Corner outfielders can be an enigmatic profile to describe. There’s a million different avenues a big league corner outfielder can take to reach the “7” or the “9” on the field. Some come by way of extraordinary, impact power that must be forced into a lineup. Some finagle their way into big league stadiums as failed centerfielders. Conventionally, a prototype right fielder has the big arm, the big power bat and enough speed and athleticism to track down fly balls in every direction. Left fielders don’t really carry as much of a stereotype, but must have a couple carrying tools that can contribute positive value over nine innings.
With that said, all outfielders must be athletes. They need good ball awareness, crisp route running, and the ability to track the baseball off the bat and mid-flight. Outfielders need to be present-minded with good instincts and strong game awareness. Arm strength is incredibly important, though arm accuracy is just as critical. Scouts want to see throws they can hang laundry on. High-arcing rainbows or buttercut fades tailing up the third base line won’t help your team win ball games. Speed also plays a role here, although it’s not always crucial so long as it’s just slow foot speed and not clunky, muddy athleticism. Traditionally, a worse defensive player will be assigned to left field, and a better one to right field. Right fielders are tasked with making good throws to third more often than left fielders due to the demands of their location on the field. By that designation, as you might imagine, a stronger arm is more desirable in right. But at the end of the day, a corner outfielder is depended on and fielded for his bat more than his defensive ability, so carrying a big stick in college is paramount.
After a weaker 2021 class, the 2022 MLB Draft features a handful of big bats projected to impact big league lineups for years to come, including our top overall prospect.
Chase DeLauter, James Madison
At time of publish, DeLauter ranks as our #1 overall prospect in the 2022 MLB Draft. We have to preface this profile by giving DeLauter his respect where it’s due. He’s a center fielder for James Madison and played some centerfield in the Cape Cod League this summer thanks to his extraordinary speed and pound-for-pound, some of the best athleticism found in this class. This guy could without question end up a center fielder at the next level, though we’re projecting out a bit, assuming the 6-foot-5-inch, 240-pound DeLauter will physically mature out of the middle of the field.
Given his size and rank on our 2022 big board, you’d expect DeLauter’s bat to be mighty, and mighty it is. DeLauter posted a gaudy .386/.508/.723 line on campus last season, following his dominant spring with an especially impressive .298/.397/.589 slash with nine bombs on the Cape. He was, by all accounts, the best player in the entire league this summer. DeLauter split time between centerfield and right field, though those that saw him in center felt confident in his ability to handle the position, at least early on in his professional career. Power is one of the calling cards here, and playing in the Colonial Athletic Conference, DeLauter will need to produce more juice than he did in 2021 (just six homers) next season. Those who evaluated the big, imposing talent this summer felt comfortable calling it 70-grade raw power, and he’s beginning to tap into it now. DeLauter draws sensational marks for his contact rates, his strikeout rates, and his walk rates. The guy is a mature hitter with a fantastic approach and the ability to impact the baseball when he takes his cuts. It’s an all-fields approach with all-fields juice and the upside here is really substantial.
Defensively, DeLauter is a plus runner, maybe a tick better, having run a sub-6.50 60-yard dash this summer at James Madison’s scout day. He’s a long-strider who glides to the spot in the field and shows a calm in his demeanor bringing the ball in. He works better to his right than he does to his left, taking better routes to his glove-side. The arm and athleticism are both huge and project to impact the game in right field. DeLauter has stepped onto the mound now and again, clocking 97 at times. The entire profile fits beautifully in right field and projects “plus” with the leather.
DeLauter’s unconventional swing can be a little divisive in the scouting community, but production pays. If he posts big power numbers whilst being pitched conservatively this season, all without sacrificing his approach, it’s a hugely tantalizing profile that will be in the 1.1 conversation come July with Baltimore on the clock.
Gavin Cross, Virginia Tech
Scouts haven’t traditionally flocked to Blacksburg in search of premier big league prospects, but 2022 is a brand new ballgame with Cross manning the grass at Lane Stadium. The Hokies haven’t had a position player selected in the top 100 picks of any draft since 2014 when Mark Zagunis went in the third round. That figures to change in July.
Cross is coming off a massive .345/.415/.621 campaign with eleven bombs and a mammoth .436 xwOBA. He followed that up by embarrassing the best pitchers in the country this summer, slashing .327/.397/.735 with six homers over 58 plate appearances across the Collegiate National Team and the Cape Cod League with Brewster. It’s an emphatic up-arrow for the kid from Bristol, Tennessee.
The underlying metrics absolutely love Cross. He peaked over 114 mph last spring, averaging 94.5 mph on batted balls in 2021. For reference, both his max exit velocity and average exit velocity ranked inside the top 25 for qualified players in college baseball last spring. He’s an aggressive hitter who isn’t afraid to ambush pitches early in the count, aiming to pull the ball with authority as much as possible. Cross has an organic feel for launch without selling out in his angle of attack. His punchout rate sits just north of 20 percent, and his contact rate sits below 75 percent, two figures evaluators would like to see improve in 2022.
Defensively, Cross is strong, a solid average runner and an impressive athlete. He’s got burst and lateral agility, though it’s a fringe-average arm that may fit best in left field or first base as his bat climbs the ladder. Cross’s 6-foot-3-inch, 205-pound body still has a touch of projection, so fears of him slowing down immediately upon turning pro can be quelled a bit.
So long as his approach doesn’t back up and Cross can continue flexing the muscles he showed over the summer, there’s top ten upside here.
