Entering his fifth year of amateur scouting and evaluation, Tyler Jennings spent his first weekend at the top of the mountain taking in Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt. The two programs alone boast ten different players on our 2022 Top 300 board.
Here are Tyler’s thoughts.
Spencer Jones, OF, Vanderbilt
You might recall Spencer Jones being a two-way player when he got to Vanderbilt. Well, after injuries forced him to stop pitching, he’s solely a bat now and he looks primed for a breakout.
At 6-foot-7, 225 pounds, Jones is a beast of a body. There’s projection to his frame that is built with lengthy limbs. After a rough day one against a tough Justin Campbell, Jones found a groove. On Saturday, he went 4-for-4 with two doubles and added another on Sunday. All of his hits went to the opposite field. He showcased good raw power as well, with a good arm in the right field corner. the position he manned all weekend. Jones is one to keep circled on your ranks this year, he’s likely to fulfill the hefty expectations he had when he stepped on campus.
Victor Mederos, RHP, Oklahoma State
After transferring to Oklahoma State from Miami, Mederos found himself sliding in to be Oklahoma State’s Saturday arm and simply put, he’s got some electric stuff.
While he’s got some effort to his delivery, he started off 94-97 mph with good run to the fastball before settling in 92-94 later on. The fastball got plenty of whiffs early, tallying eight on the day, which is interesting to note given the low whiff rate the pitch had back in Miami. He utilized a sweepy slider in the low-to-mid 80’s as his primary secondary, a late biting pitch that he can both land backdoor and back-foot. He’d use a high-70’s curveball every so often, but it was primarily fastball/slider throughout. Command faltered a bit late, but Mederos buckled down and came up clutch for a Cowboys club looking to rally after a shutout loss on Friday.
Nolan McLean, 3B/OF, Oklahoma State
McLean is an interesting player. Strikeouts hampered him in the first weekend of the year, which is to be expected of a player of his profile. However, there are some positives to take away from this weekend.
For starters, you are looking at a player with plus power and a potentially double-plus arm that will now be utilized in right field for Oklahoma State. There’s a lot of bat speed and he generates a good bit of separation between the hips and shoulders, which allows him to tap into that power. If it weren’t for the wind on Saturday, he had a first-inning grand slam off of Nick Maldonado that left the bat at 109 MPH. In the field, he took good routes and made a very impressive throw in the final game of the series, throwing out noted speedster Enrique Bradfield Jr. on a one-hop laser from deep right field. Let’s not forget, he’s yet to pitch, an area of his game he’s shown strong ability. He’s been up to 97 MPH with a good cutter and slider. It’ll be interesting to see how Josh Holliday deploys McLean in that regard, but here’s to hoping McLean rights the wrongs moving forward.
Justin Campbell, RHP, Oklahoma State
After a big summer for Campbell with USA Baseball, he’s returned to Oklahoma State as their new Friday night arm. There’s a lot to like with him as a pitcher, even if his outing on Friday didn’t go as planned.
Campbell started out clean, showing off some improved velocity at 91-94 mph before settling in 89-92 mph as the game went on. The fastball was his primary strikeout pitch, tallying six of his eight strikeouts with it. He didn’t quite have his good change-up feel, but it’s a solid offering that he can utilize well when he’s on. The primary breaking ball is a mid-70’s 12/6 curveball with good bite that he used often. Command and strike-throwing was an issue, however, though it should be noted that there were reports of back tightness before the game. It’s a nice and easy delivery as well, with a lot of starter traits to boot. His stock has gone up quite a bit in the past few months and if he’s able to shake off the back issues, he could propel himself up boards in this pitching class.
Bryce Osmond, RHP, Oklahoma State
Arguably the best outing of anyone this weekend belonged to Sunday starter Bryce Osmond, who looks quite a bit better than he has in previous years. Granted, it’s one start, but there were a lot of positives to walk away with.
Much like Campbell, the delivery is rather effortless and clean. He’s struggled with command in the past, but on Sunday, it looked improved. He was able to throw the fastball for strikes and land his slider backdoor on numerous occasions. The fastball velocity never really wavered, as he started off 92-95 mph and he was still bumping 94-95 into the fourth inning, finishing off 91-93 mph. The slider was nasty, with some sweepy action and late bite in the low-80’s that kept hitters in check. He’s got a low-spin change-up that he did a good job of deploying against lefties and he dropped in a couple of curveballs here and there. This is an exciting development for Oklahoma State, with Osmond throwing 68% of pitches for strikes and the new and improved delivery paying off so far. This gives the Cowboys a deep and talented trio of arms in that weekend rotation to be excited for.