NCAA regionals feature 78 Top 200 Draft prospects -- here's a complete guide
If you haven’t caught Draft fever yet, just wait until after this weekend. The NCAA regionals kick off on Friday and start a string of nonstop college baseball for the better part of the next month.
The 2024 Draft projects to be a college-heavy group, meaning plenty of prospects on the Draft Top 200 list will be dotting your TV screens. Specifically, a whopping 78 of the top 200 prospects are in the tournament, including 27 of the top 50 prospects, 14 of the top 20 and each of the top eight.
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On the latest edition of the Pipeline Podcast, Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo broke down what’s in store this weekend and highlighted must-watch prospects to focus on in each regional.
Regionals, which are double elimination, are set to run Friday through Sunday, with additional games on Monday if needed. The top team from each region will then compete in super regionals for a chance to go to Omaha for the Men's College World Series. Every game will be available on one of ESPN’s television channels or streaming platforms.
Here’s an in-depth breakdown of the Top 200 Draft prospects in each regional:
CHARLOTTESVILLE REGIONAL (9 Top 200 prospects)
Teams: No. 1 Virginia (National No. 12 seed), No. 2 Miss. St., No. 3 St. John’s, No. 4 Penn
Top Draft prospect: Dakota Jordan, OF, Mississippi St. (No. 29)
Mayo: “Dakota Jordan, after Vance Honeycutt, might have the best set of all around raw tools, but it's very raw. [He’s a] former football player, there are some who feel that he'll continue to take steps forward as he focuses only on baseball, but the swing and miss has been a huge concern.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 31. Jurrangelo Cijntje (Miss. St.), 41. Griff O'Ferrall (Virginia), 75. Ethan Anderson (Virginia), 87. Khal Stephen (Miss. St.), 127. Harrison Didawick (Virginia), 129. Casey Saucke II (Virginia), 164. Nate Dohm (Miss. St.), 174. Hunter Hines (Miss. St.)
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CHAPEL HILL REGIONAL (8)
Teams: No. 1 North Carolina (National No. 4 seed), No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Wofford, No. 4 LIU
Top Draft prospect: Tommy White, 3B, LSU (No. 15)
Callis: “He's one of my favorite non-top 11 guys in the Draft. Everybody thinks about the power, but I think he's a really underrated hitter. He keeps making more contact each year. I'm a really big Tommy White fan.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 20. Vance Honeycutt IV (UNC), 48. Luke Holman (LSU), 60. Gage Jump (LSU), 112. Thatcher Hurd (LSU), 119. Jared Jones (LSU), 156. Griffin Herring (LSU), 172. Casey Cook (UNC)
KNOXVILLE REGIONAL (8)
Teams: No. 1 Tennessee (National No. 1 seed), No. 2 Southern Miss., No. 3 Indiana, No. 4 Northern Ky.
Top Draft prospect: Christian Moore, 2B, Tennessee (No. 25)
Callis: “Both he and Billy Amick, [Tennessee’s] third baseman, are potential first rounders. They could have six players taken in the top two rounds. I think that's the deepest lineup in college baseball.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 26. Billy Amick Jr. (Tenn.), 63. Drew Beam (Tenn.), 64. Blake Burke (Tenn.), 65. Kavares Tears (Tenn.), 72. Dylan Dreiling (Tenn.), 114. Connor Foley (Indiana), 184. Luke Sinnard (Indiana)
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION REGIONAL (6)
Teams: No. 1 Texas A&M (National No. 3 seed), No. 2 Louisiana, No. 3 Texas, No. 4 Grambling
Top Draft prospect: Braden Montgomery, OF, Texas A&M (No. 8)
Callis: “The best prospect there is Braden Montgomery. He transferred from Stanford to Texas A&M. He's going in the top five or 10 picks.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 58. Jared Thomas (Texas), 59. Ryan Prager (Texas A&M), 66. Kyle DeBarge (Louisiana), 100. Christopher Cortez (Texas A&M), 115. Jalin Flores (Texas)
FAYETTEVILLE REGIONAL (6)
Teams: No. 1 Arkansas (National No. 5 seed), No. 2 Louisiana Tech, No. 3 Kansas St., No. 4 Southeast Missouri St.
Top Draft prospect: Hagen Smith, LHP, Arkansas (No. 6)
Callis: “Hagen Smith has the highest strikeout rate in NCAA Division I history, at 17.5 per nine innings.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 32. Kaelen Culpepper (Kansas St.), 74. Peyton Stovall (Arkansas), 78. Tyson Neighbors (Kansas St.), 163. Jackson Wentworth (Kansas St.), 180. Brady Tygart (Arkansas)
GREENVILLE REGIONAL (6)
Teams: No. 1 East Carolina (National No. 16 seed), No. 2 Wake Forest, No. 3 VCU, No. 4 Evansville
Top Draft prospect: Nick Kurtz, 1B, Wake Forest (No. 4)
Mayo: “Wake Forest alone has three [first rounders]. Chase Burns, the right-hander; Nick Kurtz, the big first baseman who started off slowly and then started doing Nick Kurtz kind of things -- he should be a top five pick. Then Seaver King, kind of in the top half of the first round, middle of the first round, range.