Dylan Beavers, California
Beavers is merely scratching the surface of what he’s capable of at the plate having been recruited to Berkeley as a pitcher in 2019. After a massive 2021 at the plate, Beavers is now squarely in the conversation as one of the best college outfielders in the country.
Only two players last season achieved a chase rate south of 15 percent and a contact rate greater than 80 percent with an average exit velocity north of 92 mph. 2021’s no. 33 overall pick Tyler Black and Beavers. That combination of approach, bat-to-ball and impact is almost impossible to find as an entire package. The result was a .303/.401/.630 slash with 18 homers, adding 10 stolen bases for good measure. Beavers’ 40-percent “barrel” rate (exit velocity over 95 mph and a launch angle between 10 and 30 degrees) ranked inside the top five in college baseball. His sensational campaign was followed up by an anemic .189/.297/.283 summer across the Cape and CNT. Strikeouts and his approach appeared to take a step back. Had he had a summer like the spring he had at Cal, we’d probably be talking about a consensus top ten prospect in the draft.
Defensively, Beavers can get to a lot of balls thanks to his straight line speed. His 6-foot-4-inch, 205-pound frame certainly looks the part, and his instincts are strong, though Beavers is probably a better runner than he is a pure athlete. He’s not the type of guy who makes too many highlight reel plays, but he is reliable and makes the routine play look easy
Beavers’ upright stance, coupled with his frame and defensive profile, reminds some scouts of a Christian Yelich type of player, though that’s obviously high praise and a level of play Beavers will need to develop into. Still, the upside is there, and if he can repeat his 2021 campaign in Berkeley in 2022, Beavers could be one of the first ten players off the board in July.
Jordan Beck, Tennessee
Beck fits the profile of a prototypical right-handed corner outfielder with big power, a big arm and burgeoning production as he’s grown into his matured, adult body. A 14th round selection by the Red Sox in the 2019 draft, Beck decided against Boston and instead elected for three years in Knoxville, a decision that looks to be paying off.
Beck looks the part of the varsity quarterback. It’s a 6-foot-3-inch, 215-pound frame with a strong lower half and wide shoulders. He’s got a quiet swing with a consistent swing plane that produces big game power. That swing produced a .271/.336/.523 slash this past season, slugging 15 homers along the way. Beck’s exit velocities this season peaked north of 112 mph, encroaching on the elite category. He had a fairly average summer on the Cape, though strikeouts were more of an issue than they were on campus.
Beck is a really good athlete in the field with above average athleticism, above average footspeed and comfortably a plus arm that projects to only get stronger. Beck is particularly comfortable around the wall and on the warning track, something not everybody on this list can claim. He’s a really good bet to stay in right field as a pro.
With the assumption Beck’s approach and bat-to-ball skills take a step forward this spring, he’s a good bet to go early in the draft. He’s got the tools that fit the meta right now and that generally doesn’t last long.
Cayden Wallace, Arkansas
Wallace has been a mainstay in scouting circles since his time at Greenbrier High School. He got big dollars thrown his way in the 2020 MLB Draft, but elected to enroll in Fayetteville and rake his way to more money and an education. If his true freshman campaign was any indication, that was a wise decision.
Wallace, barely 19 years old last season, smoked the baseball for the Hogs to the tune of a .279/.369/.500 slash with 14 dingers. He showed some swing-and-miss, and didn’t show a propensity for walking, but given his age and introduction to the level of competition, the potential jump in 2022 could be big. Wallace got a cup of coffee in the Cape Cod League this summer, and while he got on base and hit well, strikeouts did rear their ugly head. He’s almost certainly going to be a power-over-hit guy at the next level, but it’s the type of tools where even a fringy hit tool could fit in the middle of a lineup at the big league level. He had a particularly tough time with changeups last season, so that’s probably the lowest hanging fruit in his development.
Wallace is one of the more versatile athletes for the position in the class with the ability to come down onto the dirt and handle third base at the next level. He’s expected to get a ton of reps at the hot corner for Arkansas in 2022, where was a very talented infielder in his prep days with a howitzer of an arm and a soft glove. That said, his skill set probably best fits in the outfield as a pro where his fringy athleticism and physical projection will be less-tested.
Given Wallace’s prospect pedigree and physical tools, coupled with the ability to showcase his skills on a nightly basis in front of SEC arms, the upside here is tremendous so long as the bat-to-ball skills take a step forward.
Names to Watch: Anthony Hall, Oregon; Drew Gilbert, Tennessee; Chris Newell, Virginia; Tres Gonzalez, Georgia Tech; Jake DeLeo, Georgia Tech; Dom Pilloli, Charlotte; Caeden Trenkle, Oklahoma State; Jacob Melton, Oregon State; Morgan Colopy, Indiana; Owen Diodati, Alabama; Gavin Dugas, LSU; Jacob Marsee, Central Michigan; Dylan Brewer, Clemson; Isaiah Thomas, Vanderbilt; RJ Schreck, Duke; Dylan Phillips, Kansas State; Alec Makarewicz, East Carolina; Levi Usher, Louisville; Elijah Buries, Grand Canyon; Doug Hodo III, Texas; Bradley Gneitling, Rice; Chad Castillo, Cal Baptist; John Behrends, Belmont; Stephen Reid, Georgia Tech; Cam Masterman, Louisville; Eric Kennedy, Texas; Slade Wilks, Southern Miss; Colby Thomas, Mercer; Hylan Hall, Washington State