College baseball is entering the last month of regular season play as conference tournaments will begin on May 23 and then Regionals on June 2. The number of reports, mock drafts, and updated prospect lists will be coming rapidly. That also includes us at Sox Machine / FutureSox as we attempt to untangle who the Chicago White Sox are leaning toward taking 15th overall.
As of now, there isn’t a clear direction. In the latest MLB.com mock draft from good friend Jim Callis, Vanderbilt outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. would be his first-round pick for the White Sox. I’ve stated previously that I thought Bradfield Jr.’s poor start to 2023 would drop him out of the Top 10. Since then, Bradfield Jr. has excelled in hitting during SEC conference play with an impressive slash line of .333/.500/.590. His season numbers are now at .294/.451/.454 with a 19.2% BB rate and 30/35 in stolen base attempts.
There will be more about Bradfield Jr. in the upcoming weeks, but he’s still a Top 10 prospect in the Sox Machine / FutureSox 2023 MLB Draft Top 100 Average Rankings. For those new to these rankings, the purpose is to build a consensus among multiple publications: MLB.com, Baseball America, Prospects Live, and ESPN. Today, Keith Law released his Top 50 prospect list on The Athletic, but those are not included in this Top 100 list.
2023 MLB Draft Top 100 Average Rankings
Rank
Player
Position
School
1
Dylan Crews
OF
LSU
2
Paul Skenes
RHP
LSU
3
Wyatt Langford
OF
Florida
4
Walker Jenkins
OF
South Brunswick HS (NC)
5
Max Clark
OF
Franklin HS (IN)
6
Chase Dollander
RHP
Tennessee
7
Jacob Gonzalez
SS
Ole Miss
8
Jacob Wilson
SS
Grand Canyon
9
Enrique Bradfield
OF
Vanderbilt
10
Rhett Lowder
RHP
Wake Forest
11
Arjun Nimmala
SS
Strawberry Crest HS (FL)
12
Noble Meyer
RHP
Jesuit HS (OR)
13
Hurston Waldrep
RHP
Florida
14
Aidan Miller
3B
Mitchell HS (FL)
15
Brayden Taylor
3B
TCU
16
Kyle Teel
C
Virginia
17
Blake Mitchell
C
Sinton HS (TX)
18
Tommy Troy
SS
Stanford
19
Kevin McGonigle
SS
Monsignor Bonner HS (PA)
20
Bryce Eldridge
RHP
Madison HS (VA)
21
Matt Shaw
SS
Maryland
22
Colin Houck
SS
Parkview HS (GA)
23
Charlee Soto
RHP
Reborn Christian HS (FL)
24
Brock Wilken
3B
Wake Forest
25
Yohandy Morales
3B
Miami
26
Thomas White
LHP
Phillips Academy (MA)
27
Colt Emerson
SS
Glenn HS (OH)
28
Dillon Head
OF
Homewood-Flossmoor HS (IL)
29
Juaron Watts-Brown
RHP
Oklahoma State
30
Jack Hurley
OF
Virginia Tech
31
Walker Martin
SS
Eaton HS (CO)
32
Roch Cholowsky
SS
Hamilton HS (AZ)
33
Nolan Schanuel
OF
Florida Atlantic
34
Ralphy Velazquez
C
Huntington Beach HS (CA)
35
Tanner Witt
RHP
Texas
36
Jake Gelof
3B
Virginia
37
Colton Ledbetter
OF
Mississippi State
38
Cade Kuehler
RHP
Campbell
39
George Lombard Jr.
SS
Gulliver Prep (FL)
40
Travis Honeyman
OF
Boston College
41
Cooper Pratt
SS
Magnolia Heights HS (MS)
42
Jonny Farmelo
OF
Westfield HS (VA)
43
Travis Sykora
RHP
Round Rock HS (TX)
44
Cameron Johnson
LHP
IMG Academy (FL)
45
Chase Davis
OF
Arizona
46
Adrian Santana
SS
Doral Academy (FL)
47
Cole Carrigg
C
San Diego State
48
Alexander Clemmey
LHP
Bishop Hendricken HS (RI)
49
Will Sanders
RHP
South Carolina
50
Maui Ahuna
SS
Tennessee
51
Mitch Jebb
SS
Michigan State
52
Brandon Sproat
RHP
Florida
53
Hunter Owen
LHP
Vanderbilt
54
Alonzo Tredwell
RHP
UCLA
55
LuJames Groover III
3B
North Carolina State
56
Eric Bitonti
SS
Aquinas HS (CA)
57
Cole Schoenwetter
RHP
San Marcos HS (CA)
58
Brice Matthews
2B
Nebraska
59
Grayson Hitt
LHP
Alabama
60
Liam Peterson
RHP
Calvary Christian HS (FL)
61
Adam Hachman
LHP
Timberland HS (MO)
62
Kyle Karros
3B
UCLA
63
Antonio Anderson
SS
North Atlanta HS (GA)
64
Kiefer Lord
RHP
Washington
65
Joey Volchko
RHP
Redwood HS (CA)
66
Ryan Lasko
OF
Rutgers
67
Mike Boeve
3B
Nebraska-Omaha
68
Trent Caraway
3B
JSerra Catholic HS (CA)
69
Jackson Baumeister
RHP
Florida State
70
Zander Mueth
RHP
Belleville East HS (IL)
71
Landen Maroudis
RHP
Calvary Christian (FL)
72
Sammy Stafura
SS
Walter Panas HS (NY)
73
Nazzan Zanetello
SS
Christian Brothers HS (MO)
74
Ty Floyd
RHP
LSU
75
Kemp Alderman
OF
Ole Miss
76
Michael Carico
C
Davidson
77
Luke Keaschall
2B
Arizona State
78
Myles Naylor
3B
St. Joan of Arc HS (ON)
79
Grant Taylor
RHP
LSU
80
Will Gasparino
OF
Harvard-Westlake HS (CA)
81
Tre' Morgan
1B
LSU
82
Roman Martin
SS
Servite HS (CA)
83
Max Anderson
