FLORIDA

Making the biggest impression on the Scouting Trail this week was Russell Sandefer. Making just his fourth start of the season in the series finale, the junior righthander was nearly unhittable. The Central Florida transfer carved for seven innings, allowed just two hits, walked one and struck out 11. He threw 93 pitches, 68 for strikes. His multi-pitch arsenal was lights out and featured a fastball up to 97, a plus fading changeup and hard-left breaking slider. His low-80s change-of-pace was a swing/miss pitch vs lefthanded batters, while his sweeping slider neutralized the righties. The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder also rode his fastball to hitters of both sides and sank his 91-93 mph two-seamer. On both offerings, he released with an extension of 6-foot-3 which added to the degree of difficulty. For the season Sandefer has limited opponents to a .198 average and struck out 34 in 24 innings. Adding to his draft profile are good spin metrics with a sweeping slider over 2900 rpm and a heater over 2600. The slider has produced a 99th percentile, 59% Whiff rate this season, while his changeup is almost as good at 51.1% (95th percentile). In what was my first look, Sandefer showed the delivery, whippy arm action, stuff and pitchability of a top three round pick.

The draft headliner for the Gators this season is Liam Peterson. The 6-foot-6, 225-pound righthander is well-known for his top of the first round stuff, and also for his inconsistent performances. Sixty-two strikeouts in 38 innings this season points in one direction, while one win and a 4.03 ERA the other. The pregame scout talk was of which Peterson would show up tonight? The dominant ace and two-time USA CNT member or the one with great stuff and light performance. That question was still not answered at the close of the first inning as Peterson walked Ole Miss leadoff hitter Judd Utermark and then allowed a single to Tristan Bissetta. However, Peterson proceeded to strike out Will Furniss, Collin Rueter and Dominic Decker in order to end the first without allowing a run. Two of those strikeouts came on changeups, an easy plus to better pitch on this look. It dove at the plate at 85-87 mph and spun in the 1900-2000 rpm range. With a 10% usage rate this season opponents are slugging just .154 against and the pitch has dominated with a 100th percentile Whiff rate of 75%. Even more astounding is its 70% Z-Whiff (in the zone swing/misses). It’s arguably one of the best, if not THE best pitch in college baseball this season.

Peterson’s 84-86 mph turbo-spin (3000+ rpm) slider was also a better than plus pitch at times. It did blend together a bit with his cutter, but both are nasty offerings. His slider has a 100th percentile Whiff rate of 59.6% and 87-88 cutter lives in the same neighborhood. And yes, he also spins a high end 77-80 mph curve that has produced a 98th percentile Z-Whiff of 40%. For the evening against Ole Miss, he threw 87 pitches through 3.2 innings and allowed six hits, walked three and struck out seven. For the season Peterson has only pitched into the sixth inning on one occasion (8 starts) this spring. Overall, he has more control than command of his entire repertoire. He can throw strikes, but fails to locate too often. He can also get too emotional as little things seem to bother him more than they should. As a result, the game speeds up and he can struggle to slow it back down. He reminds me of former first-rounder Sam Bachman (Miami, OH) as another power-armed righthander with three plus weapons. Bachman was the ninth overall pick in a much less talented 2021 draft.

A favorite of mine after evaluating at Tennessee during Week Five of the Scouting Trail last spring, righthanded reliever Luke McNeillie pitched at 94-96 with his fastball and relied upon an inconsistent 84-86 slider for some swing/miss. His arsenal is largely a two-pitch mix and he pitches off his breaker. It spins in the 2500 rpm range and has produced an 85th percentile Whiff rate of 43.3%. Used less than his slider, McNeillie’s fastball has been slightly more effective this season with Whiff in the 87th percentile. He did strike out four in 2.1 innings, but overall was not nearly the same level of pitching prospect as I saw last spring in Knoxville. Once a top two-to-three round arm for me, he’s fallen a bit to 4th-to-5th round range in a deep college class of righthanded pitchers.

