2024 MLB Draft: First Week Notes
Looking at more possible targets for the Baltimore Orioles
Written by: Nick Stevens
The first weekend of college baseball is complete and it did not disappoint. Wake Forest RHP Chase Burns lived up to the hype in his first start of the year, Oregon State IF Travis Bazzana looked like this year’s 1.1, North Carolina OF Vance Honeycutt began making his case to be one of the first names off the board, and Texas A&M’s toolshed Braden Montgomery made his Aggie debut with a mammoth blast and is already drawing four-man outfields to try and defend him.
None of those guys will fall to the Baltimore Orioles at pick 22 this summer, so I won’t go into a lot of detail about them and others expected to go very early, but I did watch several games this past weekend and wanted to highlight a group of players who stood out.
If you missed it, I put out an initial, pre-season list of five names that intrigued me. I’m going to continue to build on that throughout the year. I’m only going to highlight players I watch and use this as a personal notebook. More player blurbs and highlights can be found in our Discord channel! Join here and check out the #college-baseball channel for more!
Duke LHP Jonathan Santucci
Duke and Indiana was the first game on the docket for 2024 and it was a perfect way to kick off baseball season. It was also Santucci’s first outing since last March due to an injury, which showed against the first few batters he faced. Once he settled in though, Santucci cruised through five innings of shutout work against a very good Indiana lineup.
Santucci struck out 7 (6 swinging), walked 2, and gave up 4 hits, showing off his entire arsenal. His fastball was up to 96 with really good life. He struggled at times to feel his slider, but his changeup, which is considered his distant third best offering and a work in progress, was his best secondary, showing a few disgusting fading versions to right-handed hitters to end at-bats.
It’s such a smooth and easy delivery from the left side and if this first outing is a sign of things to come, he’s going to find himself firmly in the first round, possibly even pitching his way out of the Orioles reach.
East Carolina RHP Trey Yesavage
My absolute favorite outing to watch all weekend was Yesavage’s. Listed at 6’4” and more than 220 pounds, Yesavage allowed 1 ER in his 4 innings of work, walking 2 and striking out 8.
I think he’s the type of arm the Orioles would likely covet. He’s just 20 years old right now, has the overhead delivery, and features a fastball with elite induced vertical break (reportedly 22 inches). He was able to command the strikezone well in his first outing against Rider, setting up his slider and curve to generate plenty of chases. I’m anxious to see him against better competition, but I think with the right tweaks and in the right organization, Yesavage is a mid-rotation starter.
TCU SS Anthony Silva
I mentioned Silva in my pre-season piece, but after watching him this past weekend, I’ve fallen in love. Possibly the top middle infield defender in the country, Silva started tapping into more of his in-game power as last season progressed, and he started off his 2024 campaign with this beautiful shot that jumpstarted a big comeback for TCU on Opening Night.
In his three opening weekend games, Silva went 7-13 (.538 BA) with a double, HR, 4 RBI, and 3 stolen bases. He walked twice and struck out just once.
The setup is cool, calm, and collected before he smoothly unloads to produce damage.
UVA SS Griff O’Ferrall
Also discussed O’Ferrall in my pre-season piece so I won’t repeat the full write-up, but I think that 30-grade power might be outdated. O’Ferrall hit home runs in back-to-back games to start the year, and neither was a cheapie. He didn’t get a home run on Sunday, but put a rocket into centerfield in his first at-bat and then ripped a double pull-side in his second at-bat to close out a massive opening weekend: 6-12 (.500 BA), 2 HR, 2B, 6 RBI, BB, SB.
And as you can see in the clip below, he flashed a leather this weekend as well. Hofstra pitching has been a disaster for many years, so I’m not fully ready to buy into O’Ferrall’s increased power, even if he did almost double his career home run total in one weekend, but if he can show even just a little bit of juice in ACC play, he could be a late first-round pick.
LSU RHP Luke Holman
RHP Thatcher Hurd has replaced Paul Skenes as the Friday night arm in LSU, but that’s not the LSU arm that’s intrigued me. It’s RHP Luke Holman, who was Alabama’s Friday night arm last season but now calls Baton Rouge home.
Holman, one of the top SEC arms last season, struck out 10 against Central Arkansas in his 2024 debut, walking just one and allowing no runs on three hits. He was 91-94 mph, consistently sitting at 92 mph, and showed good carry that jumped onto the hands of righties. He owned the top of the zone on Saturday with his over-the-top delivery and elite level IVB, a common trait we see among Orioles prospect pitchers. His slider was also impressive in his first outing. It’s a shorter slider, compared to a sweeper, but he tunneled it well with his fastball and it produced a healthy amount of swing and miss.
At 6’4” and 190 pounds, it’s easy to see Holman filling out a bit more and possibly adding a tick or two to his fastball.
Florida State OF James Tibbs III
Whenever you’re looking at the Orioles and the MLB draft, you have to talk about some power-hitting left-handed hitters. I’ll close this with two of them, beginning with Florida State OF James Tibbs III, who entered the year ranked between 100-150 in various national outlets. That’s way too low.
Tibbs hit 17 home runs last season, with a 1.153 OPS and a 49/48 K/BB, then hit 6 home runs on the Cape with an. 862 OPS. He’s a stocky 6’0” left-handed hitting first baseman who has been working more as a corner outfielder lately, including this weekend against Butler. Assuming things continue to go well for him later in the season, I’ll revisit his defense when I get back around to a few FSU games.
The focus this weekend was getting my first looks at his bat, and oh my god….I love it.
Tibbs has immense power to all fields (had the highest average exit velo in the Cape this summer), showcasing the pull-side power with an Opening Day grand slam you can see below. He also hammered a double into the left-center field gap this weekend. In two games against Butler, Tibbs was 3-8 with a double, home run, 6 RBI, 1 BB, and 0 K.
After striking out 31% of the time and walking 12% of the time as a freshman, he posted a 20% K rate and 19% BB rate last year. If he can show out well in the outfield, keep mashing to all fields, and keep the strikeouts down, Tibbs should easily climb up boards.
East Carolina OF Jacob Jenkins-Cowart
One of the more beautiful swings in the class, Jenkins-Cowart is listed at 6’6” and 212 pounds (fully clothed after jumping out of a pool) and possesses some very impressive power from the left side. With his current frame and power potential, it’s fun to dream a bit on his projection. He’s been ranked as a Top 100 draft prospect for two straight years now and has a good chance to make a decent amount of money in this year’s draft as he moves up boards.
He’s collected 22 home runs in his first two years as a Pirate and started 2024 off with a bang you can see below. You would expect some swing and miss concerns here, but he’s improved the strikeout rate and seen his walk rate slightly tick up. As a freshman, he recorded a 21.8% strikeout rate and a 6.2% walk rate. As a sophomore, those numbers improved to a 17% strikeout rate and a 7.5% walk rate.
I didn’t watch him defensively, but most reports suggest despite some experience in CF, he’s a corner defender, and possibly a 1B/DH type as he progresses through the pro system. While not ideal I wonder if the power potential could sustain that kind of move defensively. I wouldn’t be shocked.
Hopefully, you found a favorite or two among the list. I won’t update this every single week, but will be writing up new names as I watch throughout the season. Have a name you’re interested in? Let me know!