2023 Draft - Top 10 RHPs RIGHT NOW

It’s time to kick off the position ranking for the 2023 draft. 

I currently have a limited amount of info in my database, so I will start with the top 10 for right hand pitchers and outfielders and top 5 (or less) for the other positions. 

We start out with the righties which seems to be at level of talent exceeding lthe last draft. Right now, there are around seven to eight of them projected in the first round. 

The top 10,  and a blurb about each, are here:

 

1. Chase Dollinger 

While there's some debate about the top position player in the college class, Dollander is clearly the best pitcher. In his first season at Tennessee after transferring from Georgia Southern, he captured SEC pitcher of the year honors by going 10-0 with a 2.39 ERA and a 108/13 K/BB ratio in 79 innings. He throws strikes with four pitches, the best of which are a mid-90s fastball that reaches 99 mph with carry and a mid-80s slider that touches 91.

 

2. Will Sanders 

The 6-foot-6 right-hander already has really good stuff with the chance for more in the tank as he continues to fill out that frame. He’s already up to 96 mph with his fastball, misses a ton of bats with an 82-84 mph slider and has solid feel for his mid-80s changeup.

 

3. Hurston Waldrep 

Waldrep made a very strong transition to the Southern Miss rotation in 2022, striking out 14 batters per nine innings while walking 3.3. He’s bringing his mid-90s fastball (up to 98), a hard slider up to 90 mph, an occasional slower curve and a mid-80s changeup. He misses a ton of bats with all of his secondary stuff.

 

4. Paul Skenes 

Paul Skenes has been one of the most productive players in college baseball over the past two seasons. While Skenes has transferred to LSU for the upcoming season, he attended Air Force over the past two years. He won the Mountain West Freshman of the Year award in 2019 and was selected to an All-American team in both his collegiate seasons. He also won the John Olerud Award in 2022, which goes to the best two-way player in NCAA baseball. 

Skenes has hit .367/.453/.669 with 24 home runs in 402 career NCAA plate appearances with 43 walks and 85 strikeouts. He has seen playing time at catcher, first base, and left field, although most of his appearances in the lineup were as a designated hitter. Listed at 6'6''-235 pounds, Skenes has the potential to be an excellent right-handed power hitter at the next level.

 

5. Cade Kuechler 

Kuehler developed extremely quickly upon arriving to Campbell. He's got a super-quick arm and natural deception that's been hell on the opposition. The fastball is already up into the upper-90s with top of the scale ride. He's really dialed in a slider/cutter that flash plus when he's got feel for it. Kuehler will need to continue throwing more strikes and ironing down the effort in his delivery as he develops and gets more college innings under his belt, but there's definitive day one upside here if the track record and production continue to impress.

 

6. Travis Sykora 

Sykora has cemented his status as the hardest thrower in the country. He touched 100 regularly this spring/summer and his secondary pitches continue to get better.  Here is Shooter Hunt on Sykora at Area Code Games: 

As RHP Travis Sykora (Round Rock HS, TX) took the hill to warm up, the stadium fell silent in anticipation. The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Texas recruit didn’t disappoint. He sat 99-100 in the first inning before settling in at 94-98 for the next two. He used his 85-87 slider heavily at first, then went to an 84-87 splitter that the bottom drops out of. There have been a lot of hard throwers at Area Code Games--Tyler Kolek, Riley Pint, Hunter Greene, Jared Kelley and Chase Petty in the last 10 years. Petty and Sykora are the only two to hit 100 in that time. In three innings, Sykora allowed one hit and struck out five.

 

7. Rhett Lowder 

No. 2 pitcher in the new 2023 draft rankings, Wake Forest RHP Rhett Lowder. First team All-American up to 97 mph, a ton of swing-and-miss on his changeup.

8. Noble Meyer 

RHP Noble Meyer (Jesuit HS, OR), an Oregon recruit, has emerged as the top right-handed arm in the class. Featured prominently in Arms Race: Pacific Northwest from last spring, the wiry, long-limbed 6-foot-5, 200-pounder has steadily matured on the mound as the pure stuff has made an electric leap. Now equipped with a fastball that reaches into the upper 90s along with feel for a potential wipeout slider with 3000+ rpm and a faded changeup, Meyer’s confidence has grown to new heights, and there is a strong chance that he is ultimately the first pitcher taken off the board next summer.

 

9. Patrick Reilly 

A bit of an upside play here, as Reilly worked mostly as a reliever at Vandy in 2022, albeit one who threw more than 50 innings. The stuff can be pretty electric but the comand is spotty, with a fastball that touches 98 mph and sits around 94-95, a low-80s slider that misses a lot of bats, plus a changeup and cutter.

 

10. Tanner Witt 

Witt has the prototypical size scouts want to see, as well as the huge stuff to go along with it. A premier prospect since his high school days, Witt is a good athlete who some felt truly had a future at third base with big power potential. He's a good runner considering his size and the body moves free and fluid. The projection here is massive. Witt's arsenal starts with the fastball that's been up to 96, though it sits in the low-to-mid 90s for now. It's a super-vertical four-seamer with top-of-the-scale riding characteristics, albeit the effectiveness diminished a bit by Witt's nearly 7-foot release height. His 12-6 bender is his best secondary with big spin rates and above average velocity, though he's yet to show a strong feel for throwing the pitch for strikes and doesn't induce a whole bunch of swing-and-miss on it yet. Witt has a bit of a "show me" delivery with a double hand-break move that, if eliminated and brought into the body, could help produce more deception and whiffs on his FB/CB tunnel. Witt is as good a bet as anyone to see a massive jump in stuff and production over the course of 2022 and 2023.