2017 College Top 100 Draft Prospects

SEE ALSO: High School Top 100 SEE ALSO: 2017 Draft Archive The calendar turning this week to 2017 is the latest sign both the start of the college baseball season and the draft are fast approaching. As players prepare for the season, scouts are also readying for the spring. The college class is rich in pitching, as both USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team and the Cape Cod League demonstrated over the summer. The CNT’s pitching staff posted a 1.81 ERA and held opponents to a .197 batting average in 18 games last summer, while the Cape’s Top 30 draft prospects was again dominated by pitchers. As a result, college pitching is one of the strengths of the 2017 draft class. For the second year in a row, a Florida pitcher tops the College 100 ranking entering the spring. A year after lefthander A.J. Puk ranked No. 1, righthander Alex Faedo goes into 2017 atop the list. Puk ultimately was the first college pitcher selected last year, though he slipped on draft day and went No. 6 overall to the Athletics after an up-and-down spring. Faedo, who will take over as Florida’s ace this season, will hope for a steadier draft year. Though he sat out the fall as he recovered from minor knee surgery, he has the stuff, size and track record to be the top pick in the draft. Listed at 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, Faedo has a plus fastball-slider combination and improved his changeup this summer while pitching with the CNT. He went 13-3, 3.18 and ranked third in the country with 133 strikeouts in 104.2 innings last season. A host of pitchers join Faedo near the top of the list. Righthanders J.B. Bukauskas (North Carolina), Kyle Wright (Vanderbilt), Alex Lange (Louisiana State) and Tanner Houck (Missouri) all joined him this summer with Team USA and turned in impressive performances. Righthander Tristan Beck is a draft-eligible sophomore who has a chance to be the latest Stanford pitcher to be picked early in the first round. Vanderbilt center fielder Jeren Kendall has established himself as the top college position player. A well above-average runner with surprising power in his wiry frame, he has the ability to impact the game in multiple ways. Scouts will also be keeping a close eye on another center fielder in Nashville, as Lipscomb’s Michael Gigliotti has the skill set to profile at the top of the lineup. Sluggers Keston Hiura (UC Irvine), J.J. Schwarz (Florida) and Pavin Smith (Virginia), as well as Florida shortstop Dalton Guthrie are among the other position players who will receive first-round consideration. Louisville’s Brendan McKay, the 2015 Freshman of the Year, could fit near the top of either the position players or pitchers. He has been the best two-way player in the country the last two years, and there is still no consensus as to whether he will be developed as a lefthander or first baseman in pro ball. Florida and North Carolina lead all schools with five players each on the top 100. South Carolina and Virginia closely follow with four players. In all 61 colleges are represented.

