Bryson Stott

After hitting an impressive .333/.405/.474 over his first two seasons with Nevada-Las Vegas, Stott was the USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team starting shortstop last summer—always a good indicator for a player’s draft pedigree. Entering the summer, Team USA coaches believed they were getting an offensive-inclined shortstop who needed some work on the defensive end. However, Stott impressed the staff with his glovework, showing impressive footwork and body control along with accurate throws to the bag. Yet scouts left the summer with conflicting thoughts regarding Stott’s bat, as he showed good bat-to-ball skills but too often with a slap-heavy, low-impact swing. Questions have been raised about his potential offensive upside in spite of the numbers he had posted in the Mountain West Conference, but Stott quickly showed he was more than just a slap hitter early this spring. He’s more consistently tapped into his all-fields power by getting his lower half more into his swing and increasing his strength. That power uptick has come with more swing-and-miss (14 percent strikeout rate through his first 41 games) and a higher walk rate (around 20 percent), but his strikeouts aren’t at a concerning level. Defensively, most scouts believe Stott can stick at shortstop, where he has a plus arm with accuracy and a reliable glove. But there are some who question the pure quickness and range in Stott’s game and believe he’ll wind up being a better fit for third base, where his arm would fit just fine. Stott will record plus run times to first base at times, but scouts believe he’s closer to an average runner who could transition into a fringe-average runner as he puts on more weight. Regardless, Stott should be one of the first college shortstops off the board.