OK, here is where the pre-draft stuff gets fun...and interesting. In Parts 7 and 8 we talked under the radar power hitters and high school catchers who, if available on day 3, might be good late-in-the-draft picks.
Today, we'll focus on college pitchers. These come in 3 different types: injured, transfer portal guys and simple, old fashioned, under the radar guys.
Plus, as an add on, I will list out all the other college pitchers who attended the combine but were not among the top 200 MLB Pipeline draft prospects in their most recent list and were not covered in my mock drafts or other pitchers I mention in the categories below..
For me, the 3rd day of the Guardians draft should be filled with college power hitters, injured and under-the-radar college power arms and high school catchers. Note that some of the guys I talk about below are intriguing enough that they might end up in the first two days of my mock draft 3.0. But let's just dive in and see what we come up with:
INJURED COLLEGE PITCHERS
This, to me, is where the real value is. Some of these guys might not even play in 2026 and some, due to their injury history, might start 2026 in extended spring training and make their debut in the ACL instead of a full-season team. But, with the Guardians history of rehabbing injured college pitchers, I am excited about the guys below. In order, here are some of the guys I am very intrigued about:
1. Pierce Coppola, 6'8" - LHP - Florida - Senior - For those of you who remember, I was all over Coppola in my 2024 mock and thought we had lost him when he had a really good CWS start after not pitching much of the year. However, he returned to college this year and was doing well until he suffered an arm injury. Again this year, I really want this guy. He is injured A LOT, but you really can't argue with 43 Ks in 21 IP in the SEC. And THAT is Coppola, whose 2025 followed a 2024 Cape season where he struck out 15 in 7 IP. He was at the combine this year.
2. Michael Salina - 6'1", RHP, St Bonaventure - Junior - All I have to say about this guy is that he was sitting at 96 and touched 102 before he was injured after 4 starts in 2025. He walked only 6 in 17 IP before the injury so he is a Cleveland type of guy, to be sure. At draft combine.
3. Ben Abeldt - 6'2", LHP, TCU - Junior - Abeldt did not pitch in 2025 but had a 1.86 ERA in 26 games with 8 saves and was 44 ip/16 BB/56 Ks. He entered 2025 as the #116 prospect in BA's first ranking but did not pitch this year due TJ surgery in April. Is #218 on the updated MLB Pipeline rankins. Abeldt was at the 2025 MLB draft combine.
4. Matthew Matthijs - 6'3", RHRP, North Carolina - Junior - Matthijs was injured late in 2025 and might be a good end of 3rd day pickup. In 2024 he pitched in a relief role, striking out 56 in 58 IP with 18 BB. Again, a Guardians guy who throws strikes and racks up Ks.
5. Evan Chrest - 6'0" - RHP - Florida Stat - Junior - At the draft combine even though he was injured.
6. Jared Spencer - 6'3" - LHP - Texas - Senior - Spencer had a 3.27 ERA this year before injuring his shoulder. He had a 52 IP/23 BB/66 K/ 41 H season. I think he is a good fit if the Guardians are willing to rehab his shoulder after surgery.
UNDER THE RADAR COLLEGE PITCHERS
The Guardians, like many other teams, love these kinds of guys. The one pitch pitchers. The one plus and one average pitcher 2-pitch guys and, finally, the group that Coppola fell in last year, the guys who just, for whatever reason, haven't gotten a good shot but have decided to stick it out instead of running screaming to the transfer portal (more about that below)
There are probably 100 of these guys like this (again, see below in the expanded list from the combine) but here a few I have found that might be of interest:
1. Ryan DeSanto, RHP, Penn St.
2. Aaron Savary, RHP, Iowa
3. Callan Fang, RHP, Harvard
4. Tyler Fay, RHP, Alabama
TRANSFER PORTAL GUYS
I will be honest here. I don't like transfer portal guys. Heck, I don't like the transfer portal. While once in a while the marriage between a player and a college can go so sour that there is no saving it. However, except for those rare instances (representing <10% of the guys in the portal), it says something to me about the guy if he jumps from one college to another because he doesn't believe he is getting a fair chance at a school or the coach who recruited him left or, heaven forbid, because he can get more NIL money at another school. While there are a number of the top guys who transfer in their junior year to be on a bigger stage to up their draft stock, except for THAT <10% of transfers, I would not want to draft most guys who are in the transfer portal.
But, even with that personal preference, here are some college pitchers who have recently passed through or currently in the transfer portal.
Regarding the Guardians, while I don't follow it that closely, it appears to me that they haven't in the past, seemed to draft guys in the transfer portal. I could be wrong here, though.
With that intro, here are a list of some of the guys in the portal, in no particular order, that are draft-eligible:
Blake Winck, RHP Ohio State (FB up to 98, on Twitter account) (at combine)
Kolten Smith, RHP, Georgia (at combine)
Itsuko Takemoto, RHP, Hawaii
Kole Klecker, RHP TCU
Jackson Soucie, LHP, South Carolina (now Kentucky)
Gabe Nard, RHP, Duke
Eli Jerzembeck, RHP, South Carolina (at combine)
COLLEGE PTICHERS AT THE 2025 ML DRAFT SCOUTING COMBINE NOT LISTED IN OTHER PLACES
Here is a complete listing of college pitchers who I have not listed above or who were not in my mock draft and not listed in MLB Pipeline's top 200 prospects who were at the draft combine this month. While these guys may not get drafted, being at the combine is an indication of their willingness to at least consider playing pro ball. (NOTE: Updated to remove guys who appear in the updated (250 deep) MLB Pipeline Draft Rankings and the ESPN top 150).
Heath Andrews, RHP, NC State
Hudson Barrett, LHP, UC Santa Barbara
Harrison Bodendorf, LHP, Oklahoma St.
Dylan Brown, LHP, Old Dominion
Jake Cook, LHP, Southern Miss
Matthew Dallas, LHP, Wake Forest
Alton Davis, LHP, Georgia
Ben Davis, LHP, Miss. St.
Mason Estrada, RHP, MIT
Leighton Finley, RHP, Georgia
Rory Fox, RHP, Notre Dame
Blake Gillespie, RHP, UNC Charlotte
Aaron Haugh, RHP, North Carolina
Justin Henschel, RHP, Florida Gulf Coast
Mac Heuer, RHP, Texas Tech (Guardians unsigned draftee in '23, used his bonus money to sign Alex Mooney)
Davion Hickson, RHP, Rice
Logan Lunceford, RHP, Wake Forest
Isaac Lyon, RHP, Grand Canyon
Jack Martinez, RHP, Arizona St.
Mason McConnaughey, RHP, Nebraska
Collin McKinney, RHP, Arizona
Justin Milrovich, RHP, Elon
Jack O'Connor, RHP, Virginia
Braden Osbolt, RHP, Kennesaw St.
Cameron Parker, RHP, TCU
Myles Patton, LHP, Texas A&M
Ryan Prager, LHP, Texas A&M (drafted in 3rd round but did not sign)
Peyton Prescott, RHP, Florida St.
Grant Richardson, LHP, Grand Canyon
Ruger Riojas, RHP, Texas
Shane Van Dam, RHP, NC State
Dylan Vigue, RHP, Michigan
Brian Walters, RHP, Miami
Ethan Young, RHP, East Carolina
OK, there you have it. This is quite a list of pitchers. However, when you consider over 300 players are selected in the first 2 days of the draft, a lot of these guys, especially the better ones, might not even make it to the 3rd day. A number of the guys above are intriguing and I haven't even dug into the list above of guys at the residual combine guys list above.
No comments:
Post a Comment