and righthander Blade Tidwell, all of whom are currently Top 100 Prospects.

But for as good as that team was, Notre Dame still managed to pull off an upset in super regionals that year. By that time, Tennessee had morphed into college baseball’s villains, a reputation began in previous seasons when the Volunteers’ brash attitude drew a lot of ire. 

Vitello clashed with Van Horn, his former boss, at the end of a series in 2021. Volunteer assistant coach Ross Kivett was ejected in Omaha in 2021 for arguing balls and strikes from the dugout. Tennessee took on Gilbert’s fiery persona, making for some tense moments. Their home run celebration was to drape a gaudy, cheetah-print coat around the player who hit the homer. And as Tennessee steamrolled the opposition, many took exception. 

The 2022 season ended amid a firestorm. An umpire ejected Gilbert and pitching coach Frank Anderson in Game 1 of super regionals, and Tennessee went on to lose both that game and then the series when Notre Dame came back in Game 3.   

That was an all-time team, and will be remembered as such in Knoxville. Elsewhere, its legacy is more complex. Vitello has often said that the emotion the Volunteers played with that year was good for college baseball because it generated national conversations about sport. It also established a certain reputation for Tennessee.

But in the years that have followed the 2022 season, that reputation has grown outdated. Vitello had built his program on attitude and emotion, and it had taken them to phenomenal heights. But the way the 2021 and 2022 seasons ended showed that some of that attitude and emotion had to be better channeled. 

“We kind of had a theme going there that we needed to find a way to make this thing work,” Vitello said. “And that freight train got going, and it never really slowed down until it really got out of control, to be honest with you.”

Over the last couple years, Tennessee has continued to play with emotion. One such viral moment occurred in 2023 when righthander Chase Burns demonstrably stomped off the Southern Miss mound in celebration during super regionals. Second baseman Christian Moore was a fireball throughout his sensational postseason in 2024. The cheetah-print coat remains the team’s home run celebration.

But to call Tennessee a villain in 2024 is to be living in the past. The Volunteers celebrate their big plays, and sometimes there’s dissent from the dugout about calls on the field. But you’ll find that from just about every program in the country. Vitello has become adept at shielding his players from dustups and controversy, inviting any blame to fall on his shoulders while allowing them the latitude to play with an edge.

Across the sports spectrum, one can find many examples of players who are beloved at home but vilified by rival fans. While that applies to few coaches in today’s era, Vitello is that coach.

Fans of opposing programs see only the intense personality in the dugout. They don’t see his dedication to charity, such as when, in 2018, Vitello was suspended after an argument with an umpire and hosted a lemonade stand outside Lindsey Nelson Stadium with the proceeds benefiting the National CASA Association, which supports and promotes court-appointed volunteer advocacy so abused or neglected children can have a safe, permanent home. They don’t see the man who is known to answer calls from campus fraternities and join in their promotional efforts. 

You might know Vitello as a relentless recruiter, which he is. But he is also beloved by his players and receives exceptional buy-in from them. His players are never afraid of their coach recruiting over them, welcoming the internal competition. Vitello’s energy and exuberance make for a strong combination, and the Volunteers know he’ll always go to bat for them. 

After Game 3 of the CWS finals, lefthander Zander Sechrist appealed to athletic director Danny White to give Vitello a lifetime contract and explained why he feels so connected to his coach.

“The man’s like a father figure, to be honest,” Sechrist said. “I was blessed enough to have him recruit me. Growing up in a single-mother household and talking to this man mostly every day and every week, he was just like a father figure to me.”

Tennessee recruits at a high level, both among prep players and in the transfer portal. It has NIL money to fund its pursuits of some players. But Vitello has made the Volunteers excellent at the basics of coaching baseball, as well.

For all of Tennessee’s high-profile successes in recruiting, it is excellent at player development, too. Outfielder Dylan Dreiling and Moore, two of Tennessee’s CWS heroes, were not everyday players as freshmen. They had to develop into that caliber of player, which is not an uncommon story for the Volunteers. That helped Tennessee build a deep, complete roster and has made it a prime pipeline for MLB organizations.