Rank	Name, Pos., School	B-T	Ht.	Wt.	Previously drafted
1	Alex Faedo, rhp, Florida	R-R	6-5	220	Tigers ’14 (40)
2	Jeren Kendall, of, Vanderbilt	L-R	6-0	190	Red Sox ’14 (30)
3	J.B. Bukauskas, rhp, North Carolina	R-R	6-0	196	D-backs ’14 (20)
4	Brendan McKay, lhp/1b, Louisville	L-L	6-2	212	Padres ’14 (34)
5	Kyle Wright, rhp, Vanderbilt	R-R	6-4	220	Never drafted
6	Tristan Beck, rhp, Stanford	R-R	6-4	190	Brewers ’15 (34)
7	Alex Lange, rhp, Louisiana State	R-R	6-3	201	Never drafted
8	Tanner Houck, rhp, Missouri	R-R	6-5	218	Blue Jays ’14 (12)
9	Pavin Smith, of/1b, Virginia	L-L	6-2	210	Rockies ’14 (32)
10	Seth Romero, lhp, Houston	L-L	6-3	240	Never drafted
11	Wil Crowe, rhp, South Carolina	R-R	6-2	250	Indians ’16 (21)
12	Brendon Little, lhp, State JC of Florida	L-L	6-2	215	Giants ’15 (36)
13	Colton Hock, rhp, Stanford	R-R	6-5	220	Never drafted
14	Michael Gigliotti, of, Lipscomb	L-L	6-1	176	Never drafted
15	J.J. Schwarz, c, Florida	R-R	6-2	215	Brewers ’14 (17)
16	Griffin Canning, rhp, UCLA	R-R	6-1	170	Rockies ’14 (38)
17	Clarke Schmidt, rhp, South Carolina	R-R	6-1	205	Never drafted
18	Dalton Guthrie, ss, Florida	R-R	5-11	175	Twins ’14 (40)
19	Peter Solomon, rhp, Notre Dame	R-R	6-4	191	Padres ’14 (21)
20	Keston Hiura, of/2b, UC Irvine	R-R	6-0	188	Never drafted
21	Kevin Smith, ss, Maryland	R-R	6-0	188	Never drafted
22	Evan Skoug, c, Texas Christian	L-R	5-11	200	Nationals ’14 (34)
23	Corbin Martin, rhp, Texas A&M	R-R	6-2	200	Never drafted
24	Taylor Walls, ss, Florida State	B-R	5-10	180	Never drafted
25	Dylan Busby, 3b/1b, Florida State	R-R	6-3	190	Never drafted
26	Joe Dunand, ss/3b, North Carolina State	R-R	6-2	205	Indians ’14 (35)
27	Jake Burger, 3b, Misssouri State	R-R	6-2	210	Never drafted
28	Mike Rivera, c, Florida	R-R	5-10	205	Athletics ’14 (33)
29	Jake Mangum, of, Mississippi State	B-L	6-0	185	Never drafted
30	David Peterson, lhp, Oregon	L-L	6-6	242	Red Sox ’14 (28)
31	Zach Rutherford, ss, Old Dominon	R-R	6-2	180	Never drafted
32	Deon Stafford, c, St. Joseph’s	R-R	6-0	202	Never drafted
33	Evan White, of/1b, Kentucky	B-L	6-3	200	Never drafted
34	Drew Rasmussen, rhp, Oregon State	R-R	6-1	226	D-backs ’14 (39)
35	Tyler Johnson, rhp, South Carolina	R-R	6-2	205	Never drafted
36	Carl Chester, of, Miami	R-R	6-0	205	Brewers ’14 (38)
37	Riley Adams, c, San Diego	R-R	6-4	210	Cubs ’14 (37)
38	Morgan Cooper, rhp, Texas	R-R	6-4	220	Nationals ’16 (34)
39	Will Gaddis, rhp, Furman	R-R	6-1	185	Yankees ’14 (36)
40	Zac Lowther, lhp, Xavier	L-L	6-2	235	Never drafted
41	Nate Pearson, rhp, JC of Central Florida	R-R	6-6	245	Never drafted
42	Kade McClure, rhp, Louisville	R-R	6-7	235	Never drafted
43	Jayson Rose, rhp, Utah	R-R	6-0	180	Never drafted
44	Ricky Tyler Thomas, lhp, Fresno State	R-L	6-1	175	Never drafted
45	Keegan Thompson, rhp, Auburn	R-R	6-2	209	Tigers ’16 (33)
46	Devin Hairston, ss, Louisville	R-R	5-7	162	Never drafted
47	Clay Fisher, ss, UC Santa Barbara	R-R	6-1	175	Never drafted
48	K.J. Harrison, 1b, Oregon State	R-R	6-0	208	Indians ’14 (25)
49	Brock Deatherage, of, North Carolina State	L-L	6-1	186	Never drafted
