2022 MLB Draft: Top 100 NCAA Division I Prospects

Daniel Susac, Arizona, State Farm Showdown, February 19, 2022, Arlington, TX. Photo credit Iconic Visuals, @DreamToBeIconic on Twitter, and dreamtobeiconic.com.

Starting this season, the draft ranks will better follow the Prospects1500 format with tiers in
addition to pure rankings. This ranking is purely the NCAA Division I baseball players draft-eligible this season. This will include the likes of JuCo standout Cam Collier, who would likely be
the last member of Tier 1, or Indy ball player Kumar Rocker, who would fit into Tier 2. The High School list will come out sometime in late March, most likely, with a combined updated list coming in
the summer ahead of the MLB Draft.

Worth noting with this season’s draft list, it is bat-heavy and arm deficient, especially at the top.
While arms are certainly a high priority for all clubs, one could reasonably do a mock draft
today and not have a single arm go off the board in the top 10, even top 15 selections, although
there is anticipation a few arms will show very well this season and shoot up rankings as the
the season goes along.


Prospects1500 Tiers:
Tier 1: Players with high expectations of both making the majors and playing at an All-Star level for a number of years
Tier 2: Players with an above-average expectation of making the majors and being a solid
contributor
Tier 3: Players with an average expectation of making the majors and being a solid contributor
Tier 4: Players who have the potential of making the majors, or have a high likelihood of making the majors but providing minimal impact (e.g. middle reliever, low-ceiling UT guys)
Tier 5: Players of interest, worth keeping an eye on, who have an outside chance of making their team’s 40-man roster

Tier 1

1 – Brooks Lee – SS – Cal Poly
2 – Jace Jung – 3B – Texas Tech
3 – Jacob Berry – 3B – LSU
4 – Robert Moore – SS – Arkansas
5 – Chase DeLauter – OF – James Madison
6 – Daniel Susac – C – Arizona
7 – Kevin Parada – C – Georgia Tech
8 – Brock Jones – OF – Stanford

There really isn’t a massive gap between 1 and 8 in the first tier, and one could easily
argue for a number of different orders. In the end, Lee has a real shot to stick at short and has
an elite hit tool, which lands him at the top. Jung has ridiculous power but only projects to be
average defensively, while Berry may have the best offensive tools, but is a borderline liability
on the defensive side. Moore is the son of Kansas City Royals President Dayton Moore, so few
expect him to slide past the Royals at nine, but there is a real chance he doesn’t even last that
long. DeLauter is a guy who will really open some eyes this season. Susac and Parada are the top catchers in the class, while Jones can provide high quality offense and defense with a shot
to stick in center and still contribute offensively.

Tier 2

9 – Gavin Cross – OF – Virginia Tech
10 – Logan Tanner – C – Mississippi State
11 – Carter Young – SS – Vanderbilt
12 – Peyton Pallette – RHP – Arkansas
13 – Landon Sims – RHP – Mississippi State
14 – Cayden Wallace – 3B/OF – Arkansas
15 – Carson Whisenhunt – LHP – East Carolina
16 – Blade Tidwell – RHP – Tennessee
17 – Connor Prielipp – LHP – Alabama
18 – Peyton Graham – 3B – Oklahoma
19 – Cade Doughty – SS – LSU
20 – Hunter Barco – LHP – Florida
21 – Reggie Crawford – LHP/1B – UConn
22 – Hayden Dunhurst – C – Ole Miss
23 – Bryce Hubbart – LHP – Florida State
24 – Victor Mederos – RHP – Oklahoma State
25 – Parker Messick – LHP – Florida State
26 – Jordan Sprinkle – SS – UCSB
27 – Jordan Beck – OF – Tennessee
28 – Jud Fabian – OF – Florida

This tier is thoroughly intriguing as it ends with a high draft pick from a season ago in Jud
Fabian, who wound up not signing with the Boston Red Sox following the 2021 Draft. He looks to take full advantage of the Covid year that, without, would have him a senior this season, but remains a athletic Junior instead. Cross, Tanner, and Young were all considered for Tier 1, but ultimately fell to Tier 2.
The most intriguing player to watch in this Reggie Crawford who has a massive fastball and
excellent slider on the mound but can also provide plenty of pop. He most likely ends up a high
leverage reliever, but he has a shot to be drafted as a two-way player.