Vitello is also unyieldingly loyal. He has kept coaches Anderson and Elander with him, as well as strength coach Quentin Eberhardt, who is a critical piece of the coaching staff. They have grown together and become one of the best coaching staffs in the country. 

Vitello and Tennessee have come a long way in the last seven years. A program once mired in the cellar of the SEC East has transformed. Vitello, who arrived in Knoxville as a 38-year-old, first-time head coach, now is a national champion. 

He is far from wizened now at 45, but he’s the seventh-longest tenured coach in the conference and no longer the fledgling. 

Vitello has built his program and his career in tandem. There is plenty more room to grow for both, but in 2024, it was easy to see just how far he’s taken Tennessee already. 

“It’s fun to make progress,” Vitello said. “And, as they say, the journey is kind of what it’s about. It’s been a fun journey, in particular, this year.”

The post Tony Vitello Named Baseball America’s 2024 College Baseball Coach Of The Year appeared first on College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects - Baseball America.

The list now also includes Georgia Tech freshman outfielder Drew Burress.

The 19-year-old Burress ranked second in the ACC to Wake Forest’s Nick Kurtz with a .512 on-base percentage. His 25 home runs trailed only Florida State’s James Tibbs III and North Carolina’s Vance Honeycutt for the conference lead.

Tibbs and Kurtz are fellow first-team All-Americans. Along with Honeycutt, they are 21-year-old juniors poised to be first-round picks this year. History suggests that Burress has a great chance to join them as a first-round pick when he is draft-eligible in 2026.

Let’s take a closer look at all the players who’ve earned BA college All-American first-team honors:

All-American Freshman Hitters

Burress’ 25 home runs are the most among first-team freshman hitters. This is doubly impressive because he has one of the lowest at-bat totals in the sample. His Yellow Jackets bowed out in regionals this year.

More notable is the track record of this group. Every player but St. John’s outfielder Jeremy Baltz went on to become a first-round pick. Pat Burrell was drafted No. 1 overall in 1998. Pedro Alvarez (2008) and Alex Bregman (2015) went second overall in their drafts. Jeffery Hammonds was drafted fourth overall in 1992.

Rafael Palmeiro and Robin Ventura both had lengthy MLB careers, with multiple all-star bids, Gold Gloves and at least one top 10 MVP finish.

All-American Freshman Pitchers

For freshmen pitchers who made the All-American first team, the outcomes are decidedly less favorable.

Not only are injuries a more prominent factor for pitchers, but it is challenging for freshmen to ascend to prominent weekend starter roles that would win them the prestige necessary to make an overall All-American team.

Still, more than half of freshman pitchers who made the overall All-American team went on to become first-round picks. Greg Swindell (1986) and Jack Leiter (2021) were No. 2 overall picks. Carlos Rodon went third overall in 2014. Alex Fernandez went fourth overall in 1990 after transferring to Miami Dade JC.

R.A. Dickey (1996), Kyle Peterson (1997) and Alex Lange (2017) also were first-round picks, while Kirk Dresssendorfer (1990) and Landon Sims (2022) were compensatory picks after the first round.

All-American Freshman Two-Way Players

Paul Skenes made the All-American first team as an Air Force freshman. His listed position is utility, which is how BA rewards the top two-way player in the nation, while listing both his hitting and pitching statistics.

Skenes went on to earn first-team status in 2022 and 2023 as well, making him just the fifth player in history to make three BA All-America first teams. Robin Ventura, Brandon McKay and Greg Swindell also accomplished the feat. Catcher Jason Varitek also made three All-America first teams, but his sequence began as a sophomore and finished as a senior.

One of the amazing things about Skenes is that he was better known as a hitter when he was a college freshman. On the mound, he served as closer for Air Force in 2021 before moving to the rotation in 2022. But he did not become the future ace he is today until transferring to LSU in 2023.

The Pirates drafted Skenes first overall in 2023 and he made his big league debut less than a year later on May 11, 2024. He did not take an at-bat as a college junior and has not hit as a professional.

