The College World Series Regionals are over, and we are down to the final 16 teams in the Super Regionals.
The MLB Draft is also on the rise. With the Orioles having a better season than recent years in 2022, a lot of fans have not paid as close attention to the draft since the O’s have the 17th overall pick.
For this piece, I have selected four players that have made it past the CWS Regionals and are players who the Orioles could look at selecting in this year’s draft. Now, the criteria that was chosen was to stick to rounds 1-3 in the draft.
I took into effect the following things when picking these players: Best available, depth, age and handiness for pitching. Without further ado, here are the four players.
Tommy Troy – INF, Stanford
Now, before anything is said, I fully know that we just drafted a shortstop in Jackson Holliday last year. But, Tommy Troy is the real deal.
Troy is currently a 21-year-old shortstop who is currently attending Stanford University in his junior season. Troy’s first two seasons were good, but his junior season is something that is unmatched in college baseball.
Troy has played mostly third base this season, but MLB Pipeline still has him listed as a shortstop. Troy has played in 53 total games so far, and in his 229 at-bats, he has slashed .410/.489/.738 with a 1.227 OPS. He has 94 total hits, 72 runs, 16 doubles, four triples, 17 home runs and 57 RBIs. He also has 30 walks to 37 strikeouts and went 17-for-20 on stolen bases.
Troy has helped No. 8 ranked Stanford go 4-1 in their region, which included beating a red hot Texas A&M team to make the Super Regional. He hit .571 in the Regionals where he had three home runs and 10 RBIs.
Prospect Comparison: Jordan Westburg
Jake Gelof – INF, Virginia
The last name Gelof could possibly ring a bell to MLB fans. Jake Gelof’s brother Zack is currently a part of the Oakland Athletics organization and was a star at the University of Virginia.
Jake made sure that the Gelof legacy continued. He is a 21-year-old who is currently ranked 42nd on MLB Pipeline’s top 250 draft board. Gelof is currently in his junior season and is a local boy, as his hometown is in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Gelof is an offensive-first player who took a little small step back this season, which says a lot because he still had a stellar season. In 60 games, Gelof slashed .330/.438/.735 with a 1.173 OPS and had 76 total hits, 68 runs, 21 doubles, three triples, 22 home runs and 84 RBIs. He also had 46 walks to 48 strikeouts.
Gelof is actually the first player in Virginia’s history to have back-to-back 20 home runs seasons and became the new all-time home run leader on April 11.
Gelof helped the seventh ranked Cavaliers win their division, going undefeated. While his bat was not the greatest, only hitting .272 with four runs, his glove at third base was electric.
Prospect Comparison: Coby Mayo
Tanner Witt – RHP, Texas
There’s nothing like drafting a second-generation baseball player. Tanner Witt is the son of the former 28th overall pick of the 1994 draft, Kevin Witt. Here’s the catch, though: Kevin Witt was a position player who played for less than a decade, while Tanner Witt is a pitcher that could be a generational star in the making.
Witt, 20, is currently in his redshirt sophomore year and got a late start to the season, as he had to undergo Tommy John surgery during the 2022 season and didn’t return for the 2023 season until early May.
His 2023 season was interesting, to say the least. In five starts, he went 2-1 with a 9.31 ERA in 9.2 innings pitched, but he held batters to a .194 batting average. So what was the problem?
He walked seven batters and hit four batters. If you can overlook his 2023 season and fully see that the season was straight off coming back from injuries, I highly believe Witt could be a second-round pick for the O’s.
Prospect Comparison: Chayce McDermott
Ty Floyd – RHP, LSU
LSU has arguably the best pitcher in this year’s draft in Paul Skenes, and they have the best overall prospect in Dylan Crews. Well, because we decided to break out and have a fun team that won 83 games, the O’s might need to “settle” for the next best LSU prospect.
Ty Floyd is a 21-year-old who is the number two starter in LSU’s rotation and is somehow underrated.
Floyd’s season was a little up and down, but he was still solid. In 16 games, he started 14 of them, went 7-0 and had a 4.34 ERA in 74.2 innings pitched. He gave up 56 hits, 36 earned runs, walked 31 batters and struck out 88.
Prospect Comparison: Justin Armbruester
So there we have it, four players to watch in the College World Series. Unfortunately, there are some players that would have made the cut easily if their team made it out of the Regionals. Here are three more players that I like, but their seasons are over.
- Matt Shaw SS Maryland
- Cade Kuehler RHP Campbell
- Enrique Bradfield Jr Vanderbilt
Who stands out to you at the collegiate level? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure to follow The Baltimore Battery on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, and use the hashtag #baltimorebattery when sharing our content!
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