Tier 3

29 – Zach Neto – SS – Campbell
30 – Jared McKenzie – OF – Baylor
31 – Gabriel Hughes – RHP – Gonzaga
32 – Eric Brown – SS – Coastal Carolina
33 – Justin Campbell – RHP/1B – Oklahoma State
34 – Henry Williams – RHP – Duke
35 – Carson Palmquist – LHP – Miami
36 – Derek Diamond – RHP – Ole Miss
37 – Drew Thorpe – RHP – Cal Poly
38 – Brandon Sproat – RHP – Florida
39 – Dylan Beavers – OF – Cal
40 – Nolan McLean – 3B – Oklahoma State
41 – Jonathan Cannon – RHP – Georgia
42 – Colby Halter – SS – Florida
43 – Sterlin Thompson – OF – Florida
44 – Adam Maier – RHP – Oregon
45 – Clark Elliott – OF – Michigan
46 – Cooper Hjerpe – LHP – Oregon State
47 – Drew Gilbert – OF – Tennessee
48 – Cade Horton – 3B/RHP – Oklahoma
49 – Trey Faltine – SS – Texas
50 – Ethan Long – 1B/OF – Arizona State
51 – Jared Karros – RHP – UCLA
52 – Nate Savino – LHP – Virginia
53 – Josh Kasevich – SS – Oregon
54 – Ryan Ritter – SS – Kentucky
55 – Marcus Johnson – RHP – Duke
56 – Luke Gold – 2B – Boston College
57 – Jace Grady – OF – Dallas Baptist
58 – Mack Anglin – RHP – Clemson
59 – Chris Newell – OF – Virginia
60 – Noah Dean – LHP – Old Dominion
61 – Maxwell Romero Jr. – C – Miami
62 – T.J. McCants – OF – Ole Miss
63 – Spencer Jones – 1B – Vanderbilt
64 – Jimmy Crooks – C – Oklahoma
65 – Josh Rivera – 3B/SS – Florida
66 – Zane Denton – OF/3B – Alabama
67 – Adam Mazur – RHP – Iowa
68 – Tres Gonzalez – OF – Georgia Tech
69 – Zachary Maxwell – RHP – Georgia Tech
70 – Sean McLain – 2B – Arizona State
71 – Andrew Taylor – RHP – Central Michigan
72 – Chris Villaman – LHP – NC State
73 – Marquis Grissom Jr. – RHP – Georgia Tech

The most intriguing buy in this tier is Horton from Oklahoma. He had Tommy John Surgery and
missed all of 2021 making him a draft-eligible freshman. He has not been cleared to pitch to
start the season, instead purely a position player, but should toe the rubber by mid-season. Grissom brings bloodlines to the tier, and there are a number of Friday night starters here along with one of the fastest players in the draft in Trey Faltine at Texas.

Tier 4

74 – Brady Slavens – OF/CIF – Arkansas
75 – Dalton Rushing – C/1B – Louisville
76 – Max Rajcic – RHP – UCLA
77 – Anthony Hall – OF – Oregon
78 – Alex Freeland – SS – UCF
79 – Mitchell Daly – 2B – Texas
80 – Jackson Fristoe – RHP – Mississippi State
81 – Sebastian Keane – RHP – Northeastern
82 – Trey Dombroski – LHP – Monmouth
83 – Kody Huff – C – Stanford
84 – Sam Highfill – RHP – NC State
85 – Eric Adler – RHP – Wake Forest
86 – Tyler Locklear – 3B – VCU
87 – Mason Barnett – RHP – Auburn
88 – Jack Brannigan – 3B – Notre Dame
89 – Chazz Martinez – RHP – Oklahoma
90 – Andrew Pintar – INF – BYU
91 – Nick Maldonado – RHP – Vanderbilt
92 – Michael Curriale – INF – UCLA
93 – Parker Noland – 3B – Vanderbilt
94 – Josh White – RHP – Cal
95 – Michael Prosecky – LHP – Louisville
96 – Drew McDaniel – RHP – Ole Miss
97 – Bryce Osmond – RHP – Oklahoma State
98 – Will Frisch – RHP – Oregon State
99 – Ivan Melendez – 1B/DH – Texas
100 – Austin Krob – LHP – TCU

This tier really could have extended to about 120 but decided to cut off the rankings at 100 for now.
Dombroski from Monmouth is a guy who could really jump up the list with a good season, while
Melendez from Texas has plenty of power. There are a good number of arms in this tier that teams
will like and could draft higher than this but, while the top of the draft is bat heavy, the depth of the
draft is lower-tier arms as highlighted here.

Shaun Kernahan is the MLB Draft correspondent for Prospects1500. When not at a game, chances are the TV and/or tablet has a game on and he has a notepad out taking notes. When not scouting draft prospects, he is the Director of Baseball Operations for the Mile High Collegiate Baseball League, a collegiate wood bat league in Colorado. Shaun can be found on Twitter at @ShaunKernahan.




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