Brendan McKay is probably the best two-way player in college history. He was a frontline pitcher and middle-order first baseman for all three seasons at Louisville.

McKay’s power didn’t fully blossom until his junior year, but his batting potential was promising enough for the Rays to draft him fourth overall in 2017 and develop him as a two-way player.

This season, McKay is on the comeback trail from yet another arm injury, but he reached the major leagues in 2019, when he made 13 pitching appearances and two at DH, including one start. A series of injuries—including shoulder surgery and Tommy John surgery— has limited his work since then.

But one thing is clear: Both Skenes and McKay, the only two freshman two-way players to make the All-America first team, were viewed as premium draft talents as juniors.

The post Drew Burress In Good Company As College Freshman First-Team All-American appeared first on College Baseball, MLB Draft, Prospects - Baseball America.

Walker Janek, C, Sam Houston State

Perhaps the most well-rounded catcher in college baseball this year, Janek enjoyed a career year in which he hit .364/.476/.709 with 15 doubles, a career-high 17 home runs and 58 RBIs. On top of his offensive prowess, Janek has an advanced defensive skill set behind the dish with a plus arm. He could be the first catcher drafted this year.

Blake Burke, 1B, Tennessee

Burke has some of the top raw power of any hitter in the country. Following a modest sophomore season, he put together a career year to the tune of a .376/.449/.713 slash line with 19 home runs, 56 RBIs and an SEC-leading 28 doubles. Burke has double-plus raw power and figures to be selected on day one of the draft this year.

Travis Bazzana, 2B, Oregon State

Whether it is for Oregon State or summer baseball—he was Cape Cod League MVP in 2023—Bazzana has done nothing but dominate at every stop in his career to this point. This spring, the Australia native hit a career best .407/.568/.911 with 16 doubles, 28 home runs and 66 RBIs. He is in the running to be selected first overall in this year’s draft.

Charlie Condon, 3B, Georgia

Condon has put together one of the best seasons in recent memory. His .436 average and 36 home runs both lead the nation, and his homer total is a BBCOR record. Condon has an advanced feel to hit, which makes him a tough at-bat for opposing pitchers to navigate. He is also a strong contender to be drafted first overall.

Kyle DeBarge, SS, Louisiana

An ultra-athletic shortstop, DeBarge took home Sun Belt player of the year honors after hitting .356/.418/.699 with new career highs in almost every category, including doubles (19), home runs (21) and RBIs (72). His tool set enables him to impact the game in myriad ways, and he figures to be drafted inside the top two rounds.

James Tibbs III, OF, Florida State

The Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year was one of the key reasons behind Florida State’s first super regionals appearance since 2019. Tibbs’ combination of a plus hit tool and plus power translated to a career-best .375/.497/.813 slash line with 17 doubles, 28 home runs and 94 RBIs. He’s a corner-only player, but he can hit.

Drew Burress, OF, Georgia Tech

Burress put together one of the best seasons in the country, regardless of class. The freshman announced his presence with a gaudy .381/.512/.821 slash line and a Georgia Tech freshman record 25 home runs and 67 RBIs. He has tantalizing tools packed into a 5-foot-9 frame and is on track to be one of the first players off the board in 2026.

Jace LaViolette, OF, Texas A&M

A 6-foot-6 Adonis, LaViolette picked up right where he left off as a freshman and hit .314/.453/.757 with a team-leading 28 home runs and 77 RBIs. Armed with light-tower power, LaViolette—along with freshman Gavin Grahovac and junior Braden Montgomery—was part of one of the most formidable lineups in the nation.

Christian Moore, DH, Tennessee

Moore and Blake Burke formed college baseball’s version of the “Bash Brothers.” Like his Vols counterpart, Moore turned in a career year, hitting .376/.453/.796 with 17 doubles, 71 RBIs and a Tennessee single-season record 32 home runs. He has seen his draft stock ascend and could be selected in the first round this year.

