College Crosscheck: 2022 Opening Weekend

Heading into Opening Weekend, a prevalent thought among the scouting industry was that it might not be the best time to get a true look at our No. 11 overall prospect Chase DeLauter. He was set to battle two of the top left-handed pitchers in the country in Florida State’s Parker Messick and Bryce Hubbart, as well as a third top southpaw in Top 100 2023 prospect Ross Dunn. Left-on-left against this trio is no easy task, especially right out of the chute. Nevertheless, after not getting an in-person look at DeLauter in the Cape last summer, this was the series that I chose to further evaluate one of the industry’s top bats for the 2022 MLB Draft.

DeLauter’s reputation as a five-tool talent has been well-documented. He runs plus, throws plus and despite a misread and resulting banana route on a Reese Albert fly ball to deep center field that resulted in a double, the 6-foot-4, 235-pounder is usually a strong defender and there’s a strong chance he remains in center field at the professional level.

DeLauter had one of the most...