Weekend one is in the books and all it did was reinforce one thing for me: Baseball is hard. The internet and social media were ripe with opinions burying kids with just three games under their belt. It is a long season. A three-percent sample size from a long campaign is meaningless. Draft profiles are hardly ever built in a weekend. Remember that.
That said, countless players came out and made thunderous statements this weekend, driving home preconceptions of their talent. Weekend one can often be difficult to evaluate. After all, most Power Five schools are welcoming in much smaller schools, tuning up for conference play about a month from now. You still have to compete and perform. Several stood out, but three really made a strong impression.
Hitters
Cade Doughty, Third Base, LSU
The Tigers had their way with the University of Maine this weekend, scoring north of 50 runs in just three games. Doughty was at the center of that barrage. The Denham Springs, Louisiana product blistered the ball all weekend, finishing 8-for-14 with two homers, three doubles, 12 RBIs, and added a stolen base for good measure. Doughty was consistently over 95 mph in exit velocity this weekend, something we’ve grown accustomed to seeing from the LSU bluechip over the last couple years.
Doughty, the no. 48 overall prospect on our Top 300 Board, has a smattering of solid tools across his scouting report. He’s a solid hitter with average raw power, maybe a tick more. He can pick it at third base, comfortably a solid average defender, and he’s got an average arm to make most of the plays when his talents are called on. Doughty is also an average runner. While he did pick up five extra-base hits this week, none of those balls were hit especially hard, driving home the narrative he probably won’t be any sort of prolific home run hitter at the professional level. Doughty had a little bit of Alex Bregman in him in that regard. Not a bad comparison considering the latter was the no. 2 overall pick just seven years ago.
Matt Wood, Catcher, Penn State
Penn State had its hands full with Monmouth and Long Island this weekend, winning just one game in a four-game tournament in Cary, North Carolina. That wasn’t for a lack of trying from Wood who put the Nittany Lions on his back whenever possible. Wood finished the weekend going 6-for-14 with three homers, two doubles, seven RBIs and he drew three walks as well.
Wood has been a performer at the plate for the last couple of years now. He’s a solid average hitter with average raw power and he’s lauded for his approach and bat-to-ball skills. Wood uses the entire field and consistently puts up mature at-bats, rarely punching out. Behind the plate, he’s plenty athletic, though technique and arm strength have been a thorn in his side in the past. Evaluators are split on whether he’ll be able to catch at the next level, but the bat is his surefire best ticket into pro ball. Wood is a potential Day 2 pick and could climb quite high if his defensive chops iron themselves out and he continues to mash.
Clark Elliott, Outfielder, Michigan
It was a coming out party for Elliot who, on a lot of lists, was already highly regarded in the first place. Elliott had a chance to showcase his talents against some of the best pitching the country has to offer this weekend. Having to tackle Arizona, Texas Tech and Kansas State is a pretty good challenge for week one. Elliott turned heads, finishing the weekend 6-for-13 with two homers, a double, four RBIs, and a walk.
Elliott showed off his electric hands and pull-side juice against some pretty noteworthy arms this weekend. Situationally, he got the job done too. He battled, fouled off a lot of pitches, and ultimately made pitchers pay for mistakes. His speed was also on full display both on the basepaths and in the field. Scouts want to see that power continue to show out in-game this year. He is revered for his approach and hit tool, so if the juice shows up like it did this weekend all season, he could be one of the first outfielders off the board this July.
Pitchers
There were a lot of impressive pitching performances this week, but we’ll always focus on guys that did it against premier competition. There were a lot of “tune-up” matchups this week, so it’s important to keep that in mind.
Hunter Barco, LHP, Florida
For our money, Barco was the most impressive performer this week on the bump. Not only did he perform well, he did so against a very talented Liberty lineup that took two out of three against the Gators in Gainesville. Barco has long been considered a primo pitching prospect, but it does appear as though things are coming together for him. Barco finished his sterling performance going six innings, striking out a career-high 11 batters, allowing just one hit.
Barco filled up the strike zone all night with his fastball-slider-changeup combo. The heater appeared to have better shape than what got him into hot water in 2021, and the velocity looked good too, sitting 92-93 for most of the night according to the unconfirmed stadium radar gun. The changeup was dazzling against righty bats, though he favored punching out both-handed hitters with the wipeout slider. Barco was a little more cross-body than I remember him, but it certainly worked as nobody in the Liberty lineup could make anything hard contact. Scouts want to see Barco hold that velocity all season. Ideally, we’re talking about a 6-foot-4-inch, 220-pound prototype frame that pounds the zone with low, to sometimes mid-90s gas, mixing in two secondaries that induce a ton of swing-and-miss. It’s a bit of a Patrick Corbin starter kit, and should he perform like he did this weekend for much of the season, he’s a very good bet to go in the first round.
Bryce Hubbart, LHP, Florida State
Hubbart was nothing short of untouchable this week against a James Madison lineup that can sneak up on you and punch across some runs. After all, they do have our present no. 1 overall prospect in Chase DeLauter anchoring the team. They were no match for Hubbart who simply dominated from start to finish, missing an extraordinary amount of bats in the process. Hubbart went just five innings, surrendering two hits, striking out 13 batters. He had just three balls put in play against him, generating 23 whiffs on his fastball alone.