Hagen Smith, SP, Arkansas

Arguably the most dominant pitcher in the country, Smith went 9-2 with a 2.04 ERA and 161 strikeouts—a total that ranked second nationally—to 34 walks in 84 innings. He possesses a hellacious one-two punch in an upper-90s fastball and mid-80s slider, both of which grade out as at least 60s on the 20-80 scouting scale.

Chase Burns, SP, Wake Forest

Burns made the most of his only season at Wake Forest after transferring from Tennessee. He worked a career-low 2.70 ERA with a best-in-the-nation 191 strikeouts to 30 walks in 100 innings. From a pure stuff standpoint, Burns is hard to top. On top of his thunderous fastball, he mixes in a demonic slider and sharp downer curveball.

Ryan Johnson, SP, Dallas Baptist

Following a great sophomore season, Johnson took his game to the next level this spring. With an 11-3 record and 2.21 ERA, the 6-foot-6 righthander cruised to the Conference USA pitcher of the year award. His 151 strikeouts not only led C-USA but ranked third nationally behind only Chase Burns and Hagen Smith.

Trey Yesavage, SP, East Carolina

The ace of East Carolina’s pitching staff, Yesavage is the only first-team All-American outside of Arkansas’ Hagen Smith to rank inside the top five nationally in both ERA (2.02) and strikeouts (145). Yesavage also pitched his way to an 11-1 record and was named the American Athletic Conference pitcher of the year.

Charlie Beilenson, RP, Duke

A stalwart of Duke’s bullpen, Beilenson pitched his way to a 2.01 ERA with 92 strikeouts across a whopping 34 appearances that amounted to 62.2 innings. His 12 saves were tied for fourth nationally and ranked atop the Atlantic Coast Conference. Beilenson is an advanced strike-thrower whose plus changeup is his calling card.

Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman, RP, East Carolina

Lunsford-Shenkman was dominant in his 46.1 innings, pitching to a minuscule 1.55 ERA with 79 strikeouts to 21 walks. He befuddled hitters all season with his five-pitch mix and was one of the most effective-late inning arms in college baseball. Lunsford-Shenkman averaged nearly two innings per appearance.

Jac Caglianone, UT, Florida

Caglianone somehow upstaged his epic 2023 season. At the plate, he hit .411/.532/.860 with 33 home runs and 68 RBIs while slashing his strikeout rate from 18% to 8%. He has thunderous bat speed and double-plus raw power. On the bump, he is armed with an upper-90s fastball he used to work a respectable 4.71 ERA in 72.2 innings.

First Team

Second Team

Third Team

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Case in point: The Southeastern Conference OPS was .894 this year, one of the highest in the nation. Just 10 years earlier, the SEC mark was .733, lower than 25 other Division I conferences.

Over the course of a decade, the conference’s OPS increased by 161 points, and as the number of runs increases, the value of each individual run decreases.  Put another way: A run created in a conference with a 5.00 ERA does not equal a run created in one with a 3.23 ERA. Those are the actual ERAs for the SEC in 2024 versus 2014. 

One simple method to account for fluctuations in run-scoring context is the metric OPS+, or adjusted OPS. It compares a player’s on-base and slugging percentages to league average to produce an index reading, where 100 is average. 

This year, Georgia’s Charlie Condon hit .433/.556/1.009 with a BBCOR-record 37 home runs. His rare ability to hit for both average and power make him the top prospect for the draft and an easy pick for College Player of the Year.

Comparing Condon To Past Greats

But how does Condon’s production this year stack up with past College POYs? Thanks to OPS+, we have a pretty good idea.

Condon’s OBP and SLG figures compared with the SEC averages yield an OPS+ of 243, which means that his production was 143% higher than the average SEC hitter. 

A dozen hitters have won College POY in the past 20 seasons. Condon’s OPS+ outranks all but one of them: Kris Bryant for San Diego in 2013.

A Sign of What’s To Come?

Bryant was a revelation in 2013. He slugged .820 in a West Coast Conference in which the average was .367. His 31 home runs established a record at the time for hitters using the more restrictive BBCOR bats. Home runs were so infrequent that Bryant out-homered 75% of Division I teams.