3B
Nebraska
84
Josh Knoth
RHP
Patchogue-Medford HS (NY)
85
Kendall George
OF
Atascocita HS (TX)
86
Blake Wolters
RHP
Mahomet-Seymour HS (IL)
87
Nathan Dettmer
RHP
Texas A&M
88
Dylan Cupp
SS
Cedartown HS (GA)
89
Drew Burress
OF
Houston County HS (GA)
90
Teddy McGraw
RHP
Wake Forest
91
Christian Knapczyk
SS
Louisville
92
Paul Wilson
LHP
Lakeridge HS (OR)
93
Levi Wells
RHP
Texas State
94
Alex Mooney
SS
Duke
95
Ethan McElvain
LHP
Nolensville HS (TN)
96
Jace Bohrofen
OF
Arkansas
97
Sean Sullivan
LHP
Wake Forest
98
Caden Sorrell
OF
Marcus HS (TX)
99
Tanner Hall
RHP
Southern Mississippi
100
Jared Dickey
OF
Tennessee
Top 10 College Position Players
Rank
Player
Position
School
1
Dylan Crews
OF
LSU
2
Wyatt Langford
OF
Florida
3
Jacob Gonzalez
SS
Ole Miss
4
Jacob Wilson
SS
Grand Canyon
5
Enrique Bradfield
OF
Vanderbilt
6
Brayden Taylor
3B
TCU
7
Kyle Teel
C
Virginia
8
Tommy Troy
SS
Stanford
9
Matt Shaw
SS
Maryland
10
Brock Wilken
3B
Wake Forest
Top 10 College Pitchers
Rank
Player
Position
School
1
Paul Skenes
RHP
LSU
2
Chase Dollander
RHP
Tennessee
3
Rhett Lowder
RHP
Wake Forest
4
Hurston Waldrep
RHP
Florida
5
Juaron Watts-Brown
RHP
Oklahoma State
6
Tanner Witt
RHP
Texas
7
Cade Kuehler
RHP
Campbell
8
Will Sanders
RHP
South Carolina
9
Brandon Sproat
RHP
Florida
10
Hunter Owen
LHP
Vanderbilt
Top 10 Prep Position Players
Rank
Player
Position
School
1
Walker Jenkins
OF
South Brunswick HS (NC)
2
Max Clark
OF
Franklin HS (IN)
3
Arjun Nimmala
SS
Strawberry Crest HS (FL)
4
Aidan Miller
3B
Mitchell HS (FL)
5
Blake Mitchell
C
Sinton HS (TX)
6
Kevin McGonigle
SS
Monsignor Bonner HS (PA)
7
Colin Houck
SS
Parkview HS (GA)
8
Colt Emerson
SS
Glenn HS (OH)
9
Dillon Head
OF
Homewood-Flossmoor HS (IL)
10
Walker Martin
SS
Eaton HS (CO)
Top 10 Prep Pitchers
Rank
Player
Position
School
1
Noble Meyer
RHP
Jesuit HS (OR)
2
Bryce Eldridge
RHP
Madison HS (VA)
3
Charlee Soto
RHP
Reborn Christian HS (FL)
4
Thomas White
LHP
Phillips Academy (MA)
5
Travis Sykora
RHP
Round Rock HS (TX)
6
Cameron Johnson
LHP
IMG Academy (FL)
7
Alexander Clemmey
LHP
Bishop Hendricken HS (RI)
8
Cole Schoenwetter
RHP
San Marcos HS (CA)
9
Liam Peterson
RHP
Calvary Christian HS (FL)
10
Adam Hachman
LHP
Timberland HS (MO)
Observations from Top 100 Rankings:
LSU outfielder Dylan Crews is the unanimous #1 prospect, and he should be. Entering weekend play, Crews is hitting .486/.633/.851 with 23.7% BB and 10.6% K rates. Crews are putting together one of the best college-hitting seasons ever.
Tennessee RHP Chase Dollander was considered the best pitching prospect before the season, but now that honor belongs to LSU RHP Paul Skenes. In 11 starts, Skenes has a 1.93 ERA in 65.1 innings with an eye-opening 124 K to 12 BB. Skenes is striking out 50% of the batters he’s faced in 2023.
Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford is the other contender to be taken first overall. Despite suffering a groin injury, Langford is hitting .403/.543/.784 with more extra-base hits than Crews.
I’m still expecting a run on college players early in this draft, with ten college players ranked in the Top 15.
The draft class weakness is prep pitching. While there are impressive data points from some of the top young arms, they all come with significant red flags, either with delivery or injury history.
Local kid Dillon Head from Homewood-Flossmoor has positioned him solidly in the first-round territory. It’s been discussed within circles for a few weeks, and Callis wrote about it in his latest mock, that teams are debating between Bradfield Jr. and Head. It’ll come down to preference between selecting a college player or taking the chance to develop a prep talent.
Texas RHP Tanner Witt has returned to pitching after having Tommy John surgery in 2022. Against TCU on May 1, Witt didn’t have a good outing as he allowed 3 ER in 0.2 innings. He’s a name to monitor as the rust breaks off during the stretch run.
For those looking ahead - here are three college pitchers to monitor as possible second-round targets for the White Sox: South Carolina RHP Will Sanders, Florida RHP Brandon Sproat, and Vanderbilt LHP Hunter Owen.
Josh Nelson is the host and producer of the Sox Machine Podcast. For show suggestions, guest appearances, and sponsorship opportunities, you can reach him via email at josh@soxmachine.com.