That’s about as dominant as you can possibly get, even on a pitch limit. Hubbart was just as dominant all summer on the Cape too, leaving many believing he was the best college pitcher in the country entering 2022. Hubbart is a four-pitch guy with two distinct breaking balls, a tough changeup, and the aforementioned heater in his bag of tricks. The fastball was only into the low-90s on Saturday, so that’ll be something to watch as the spring progresses. Still, it comes out of his sleeve with immense deception and angles. Both the slider and curveball are nasty pitches, commonly sitting above average with very unique shape. The changeup is deployed almost exclusively to righty bats. Hubbart doesn’t have the prototype size and projection a guy like Barco has, but he’s got a healthier pedigree and track record of dominating good bats, and that’s worth something in the draft. Should he perform like this all year, he’s a good bet to go day one or early day two at the latest.
Landon Sims, RHP, Mississippi State
Let’s make one thing clear: Long Beach State is no joke. That can’t be undersold here. For Sims to come out and dice up the Dirtbags like he did in his first career start is awfully impressive. His fastball command was drool-worthy. The slider, at its best, was excellent. He didn’t show the changeup, but one would imagine that’s being saved for conference play. In total, Sims would end up going seven innings, allowing five hits and one earned run. He did not walk a batter and his fastball alone generated 15 whiffs.
Despite taking the loss, this was an important and impressive outing from Sims. He held his velocity into the 6th inning, sitting 93-96 for most of the outing, finally dipping into the low-90s in the 7th inning. Scouts will want to see more performances like this. If the fastball is missing bats, and he’s spotting the slider low, glove-side, he’ll do well in the draft. The changeup will also be important to feature. There are still reliever traits here, but if he continues commanding his arsenal like he did this week, those should dissipate.
Notables!
Hitters
Cade Hunter, Virginia Tech: 5 for 7, 2 HR, 2 2B, 6 RBI, 1 BB,
Brooks Coetzee, Notre Dame: 5 for 12, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 4 K
Drew Reckart, Ohio State: 5 for 11, 2 HR, 1 2B, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K
Sterlin Thompson, Florida: 4 for 12, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K
Tanner Schobel, Virginia Tech: 4 for 10, HR, 2B, 2 RBI, SB, 3 BB
Danny Serretti, North Carolina: 7 for 13, HR, 2 2B, 4 RBI, BB, K
Peyton Williams, Iowa: 5 for 11, HR, 3 RBI, 4 BB
Keaton Anthony, Iowa: 4 for 9, 2 HR, 2 2B, 5 RBI, 2 BB, K
Matt Wood, Penn State: 4 for 10, 2 HR, 2 2B, 6 RBI, 3 BB, HBP
Tyler Locklear, VCU: 5 for 11, 3 HR, 8 RBI, BB, HBP, K
Drew Compton, Georgia Tech: 6 for 10, 2 HR, 2B, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 2 K
Jacob Berry, LSU: 6 for 14, 2 HR, 2B, 5 RBI, BB
Joe Lampe, Arizona State: 8 for 15, 2 HR, 2B, 4 RBI, SB, 3 K
Tanner O’Tremba, Arizona: 7 for 14, 2 HR, 3B, 2 2B, 7 RBI, BB, 2 K
Cade Doughty, LSU: 8 for 14, 2 HR, 3 2B, 12 RBI, SB, K
Maurice Hampton Jr., Samford: 6 for 10, HR, 3B, 4 RBI, 2 SB, BB, K
Clark Elliott, Michigan: 6 for 13, 2 HR, 2B, 4 RBI, BB, 2 K
Jacob Melton, Oregon State: 7 for 12, 3B, 2 2Bs, 2 SBs
Maxwell Costes, Maryland: 5 for 12, 2 HR, 3 2B, 4 RBI, BB
Brayden Jobert, LSU: 6 for 9, 2 HR, 2 2B, 9 RBI, 3 BB
Pitching
Sammy Natera, NMSU: 7 IP, 1 H, 14 K
Bryce Hubbart, FSU: 5 IP, 2 H, 13 K
Billy Seidl, Duke: 4 IP, 2 BB, 6 K
Thomas Harrington, Campbell: 6 IP, 1 H, 13 K
Hunter Barco, Florida: 6 IP, 1 H, 11 K
Trey Dombroski, Monmouth: 6 IP, 0 H, 7 K
Nick Dean, Maryland: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 8 K
Landon Sims, Mississippi State: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 13 K
Luis Ramirez, LBSU: 6 IP, 2 BB, 5 K
Adam Mazur, Iowa: 6 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 9 K
Pete Hansen: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 8 K
Mack Anglin, Clemson: 5 IP, 2 BB, 8 K
Nathan Medrano, Houston: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
Jonathan Cannon, Georgia: 6 IP, 2 H, 4 K
Parker Messick, FSU: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 11 K
Josh White, Cal: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 10 K
Adam Tulloch, Arizona State: 4.1 IP, 2 BB, 7 K