The Cubs drafted Bryant second overall in 2013, and he was an immediate success. He won Minor League Player of the Year in 2014, National League Rookie of the Year in 2015 and then NL MVP in 2016, when he helped Chicago break a 108-year World Series drought. 

The only other College POY in Condon’s stratosphere by OPS+ was Florida State’s Buster Posey in 2008, which is fitting because his MLB ascension was similar to Bryant.

Posey fell to fifth in the 2008 draft, where the Giants selected him and added him to a burgeoning core that included fellow first-rounders Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner. 

Posey needed only one full season in the minors before his NL Rookie of the Year season in 2010. He helped the Giants win their first World Series in San Francisco that year and would repeat the feat in 2012 and 2014. Posey won the NL MVP award in 2012, like Bryant, in his mid 20s. 

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Perhaps that’s why the Bulldogs’ career home run leader approaches each at-bat as a new work of art, an opportunity to create a fresh offensive masterpiece every time he steps to the plate.

“I just look at each individual at-bat as a blank canvas,” Condon said. “It’s knowing that each individual at-bat is what it is—it’s its own thing. You can’t start looking at stats, trends, streaks, because those things start snowballing, whether it’s good or bad.”

Georgia head coach Wes Johnson, who has been around many special talents during his career in the Southeastern Conference, said Condon is the best college hitter he’s ever seen.

“His plate discipline, just his mind. He gets off his A-swing a lot.” Johnson said. “So it’s been a lot of fun to watch.”

Considering Johnson was the pitching coach for LSU last year and saw Dylan Crews—the No. 2 overall pick by the Nationals in 2023—that’s quite the statement.

“I’m talking about in the batter’s box too, right?” Johnson said. “I mean, obviously Dylan (Crews) is a very dynamic player. He is really a premium defender. He can run, as well. But you talk in the batter’s box, I haven’t had one better than Charlie Condon.”

A quick glance at the numbers corroborates Johnson’s point. It’s also why Condon is this year’s College Player of the Year.

Condon ranks first in Division I with a .433 batting average and 1.009 slugging percentage. He hit 37 home runs, which led the nation heading into the College World Series. Condon collected 100 hits, scored 84 runs and posted a .556 on-base percentage, all of which ranked top five nationally. He drove in 78 runs to rank 11th, though that standing was largely a function of him batting second for the Bulldogs.

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A Good Head On His Shoulders

Johnson said Condon’s mental approach to the game and willingness to take on challenges is what helped make him great.

“The great ones have this ability to expand their mind to uncomfortable levels and accept challenges,” said Johnson, who spent nearly four years as an MLB pitching coach for the Twins. “He’s got that. Paul Skenes had it, and I go to the guys I had in professional baseball—Carlos Correa, Sonny Gray, Luis Arraez, all those guys. They have this ability to take on more of a challenge.”

Georgia freshman outfielder Tre Phelps said the national attention hasn’t changed Condon’s team-first approach.

“He puts his team first, and that is only going to make his success shoot to levels he didn’t even know he could go to,” Phelps said. “It’s not just him having the success. That’s just what makes him a better person and player.”

Dillon Carter was with Condon for one season after transferring from Texas Tech. It didn’t take long to realize how special his new teammate was.

“There’s not many out there like him, and it’s good to be around people like that,” Carter said. “He knows he’s good. Everybody around him knows he’s good. But if you saw him in public, he’d be just like any other guy in town.”

Though Condon’s bat is what grabs the attention, he’s not bad with his glove, either. He made starts at third base, center field, first base and both corner outfield spots, giving him defensive versatility that only enhances his overall game.

Georgia hitting coach Will Coggin said working with Condon might be the easiest job he’s ever had.

“Like my old high school coach said, ‘If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

Coggin has worked with quality hitters before. Along with current big leaguers and Mississippi State products Brent Rooker and Nathaniel Lowe, his tutelage of former MSU star Jake Mangum stands out. Mangum left Starkville as the SEC’s all-time hits leader and helped the Bulldogs make back-to-back trips to Omaha in 2018 and 2019.