Wiry-bodied outfielder Kyle Jones looked to be an average defender with average range in the big field. His arm strength graded as fringe-average. Also an above average runner, the 6-foot-3 righthanded hitter showed good bat-to-ball at the plate while squaring up three baseballs against Ole Miss ace Cade Townsend. Jones’ exit velocities were  97, 100 and 102 mph, but he had nothing to show for it in the boxscore. All three ended up in the glove of an outfielder. However, in the series opener he did have more to show for his trips to the plate, finishing with three hits and totaled five over the three game series. He’s currently hitting .313 with 11 doubles. With a top EV this season of 105.4 mph he has below average bat speed, but he does limit the whiffs. Jones is one of two Gators’ positional prospects who should be selected in the top three rounds of this year’s draft.

Speaking of the top three rounds and bat speed, some of the best in college baseball this season belongs to Gator first baseman Ethan Surowiec. To date he has averaged 75.23 mph per 6-4-3 Charts, which places him second behind Ryan Zuckerman (Georgia Tech). With a max EV of 113.8 mph this spring, the 6-foot-1, 230-pound Surowiec is the antithesis to Jones with high EVs and high Whiff. Surowiec did homer and single twice in the first game, but also totaled five strikeouts during the series. For the season the sophomore-eligible has struck out in 27% of his plate appearances with a 25th percentile in-zone contact rate of 76.9%. He also chases the fastball out of the strike zone at a 27.3% clip (9th percentile). A preseason top two round prospect, he’s fallen a couple rounds due to his questionable hit tool.

Senior catcher Karson Bowen opened my eyes with his quick catch-n-release and 1.90-2.00 POP times to second. The transfer from TCU showed above average arm strength and accurate throws. He threw out three of four attempted base stealers with Peterson on the mound and his slow release to the plate. Bowen looked to be a fair receiver who framed and presented the borderline with excessive glove movement, instead of soft and subtle. With below average bat speed (68.02 mph), he doesn’t hit for much power, but he does take competitive at-bats and puts the ball in play. The Gators’ cleanup hitter only mustered one hit in the series, but added a walk and battled the talented Ole Miss pitching staff throughout. As a senior catcher with sound defensive chops Bowen will likely be selected in the 8th-to-10th round. He reminds some in the industry of former Tulane catcher and current Major Leaguer Jake Rogers who was selected in the third round in 2016.

Florida is also loaded for the 2027 draft, especially with righthanded pitching. Game two starter Aidan King doesn’t have the best shape to his 93-95 fastball, but it plays up with plus command as he stays out of the middle of the plate. He spotted up his No. 1 for two strikeouts looking during the first inning on his way to seven scoreless and eight strikeouts in the Gators’ game two win. King relies on his fastball the most (61% usage) and then his slider at 24% usage. His bender is also a quality out pitch, but not a bat-misser at 82-84 mph and 2400-2500 rpm spin. Without a doubt, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts for King, and the whole includes 80-grade competitiveness and plus pitchability. For the season he has struck out 41 in 39 innings, while producing a 1.62 ERA. King is a top two round prospect for 2027.

With 40 strikeouts in 27 innings, late inning reliever Jackson Barberi doesn’t have King’s command, but he does have a big arm with enough control (60th percentile strike rate of 62.3%). Barberi was up to 100 mph during his first of two appearances against Ole Miss. He pairs his big heater with a deadly slider. It’s a plus pitch with late action at 85-86 mph. He operates with a moderate effort and super-quick arm speed out front. What presently arrives at the plate is already special-grade and there’s likely more in the tank. He’s another top two round prospect in 2027.

The top Florida arm eligible in 2027 looked to be redshirt freshman Joshua Whritenour. He didn’t do it on this look, but the 6-foot-2 righthander has previously flirted with triple digits. However, his heater was still plenty hot, up to 98 on Friday night. Athletic with good balance, and direction to the plate, Whritenour has a starter look to his operation with a smooth, repeatable delivery and compact arm action. Although he throws his fastball 67% of the time, his hard 91-93 mph slider/cutter is his wipeout pitch. It spins into the 2700s rpm and has produced 100th percentile Whiff and Z-Whiff rates this season. Look for Whritenour near the top of 2027 prospect follow lists, in a similar area to Chris Levonas (Wake Forest).

