College baseball got underway last week. With the Cincinnati Reds holding the 2nd overall pick in the 2017 draft, we are going to look at how the top prospects performed each week on Monday mornings. When the high school seasons get started we will add in some performances from those guys as well.
The Pitchers
J.B. Bukauskas | RHP | North Carolina
It would be tough to plan a better debut than what Bukauskas had. The righty allowed no runs on three hits, a hit batter and a walk in 6.0 innings. He struck out 10 Kentucky Wildcats on his way to picking up the win. Baseball America had this on him from the start:
The junior worked in the low- to mid-90s throughout the start, routinely touching 96 mph and using a mid-80s slider as his main strikeout pitch.
Alex Faedo | RHP | Florida
Things didn’t exactly go as planned for Faedo in his season debut. The right handed starter didn’t make it through the 5th inning. He allowed a home run and four total runs in 4.2 innings. William & Mary drew three walks and struck out seven times against him along the way. The Miami Herald had a few scouting notes on his velocity during the game.
His fastball touched 95 mph early on and his slider reached 85 mph during the game.
Tanner Houck | RHP | Missouri
Houck struggled, sort of, in his debut. The right hander allowed four earned in 5.2 innings on eight hits. He walked two batters, but he struck out nine in the start.
Alex Lange | RHP | LSU
The top pitcher on the LSU staff, Alex Lange was overshadowed by teammate Jared Ponche, who threw a no-hitter over the weekend. Lange, however, was quite good in his start. The righty tossed 5.0 shutout innings, allowing just four hits and striking out six of the 18 batters he faced. Frankie Piliere had this on Lange:
Alex Lange
@LSUbaseball showed top notch stuff today. Worked at 94-96 mph early, then cruised at 91-94 and located his breaking ball
Brendan McKay | LHP | Louisville
The left hander dominated against Alabama State. On the mound, McKay tossed 6.0 shutout innings, allowing just four hits. He didn’t walk anyone and he struck out nine opposing batters as he picked up the win. Jeremy Brown from Perfect Game had this on McKay, from the 1st inning of the game:
Brendan McKay. K’d side, threw 13 FBs & 11 were @ 93 mph. Hard downer CB @ 84
Kyle Wright | RHP | Vanderbilt
The right hander didn’t perform well in his first start of the year. He allowed three runs in 5.0 innings with four hits, including a home run, with three walks and two strikeouts. Early on he showed big velocity according to Christopher Crawford, throwing 93-97 MPH in the 1st. But after that he wasn’t anything close to it.
He was mostly 90-91 with his fastball, and both of his breaking-balls were 40-grade and not strikes more often than not. It was a brisk night, and we have seen more than a few starters get off to poor starts in terms of stuff and results early on. Nevertheless, this was a disappointing effort.
The Hitters
Jeren Kendall | OF | Vanderbilt
There was some good and some bad for Jeren Kendall over his three games in the opening week. The outfielder went 5-15 with two triples and two walks. That’s the good. At the same time, he had five strikeouts against San Diego.
Brendan McKay | 1B | Louisville
Scouts still aren’t sure whether he’s a pitcher or a position guy at the next level. He didn’t help anyone with is performance the first week. As noted above, he was very good on the mound in his first start. Updated: It turns out that despite the game ending six hours before I posted the first version of this story, Louisville hadn’t updated their stats page for the final game of the weekend. McKay wound up going 4-8 with two home runs, four walks, two hit by pitches and one strikeout over three games. Yeah, that will work.