“A lot of the best hitters I’ve coached, they know what information they need, and Charlie is one of those guys,” Coggin said. “He knows what information he wants, whether it’s the description of the guy’s pitches, how they are and the usage of his pitches.

“Most of the time, it’s day-to-day swing maintenance, making sure we keep his swing sharp and prevent a bad habit from starting, hopefully. Other than that, it’s just a lot of approach stuff.”

From Walk-On To Stardom

Condon’s story is certainly different than most.

Major league teams weren’t beating down his door in 2021, when he was a high school senior at The Walker School outside Atlanta. Neither were big college programs, a fact due largely to the Covid pandemic that canceled high school seasons across the country in 2020 and kept scouts off the road.

Undaunted, Condon never gave up on his dream to play in Division I.

When home-state Georgia offered him an opportunity as a preferred walk-on, he jumped at the chance. After redshirting his freshman year in 2022 to add more muscle and weight to his 6-foot-6 frame, Condon burst on the scene by hitting .386 with 25 homers and 67 RBIs to win BA’s Freshman of the Year honors in 2023.

When Johnson was hired as the replacement for former coach Scott Stricklin, many wondered if Condon would do as so many college players have done and enter the transfer portal.

According to Condon, the thought never crossed his mind.

“For me it was about being more comfortable and not turning my back on the university that gave me a chance out of high school,” Condon said. “Georgia was my only preferred walk-on (offer).It was my only opportunity to play college baseball, officially … The resources (and) all the time and effort the staff and my teammates have put in to develop my career, it wasn’t something I was ready to turn my back on.”

The rest has been Bulldogs baseball history.

Even with the pressure to succeed, Condon has maintained his high level of play, both to his benefit and that of the Bulldogs, whose season ended in Athens with a loss to N.C. State in super regionals.

For one last hurrah, Condon homered in his final at-bat as a Bulldog.

“External expectations have definitely changed a little bit,” Condon said, “but the way I see it, expectations for myself have always been really high. So, that doesn’t change.

“I’m always going to hold myself to a high standard.” 

Anthony Dasher covers University of Georgia athletics for UGASports.com

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The headphones are a metaphor. He is not physically inserting AirPods, in this case, but the results are very much real.

Griffin was in the midst of a rare slump early last summer, suffering a difficult 2-for-12 weekend while he was trying to solidify his status as a top 2024 prospect and secure a spot on Team USA.

He did not feel like himself in the batter’s box. Back home with his father, he regained that feeling and did everything he could to keep it.

“I was letting too many people mess with my mind a little bit,” Griffin said. “A lot of people were giving me advice, and I really just had to go back to my parents, (who told) me about having a small circle of people to trust.

“It’s always just been me and my dad with hitting. Some scouts would tell me things I need to change—some coaches would—and I’m trying to listen and please everybody. But that’s what I feel like was causing the most trouble because I was thinking so much.

“Once I was able to do that, I kind of put the headphones on when other people are around and try not to listen to everyone. When people try to talk to me about my swing, I’m going to listen. I’m going to be coachable (and) say, ‘Yes, sir.’

“But I have to let it go through one ear and out the other.”

With the headphones in place, Griffin returned to Jackson Prepatory School in Mississippi for his senior year. He led the Patriots to their seventh consecutive 6A state championship, hitting .559/.690/.966 with nine home runs. He set school records with 85 stolen bases and 47 walks.

Griffin maintained his status as the top prep prospect for the 2024 draft. And now he can add another accolade: BA High School Player of the Year.

“I felt like I was myself again,” Griffin said. “Once I got some good swings off and I was rolling, I felt like, ‘All right, I’m the player who can be at the top of these mock drafts and all of these rankings.’”

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For a top-flight prospect interested in keeping a small circle, Griffin would be hard-pressed to find a better spot for it.

Jackson Prep is located in Flowood, a suburb of state capital Jackson. It is a hotbed for talent in Mississippi. It is located five miles from the Double-A Mississippi Braves and fewer than 200 miles away from four Southeastern Conference schools.