Other Top 200 prospects: 5. Chase Burns (Wake Forest), 11. Trey Yesavage (East Carolina), 13. Seaver King (Wake Forest), 62. Josh Hartle (Wake Forest), 107. Michael Massey Jr. (Wake Forest)
CORVALLIS REGIONAL (5)
Teams: No. 1 Oregon State (National No. 15 seed), No. 2 UC Irvine, No. 3 Nicholls, No. 4 Tulane
Top Draft prospect: Travis Bazzana, 2B, Oregon St. (No. 1)
Mayo: “Second among all Division I hitters in slugging percentage [.939], 26 homers, he’s stolen some bases, he’s hit over .400. He has cemented himself as the best pure hitter in the class.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 82. Aiden May (Oregon St.), 132. Woody Hadeen (UC Irvine), 192. Bridger Holmes (Oregon St.), 199. Dub Gleed (UC Irvine)
CLEMSON REGIONAL (5)
Teams: No. 1 Clemson (National No. 6 seed), No. 2 Vanderbilt, No. 3 Coastal Carolina, No. 4 High Point
Top Draft prospect: Bryce Cunningham, RHP, Vanderbilt (No. 44)
Callis: “Probably not a first-round pick in that regional, but you have a number of potential second-round picks. You got Bryce Cunningham and Carter Holton at Vanderbilt could go in the second round.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 61. Carter Holton (Vanderbilt), 68. Tristan Smith (Clemson), 188. Jonathan Vastine (Vanderbilt), 189. Derek Bender (CCU)
SANTA BARBARA REGIONAL (4)
Teams: No. 1 UC Santa Barbara (National No. 14 seed), No. 2 San Diego, No. 3 Oregon, No. 4 Fresno St.
Top Draft prospect: Matt Ager, RHP, UCSB (No. 106)
Mayo: “Once upon a time, Matt Ager was one of my favorite pitchers in this class, especially because Santa Barbara’s got a history of producing guys who know how to pitch ... but Ager really struggled this year.
“He's in the bullpen ... I'll be curious to see how much he ends up getting used because he's not that far removed from being stretched out.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 139. Zander Darby (UCSB), 144. Josh Randall (USD), 194. Ivan Brethowr (UCSB)
STILLWATER REGIONAL (4)
Teams: No. 1 Oklahoma St. (National No. 11 seed), No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Niagara
Top Draft prospect: Jac Caglianone, 1B/LHP, Florida (No. 3)
Mayo: “He's going to hit at the next level. He's taken such steps forward in terms of the swing and miss and the chase and the numbers reflect that -- a ton of homers. He's going to go in the top of the first round.
“But he is a very talented two-way guy, up to 99 mph off the mound. He hasn't been throwing as well recently, but they're going to need him to pitch well if they want to have any chance of advancing.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 135. Colby Shelton (Florida), 173. Josh Caron (Nebraska), 193. Brandon Neely (Florida)
TALLAHASSEE REGIONAL (4)
Teams: No. 1 Florida St. (National No. 8 seed), No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 UCF, No. 4 Stetson
Top Draft prospect: Cam Smith, 3B, Florida St. (No. 14)
Mayo: “Florida State has been carried by two college bats in Cam Smith and James Tibbs. Both are being mentioned in sort of the upper half of the first round. Cam Smith is sophomore eligible; he's had a really good year after struggling as a freshman -- makes a ton of contact, can play third.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 16. James Tibbs III (Florida State), 45. Ben Hess (Alabama), 71. Gage Miller (Alabama)
ATHENS REGIONAL (3)
Teams: No. 1 Georgia (National No. 7 seed), No. 2 UNCW, No. 3 Georgia Tech, No. 4 Army
Top Draft prospect: Charlie Condon, OF/3B, Georgia (No. 2)
Callis: “Charlie Condon -- who leads NCAA in a bunch of different categories, including home runs with 35 -- is obviously the top prospect there and a candidate to go No. 1 overall in the Draft.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 170. Payton Green (Georgia Tech), 171. Corey Collins (Georgia)
LEXINGTON REGIONAL (3)
Teams: No. 1 Kentucky (National No. 2 seed), No. 2 Indiana St., No. 3 Illinois, No. 4 Western Mich.
Top Draft prospect: Ryan Waldschmidt, OF, Kentucky (No. 39)
Callis: “Ryan Waldschmidt has as much helium as any player in the Draft right now. I think Waldschmidt has got a chance to go in the first round.
“He led Kentucky to the No. 2 national seed, he's got great metrics in terms of making contact, he doesn't chase, he has high exit velocities, patient approach with a lot of power, solid runner.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 178. Travis Smith (Kentucky), 185. Émilien Pitre (Kentucky)
TUCSON REGIONAL (3)
Teams: No. 1 Arizona (National No. 13 seed), No. 2 Dallas Baptist, No. 3 West Virginia, No. 4 Grand Canyon
Top Draft prospect: JJ Wetherholt, SS/2B, West Virginia (No. 7)
Mayo: “He missed time with a hamstring injury and then came back and hit like he did last year and did over the summer. The more he's out there playing, I think the greater the chance there is that people will feel more comfortable with his ability on the field.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 43. Ryan Johnson (DBU), 137. Jackson Kent (Arizona)
NORMAN REGIONAL (2)
Teams: No. 1 Oklahoma (National No. 9 seed), No. 2 Duke, No. 3 UConn, No. 4 Oral Roberts
Top Draft prospect: Jonathan Santucci, LHP, Duke (No. 34)
Callis: “One of the best college left-handers in the Draft. He showed stuff this season, he struggled with his control. When he's on, he can miss bats with his plus fastball, plus slider, a solid changeup. He's an athletic guy who should throw more strikes and he has at Duke.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 128. John Spikerman (Oklahoma)
RALEIGH REGIONAL (2)
Teams: No. 1 NC State (National No. 10 seed), No. 2 South Carolina, No. 3 James Madison, No. 4 Bryant
Top Draft prospect: Jacob Cozart, C, NC State (No. 42)
Mayo: “Jacob Cozart is probably the best of the [second tier of catchers]. He's just had an OK year. He's got power from the left side of the plate, he can catch.”
Other Top 200 prospects: 104. Cole Messina (South Carolina)