MLB Draft analyst reveals major prospects to watch in NCAA Baseball Tournament

The NCAA Baseball Tournament is about chasing a championship, but it can also often represent a chance for players to improve their MLB Draft stock. With the full field of 64 announced on Monday and action set to begin Friday, ESPN MLB Draft analyst Kiley McDaniel broke down the top prospects as well as which ones stand the most to gain.

He began with the players who were his “locks” to go in the top 10 regardless of their performances in the tournament. Florida State pitcher Jamie Arnold, who is the No. 2 overall pick in McDaniel’s latest mock draft, led the list of names.

“As you may assume, there’s a lot of big-time draft prospects on highly ranked teams in this year’s baseball postseason,” McDaniel said on The Road to Omaha on ESPN. “There’s three left-handed pitchers and a shortstop that look like locks to go in the top 10 picks. The three lefties are Jamie Arnold at Florida State, Liam Doyle at Tennessee, Kade Anderson at LSU and then the shortstop is Aiva Arquette at Oregon State. They probably can’t move more than a pick or two based on how they play in the postseason. That’s the class of this draft class.”

Arnold has appeared in 13 games this season and thrown 97 strikeouts to 24 walks across 71 innings. He has the chance to take the Seminoles on a deep run to Omaha as the tournament’s No. 9 overall seed.

Anderson and Doyle rank No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the country with 145 and 142 strikeouts. They are projected to go fourth and fifth overall according to McDaniel. Arquette has a .348 batting average this season with 17 home runs and a 98% fielding percentage with only three errors.

McDaniel also went on to name two more players who could climb to a mid-first round pick. That includes Arkansas right-hander Gage Wood, who may have to step up in light of a season-ending inury to Carson Wiggins.

“Two guys to watch that are rising that could get their way into the middle of the first round is gonna be Ike Irish, a catcher and outfielder at Auburn and Gage Wood, a righty at Arkansas,” McDaniel said. “Some scouts think Gage Wood could be this year’s Ty Floyd or Cade Horton, that makes a monumental rise up the board based on a strong postseason. So a deep run by Arkansas could really fuel that.”

Wood returned from injury in mid-April and has thrown for 24 strikeouts in five games since then. That includes a nine-strikeout performance in a 6-1 win against Texas on May 2. The Razorbacks earned the No. 3 seed and have a path to Omaha, where Wood could have the whole country watching.

Finally, McDaniel named a few more players who could make a jump from a potential second-round prospect into the first round of the MLB Draft and earn a big pay day. That included Oregon outfielder Mason Neville, who leads the country with 26 home runs and a couple more Tennessee players.

“A couple guys to keep an eye on that could work their way into the late first round with a strong postseason, Mason Neville, outfielder at Oregon, and Andrew Fischer, infielder at Tennssee,” he said. “JB Middleton, a righty at Southern Miss, and Marcus Phillips, a righty at Tennessee. All of these guys, if they have a hot 2-3 weeks, could go from second round, maybe compensation round all the way into the 20s and make themselves millions of dollars.”