The Jackson Prep coaching staff is loaded with experience. Assistant Chris Maloney was a long-time minor league manager—including two seasons with Mississippi—and also a major league coach for the Cardinals.

Another assistant coach is Jay Powell, a 1993 first-round pick out of Mississippi State. He pitched 11 big league seasons for five different teams and won Game 7 of the 1997 World Series for the Marlins.

Jackson Prep head coach Brent Heavener said one of the most enjoyable aspects of Griffin’s senior season was watching Griffin and Powell grow closer and talk about the higher levels of baseball that await Griffin.

“Baseball-wise, Konnor’s going to take care of it,” Powell said. “That part of it, he’s going to do what it takes and make adjustments. The thing I’ve tried to do with it—professional baseball, it’s a different animal.

“I’ve tried to do my best to prepare him for that part of it, for the things he’s going to be faced with when he gets into professional baseball.

“It wasn’t like, ‘Konnor, you and I need to talk.’ It was just in the batting cage, hanging around—normal conversations. We all care about him and we all want to see him succeed. We’re all just trying to plant little bits of information that might help him out.”

Powell said those conversations began in earnest around the beginning of Griffin’s senior season. That’s when the draft circus around Griffin really began, something everyone at Jackson Prep saw coming years in advance.

Heavener brought Griffin onto the varsity team when he was in eighth grade, when Jackson Prep had five future Division I college players on a state championship team. Griffin did little more than run bases as a pinch-runner that season, but he immediately took over the shortstop role in 2022 as a freshman.

“He was performing like some of the seniors were who were going off to play Division I,” Heavener said. “He was able to handle the pressure of winning. You really started to see it in his ninth-grade year that he’s on a different level.

“He may not just be a college athlete. He may be more than that.”

Talk of reclassifying started after that freshman year and became a reality after his sophomore season, when Griffin skipped his junior year to become a part of the 2024 draft class.

“I felt like I could push myself a little more, and jumping up a grade would be good for me,” Griffin said. “I did face some challenges that I would not have faced with guys who were a little younger than me.”

A summer filled with prep showcases and academic responsibilities to be on track for 2024—he once took a history test in his hotel room between summer games—was also a year that saw him dedicate to baseball for the first time. He stopped football after his freshman year and basketball more recently.

With Griffin dedicating offseason training to baseball, Heavener saw the biggest improvement in his baserunning. Griffin increased his stolen base output. He once drew six pickoff attempts in the span of one at-bat, an attempt to slow him down.

Baseball-only training put Griffin on track to stand in the spotlight during his senior season. Not only did Griffin serve as Jackson Prep’s star shortstop, but he also served as ace of the pitching staff. He went 10-0 with a 0.72 ERA, striking out 107 and walking 26 in 67.2 innings.

If that weren’t enough, Griffin has experience in center field on the showcase circuit.

Heavener said Jackson Prep had two practices all season without a scout in attendance, and at times there were as many as 15 to 20 attending one practice or one game. Along with the scouts came a lot of noise to cancel out with the headphones.

Griffin credits LSU assistant coach Josh Jordan for the headphones approach. He described to Griffin how well Dylan Crews did it on his way to becoming the second overall pick in 2023.

This year’s draft will determine if Griffin, who is committed to LSU, will follow Crews’ steps
to Baton Rouge or be an early first-round pick.

For the time being, the headphones mentality has helped Griffin remain productive on the field and largely unchanged off of it. Heavener witnessed that through the relationship Griffin has with Heavener’s 4-year-old daughter, whom Griffin acknowledged before every Jackson Prep at-bat. Griffin and his girlfriend attended her dance recital after the season.

“I’m sure like any 18-year-old kid, it may have worn on him a little bit, but you would never know it,” Heavener said. “He never showed like, ‘Man, I’m tired of this stuff.’

“He just kept grinding every day and really came to work, because in the end this is what it’s going to be like. There’s gonna be cameras on, and there’s gonna be people watching it.

“He just took it in stride and went with it.”

Brett Hudson is a freelance writer based in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

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