Casey Mize

Mize has established himself as the top player in the 2018 draft class thanks to a deep and talented repertoire that is made mostly of 60-grade or better offerings and exceptional control that allowed him to lead all college pitchers with a 12.11 strikeout-to-walk ratio as a sophomore in 2017. Through 10 starts this spring, the 6-foot-3, 220-pound righthander had improved his K/BB to a ridiculous 15.67 mark with a 2.25 ERA in 68 innings. Mize pitches off of a fastball that gets up to 97 mph but sits in the 93-95 range and a 70-grade splitter that's among the best offspeed offerings in the country. Typically a difficult pitch to control, even for professional pitchers, Mize locates the 86-89 mph splitter remarkably well, with powerful downward action. He also has a slider that is in the mid- to upper 80s that he's thrown with a different grip this spring than he had on previous occasions. He has two variations of the slider--one that is more firm and used as an out pitch and another that's softer with more of a curveball shape and used as a get-me-over strike. He has also added a cutter to his repertoire this spring that's in the 88-91 mph range and scouts have already graded it as a plus offering. On top of all of that, Mize also throws a slower changeup from a different grip than his power splitter, which falls in the low 80s with fade and sink. While technically he has a four-pitch mix, the variations to the splitter and slider give him six different offerings to attack hitters, each of which grade out as plus offerings for most scouts, headlined by the plus-plus splitter. The stuff, pitchability and performance give Mize the ceiling of a future ace, with his medical history being the only knock on his resume. Mize was shutdown with forearm issues during the spring and summer of 2017 and has had trouble staying healthy dating back to his time as a high school prospect in Springville, Ala. He's avoided injury issues the spring of his junior year, however, and if he continues to make his starts and nothing crazy shows up in his medical this June, he should be the first player off the board.