50	Logan Warmoth, ss, North Carolina	R-R	6-0	189	Never drafted
51	Connor Seabold, rhp, Cal State Fullerton	R-R	6-2	185	Orioles ’14 (19)
52	Matt Whatley, c, Oral Roberts	R-R	5-10	190	Never drafted
53	J.J. Matijevic, of/1b, Arizona	L-R	6-0	206	Red Sox ’14 (22)
54	Kyle Johnston, rhp, Texas	R-R	6-0	220	Never drafted
55	Glenn Otto, rhp, Rice	R-R	6-5	240	Never drafted
56	Garrett Cave, rhp, Tampa	R-R	6-4	205	Yankees ’14 (17)
57	Tarik Skubal, lhp, Seattle	L-L	6-3	218	Never drafted
58	Hunter Williams, lhp, North Carolina	L-L	6-3	225	Giants ’14 (32)
59	Ernie Clement, 2b/of, Virginia	R-R	6-0	165	Never drafted
60	Michael Baumann, rhp, Jacksonville	R-R	6-4	225	Twins ’14 (34)
61	Josh Anthony, 3b, Auburn	R-R	5-10	195	Braves ’16 (16)
62	Mitch Hart, rhp, Southern California	R-R	6-4	195	Giants ’14 (35)
63	Adam Haseley, of, Virginia	L-L	6-1	195	Never drafted
64	Zach Warren, lhp, Tennessee	L-L	6-5	200	Pirates ’14 (23)
65	Tyler Wilson, lhp, Rhode Island	L-L	6-4	225	Never drafted
66	James Karinchak, rhp, Bryant	R-R	6-3	230	Never drafted
67	Kyle Nelson, lhp, UC Santa Barbara	L-L	6-1	180	Never drafted
68	Jake Bird, rhp, UCLA	R-R	6-3	205	Never drafted
69	Evan Steele, lhp, Chipola (Fla.) JC	R-L	6-5	210	Never drafted
70	Tommy Doyle, rhp, Virginia	R-R	6-6	235	Nationals ’14 (35)
71	Patrick Mathis, of, Texas	L-L	6-1	215	Never drafted
72	Brian Miller, of, North Carolina	L-R	6-0	186	Never drafted
73	Erich Uelmen, rhp, Cal Poly	R-R	6-3	195	Never drafted
74	Zach Pop, rhp, Kentucky	R-R	6-4	225	Blue Jays ’14 (23)
75	Brigham Hill, rhp, Texas A&M	R-R	6-0	185	Athletics ’16 (20)
76	Zack Gahagan, 3b, North Carolina	R-R	6-2	197	D-backs ’14 (40)
77	Jake Latz, lhp, Kent State	R-L	6-2	196	Blue Jays ’14 (11)
78	Quinn Brodey, of, Stanford	L-L	6-1	195	Nationals ’14 (37)
79	Mike Papierski, c, Louisiana State	B-R	6-3	210	Blue Jays ’14 (16)
80	Will Toffey, 3b, Vanderbilt	L-R	6-2	205	Orioles ’16 (25)
81	Stuart Fairchild, of, Wake Forest	R-R	6-0	195	Nationals ’14 (38)
82	Charlie Barnes, lhp, Clemson	L-L	6-1	170	Never drafted
83	Greg Deichmann, of/1b, Louisiana State	L-R	6-2	191	Twins ’16 (26)
84	Zach Willeman, rhp, Kent State	R-R	6-3	200	Never drafted
85	Logan Sowers, of, Indiana	R-R	6-4	220	Padres ’14 (31)
86	Alex Destino, of, South Carolina	L-L	6-2	225	Never drafted
87	Evan Mendoza, 3b, North Carolina State	R-R	6-2	200	Never drafted
88	Connor Wong, c, Houston	R-R	6-0	181	Never drafted
89	Zach Schellenger, rhp, Seton Hall	R-R	6-5	210	Never drafted
90	Deacon Liput, 2b, Florida	R-R	5-10	190	Yankees ’16 (39)
91	Luis Gonzalez, of/lhp, New Mexico	L-L	6-0	185	Never drafted
92	Brandon Bielak, rhp, Notre Dame	L-R	6-1	209	Never drafted
93	Kyle Serrano, rhp, Tennessee	R-R	6-3	200	Brewers ’16 (40)
94	Gunnar Troutwine, c, Wichita State	R-R	6-2	222	Never drafted
95	Brady Puckett, rhp, Lipscomb	R-R	6-9	242	Mets’ 14 (33)
96	Ryan Noda, of/1b, Cincinnati	L-L	6-3	216	Never drafted
97	Nick Feight, c, UNC Wilmington	R-R	5-11	200	Never drafted
98	Daulton Varsho, c, Wisconsin-Milwaukee	L-R	5-10	200	Never drafted
99	Tyler Buffett, rhp, Oklahoma State	R-R	6-2	197	Astros ’16 (7)
100	Bryce Montes de Oca, rhp, Missouri	R-R	6-7	261	White Sox ’14 (14)