What a week at MLB Pipeline: new Top 30 Prospects lists for every organization, Spring Breakout roster reveals and updated farm system rankings coming later today. All while Spring Training and the college baseball season are in full swing. Let’s get to your questions …

 

Do you see fellow Bulldog Charlie Condon going first overall in the Draft? I haven’t seen a better bat than him in the Draft. His defense in left field is average but has been great at third base. The bat looks special. — Ben B., Athens, Ga.

Condon opened the year ranked No. 4 on our initial Draft Top 100 in December. While Wake Forest first baseman Nick Kurtz was the consensus top all-around offensive performer on the board, I believed the gap between them was smaller than perceived. Condon would go ahead of him today after getting off to a .531/.631/1.224 start with more homers (nine) than strikeouts (eight) through 13 games, even though that’s a small sample size and Georgia’s non-conference schedule has been less than rigorous.

While Kurtz has the advantage of batting left-handed, Condon offers more defensive versatility. He’s reasonably athletic for a 6-foot-6, 216-pounder and already has made highlight plays at third base, left field and center field this season. He merits a look at the hot corner in pro ball, probably winds up on an outfield corner and definitely is more than just a first baseman.

Condon definitely is in the mix to go No. 1 overall in the Draft, which is still four months away. If the Guardians do take him, Georgia will become just the second college ever to produce top picks in the MLB, NBA (Anthony Edwards) and NFL (Frank Sinkwich, Charley Trippi, Harry Babcock, Matthew Stafford, Travon Walker) drafts. Louisiana State is the only school that currently can make that claim: Ben McDonald and Paul Skenes in baseball; Shaquille O’Neal and Ben Simmons in basketball; Billy Cannon, JaMarcus Russell and Joe Burrow in football.

 

Both Michigan and Michigan State have pulled off the NBA-NFL-NHL triple. The Wolverines have Cazzie Russell and Chris Webber in basketball; Tom Harmon and Jake Long in football; and Owen Power in hockey. The Spartans’ No. 1 picks are Magic Johnson (NBA), Bubba Smith (NFL) and Joe Murphy (NHL) — and Mark Mulder went No. 2 in the 1998 MLB Draft.

As I was finishing this answer, I got a text from a crosschecker whose club has an early pick but probably not early enough to get Condon. “Unfortunately the guy I told you was the best keeps hitting home runs . . . Condon is a damn stud. I did not need him to be this good.”

Favorite single prospect? Come on, you know me better than that. I must give you an entire team of prospects ranked 21-30 on the new Top 30s:

Brooks Brannon, C, Red Sox
Blaze Jordan, 1B, Red Sox
Cooper Kinney, 2B, Rays
Jake Gelof, 3B, Dodgers
Erick Lara, SS, Rays
Jace Bohrofen, OF, Blue Jays
Zyhir Hope, OF, Dodgers
Gian Zapata, OF, Diamondbacks
Grayson Hitt, LHSP, Diamondbacks
Landon Sims, RHP, Diamondbacks
Antoine Kelly, LHRP, Rangers
Jack Neely, RHRP, Yankees

Jun 19, 2023

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0:55

Blaze Jordan slugs a homer

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Interestingly, just five of those 12 players come from farm systems that placed in the top 10 of our soon-to-be-unveiled rankings. Hope, Lara and Zapata all turned pro last year and may have the highest ceilings among the group. I suspect most of these guys will climb Top 30s during the course of this season.

Fifteen of the first 20 guys on our 2024 Top 100 list are expected to play in the big leagues this year, so for the purposes of this question let’s assume that they’ll graduate from prospect status. Let’s also eliminate the other five — catchers Salas (Padres) and Basallo (Orioles), outfielders Walker Jenkins (Twins) and Max Clark (Tigers), shortstop Carson Williams (Rays) — because they’re too obvious.

With those stipulations, the two most obvious candidates are outfielders Roman Anthony (Red Sox) and Chase DeLauter (Guardians). Anthony had no trouble handling High-A and Double-A pitching as a 19-year-old and offers an enticing combination of hitting ability, power and offensive metrics. Few prospects can match DeLauter’s package of size (6-foot-4, 235 pounds), athleticism, performance and plate discipline.

Jan 22, 2024

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0:48

2024 Top Prospect: Chase DeLauter

How many pitchers taken in the first round of the Draft have been elected to the Hall of Fame? — Sam G., Austin, Texas

The answer to this one surprised me. Would you believe that it took 54 years after the first Draft in 1965 for a first-round pitcher to be enshrined in Cooperstown? And that it hasn’t happened since?

Both Roy Halladay (17th overall in 1995) and Mike Mussina (20th in 1990) were voted into the Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2019, and that’s it. Two more first-round arms could be elected next year, when Billy Wagner (12th in 1993) faces his final ballot and C.C. Sabathia (20th in 1998) appears on his first. The next-best contender is Adam Wainwright (29th in 2000), who won’t be eligible until 2029 and is a borderline candidate at best.

Zack Greinke (sixth in 2002), Clayton Kershaw (seventh in 2006), Max Scherzer (11th in 2006) and Justin Verlander (second in 2004) should be locks once they retire. Gerrit Cole (28th in 2008, first in 2011) is on the right path but has more work to do.