OLE MISS

The strength of the Rebels’ squad this season is its pitching staff. Third year sophomore Taylor Rabe got the ball to open the Florida series, but Cade Townsend is the ace. The 6-foot-1 junior righthander is a likely first round pick and checks every box for me with his athleticism, delivery, arm action, stuff, pitchability and performance. He came out of the gates super sharp, firing bullets to spots and faced the minimum through the first two innings. His 95-97 mph fastball straightened a bit in the third and his command wasn’t as crisp as he allowed four hard hit balls, but he held the Gators to just one run that scored on a wild pitch. Uncle Charlie came to play for Townsend in the fourth, especially to the last two Gators’ hitters that inning – Cole Stanford and Hayden Yost, who walked away frozen by Townsend’s low-80s, 12/6 hammer breaker. It’s a 70-grade weapon that he consistently repeats – opponents are batting .071 against this pitch this season. And if those two weapons aren’t enough, Townsend also spins a 2800+ rpm slider at 86-87 and an 88-91 cutter. He can also subtract velo and spin with a 87-90 changeup with a 1300-1400 rpm spin rate. All are at least average pitches with his slider grading as plus. His five-pitch repertoire is thrown for a 95th percentile strike rate of 70.6% with his heater the leader at 75.9% (100th percentile). With similar physical size, a diverse arsenal combined with high pitchability and an out-pitch curve, he reminds me of long time Major Leaguer Mike Mussina. Mussina was a first round pick in 1990 and Townsend is likely to become one as well this summer. Gage Wood, the 26th overall pick by the Phillies last season is a more recent comparable.

Recently bumped up from the pen to the starting rotation, Taylor Rabe is another premium strike-thrower (90th percentile strike rate of 68.6%) for the Rebels. He’s walked four against 32 strikeouts in 25.1 innings so far this season. The 6-foot-5 righthander has some funk to his arm action with a three-quarters release point. He also hides the ball well, creating good deception. Rabe relies primarily on a 95-97 mph fastball that has touched 99 this spring and a 88-90 cutter that induces a lot of chase. He also slides it at 84-85 and subtracts with an upper-80s changeup that showed big horizontal action. Likely a top five round pick, Rabe doesn’t have the ideal look to his operation, but he does have good direction to the plate and fills up the zone with quality stuff.

Wil Libbert is another promising Ole Miss arm who will be considered for the top handful of rounds this July. The aggressive lefthander dominated in game two with a plus 85-86 mph slider and a mid-90s fastball. He pumps his slider into the zone at a 74.2% clip and it has produced a 97th percentile in-zone whiff rate of 34.9%. Libbert faced seven batters in his two innings of work and struck out five. Beginning the season as a starter, Libbert doesn’t have eye-catching stats with a 6.32 ERA and 35 hits allowed in 31.1 innings, but he has tallied 37 strikeouts and seems best suited to his new role as late inning, high leverage reliever.

Junior righthander Landon Koenig relieved on Friday and touched 96 a few times. The transfer from South Dakota State struck out one on a chase slider. He’s struck out 19 in 13 innings while walking only two this season. Another junior reliever Hudson Calhoun was summoned from the pen on Thursday and produced two scoreless innings. He mixed a 92-95 mph fastball with a couple different versions of a breaking ball, ranging from 80-87 mph. All were fringe-average offerings on this look. Although he struck out just one on this look, the 6-foot-4 righthander has totaled 38 punchies in 25 innings this season.

Sophomore reliever Walker Hooks is quietly having a good season for the Rebels. The imposing 6-foot-4, 260-pound lefthander has struck out 33 in 26 innings, all in relief over 11 appearances. Two of those appearances came in the Florida series, totaling 4.1 innings in which he struck out six. Despite his physical size, his primary weapon is a plus 85-87 mph changeup. It’s super-deceptive thrown with great arm speed and late dive at the plate, and as a result it’s a bat misser and soft contact inducer. Opponents are hitting just .091 against this pitch this spring. Hooks is one to watch for the 2027 draft.