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2022 Draft Coverage: Local draft-prospects to keep an eye on

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First draft of this post?  6/8/2019 when all-region posts started coming out for Virginia and some Freshmen made first teams.

The College players are mostly drawn from my 2019 Local High School draft coverage, listing guys who were HS seniors in 2019 who went to 3-year programs and who are now draft eligible.

Major Local College Draft Prospects for 2022

I can’t remember the last time Virginia had two such highly rated draft prospects in the same year as what we’re seeing with DeLaughter and Cross.  And what’s even more amazing is the fact that there should really be three top10 prospects, since Savino 

  • Gavin Cross, OF/Corner: Virginia Tech (by way of Tennessee HS). LH power hitter who slashed .345/.415/.621 in 2021 and then impressed with the CNT. moving up.  Dec2021 MLBpipeline has both local players as top 10 projected picks.  BA #10 in Jan 2022.  1st team Pre-season d1baseball AA.  Mid-to-Upper 1st rounder projection.  2022 Golden Spikes pre-season Watch list.
  • Chase DeLaughter, OF/LHP from JMU (by way of WVA HS): one of best hitters in 2021 Cape Cod season.  BA ranks him #22 in college class.  d1baseball ranked him 2021 Cape Cod player of the year, now a 1st round talent.  Dec 2021 now ranked as a top 5 talent?  wow.  Dec2021 MLBpipeline has both local players as top 10 projected picks.  #6 on BA’s top 100 Jan 2022.  2nd team Pre-season d1baseball AA.  Mid-to-upper 1st rounder.  2022 Golden Spikes pre-season Watch list.  The 2022 season hasn’t been kind to DeLaughter, as he got exposed by left handed pitching and may drop a couple of rounds.
  • Tyler Locklear, 3B VCU (by way of Archbishop Curley HS in Abington, MD) one of best hitters in 2021 Cape Cod season.  1st team Pre-season d1baseball AA, wow.  late 4th rounder perhaps.

College draft eligibles w/ Local Ties

  • Chris Newell, OF, UVA one of best hitters in 2021 Cape Cod season, up to #24 on BA list.  D1baseball projects ast a 4th rounder.
  • Nate Savino, LHP UVA by way of Potomac Falls.  Was 1st round talent out of HS, reclassified, went to UVA, was mid-week starter who didn’t miss as many bats as he should have.  Not impressive with Team USA summer of 2021.  Needs to improve.  2021; barely a draft prospect thanks to middling 2020 on the mound when he couldn’t even break into UVA’s weekend rotation.  #62 on BA’s top 100 Jan 2022.  Projecting as late 4th rounder.
  • Zach Agnos, LHP ECU by way of Battlefield.  Not projecting as a top draft prospect by d1baseball.
  • Lyle Miller-Green, util Oklahoma State by way of Lake Braddock.  Projecting as possibel Day pick.
  • Noah Dean, RHP ODU.  Hits 100, had 18.9 K/9 in 2021, ridiculous.  3rd team Pre-season d1baseball AA.  4th rounder.
  • Matt Wyatt, RHP UVA.  Projecting as 5-6th rounder by d1baseball.
  • Tanner Schobel, SS VaTech: projecting as possible day 2-3 pick.

DC/MD/VA Local Prep players for 2022

  • Jack O’Connor, RHP O’Connell (was St. Johns).  Team USA 18U in 2021.   Exploding onto the scene spring 2022 as a possible 3rd rounder.  89-94 with easy arm action.  Good enough that Keith Law drove to Fairfax to catch an O’Connell-Gonzaga WCAC game in May.  UVA commit, all-met 2022, WCAC POTY.
  • Nick Morabito, CF, Gonzaga HS.  Helium prospect in spring of 2022 with 70 speed and a solid hit tool, now projecting as 3rd rounder.  Has to be the son of Brian Moribito, who was a contemporary of mine growing up in DC-area baseball (and by contemporary i mean, he was my age and I knew who he was as a McLean-based player when i was 12).  Law says he’s a possible 2nd rounder and will be putting him on his top 100 list.  Virginia Tech commit.  all-met 2022, WCAC POTY.
  • Ben Moore, LHP Linganore HS, Frederick MD.  Old Dominion University commit.  Blown onto the scene, named pre-season AA by Collegiate Baseball magazine.  
  • A.J. Shephard, C from Patriot (was Osborne Park).  All Virginia Region 6D as freshman in 2019.  NovaNine top 100 in 2019 as a freshman.  2021 listed as #65 draft prospect.  Indiana commit.
  • Griffin Stieg, RHP/OF from McLean. All Virginia Region 6D as freshman in 2019.  NovaNine top 100 in 2019 as a freshman.  Excelled at Program 15 main event oct 15, hitting 95 with deception.  Va Tech commit.  WP All-Met 2022.
  • Ryan Kennedy, RHP Colgan.  Evoshield Canes summer 2021.
  • Bryce Dolby RHP Pro5 Academy NC (was Independence)
  • Eli Serrano 1B Pro5 Academy NC (was Patriot).  NovaNine top 100 in 2019 as a freshman, but moved to NC.
  • Jackson Kantor, 2B from McLean HS.  All VHSL-6A 2019 2nd team as a freshman, but never grew and has no committed college as of May 2022.

Extended DC/MD/VA Prep players (outside DC Area) on the radar.

  • Levi Huesman, LHP Hanover HS (Richmond).  #1 Perfectgame class of 2022, Coastal Carolina commit.  Huge game in Jupiter showcase, 7ip 18K.  Richmond Braves summer team.  #98 on BA’s top 100 Jan 2022.  Preseason HS AA team from Collegiate Baseball.  3rd team pre-season AA BaseballAmerica
  • Seth Keller, SS Hanover HS (Richmond): same team as Levi, but outperformed him all year and named MaxPrep’s 2nd team all-american.  Committed to ODU.
  • Cannon Peebles, C, Hanover HS, Mechanicsville, VA.  Commit to NC State.  2nd team AA by Collegiate Baseball.

Sources used

Written by Todd Boss

July 6th, 2022 at 1:34 pm

Posted in Draft,Local Baseball

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