Matthew Etzel

Draft Prospects

• Ranked #257 prospect in 2023 draft
  School: Southern Mississippi Source: 4YR
  
  Commit/Drafted: Never Drafted
  Age At Draft: 21.2
  Etzel drew some late interest in the 2022 draft after a strong season with Panola (Texas) JC and then had one of the best performances in the MLB Draft League following the season. With Williamsport, Etzel slashed .371/.463/.586 with four home runs, 25 stolen bases and more walks than strikeouts. With Southern Mississippi in 2023, Etzel hit .316/.381/.467 with seven home runs, 16 doubles, a 15.2% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate. Listed at 6-foot-2, 211 pounds, Etzel is powerfully built and has a solid foundation of tools with power and speed. He has solid contact skills, but will expand the zone at times and in particular struggled against changeups in 2023—with a a 31% chase rate and 38% miss rate on that specific pitch type. He’s more of a fringy hitter who hasn’t fully tapped into the impressive raw power that he has in the tank. Etzel is an above-average runner and impressed scouts with his defensive ability in center field this spring, and he also went 23-for-28 (82%) in stolen base attempts. Etzel fits as a day two prospect thanks to his center field profile and intriguing power/speed combo.
• Ranked #250 prospect in 2022 draft
  School: Panola (Texas) JC Committed/Drafted: Southern Mississippi
  Age At Draft: 20.2
  Some may wonder where Eztel is coming from, but the Southern Miss recruit is more of a player getting back to where he once was. Coming into his high school senior year, Etzel was viewed as a very promising power-speed outfielder. But the Texas A&M signee broke his leg playing football that year. He enrolled at Texas A&M but left after the fall semester. This spring at Panola, he showed that while he may never have every bit of the speed he had pre-injury, he’s once again a power-speed outfielder. He was the Region XIV player of the year thanks to his .427/.504/.704 season. He then went to the MLB Draft League, where he was making a strong case as the league’s best player. As of early July, he was leading the league in batting average (.423), on-base percentage (.516) and slugging (.654). Etzel is a 55-60 runner who plays above-average defense in center field. Some teams may prefer to see if Etzel can show the same impact at the plate against DIvision I competition, but a team believing he can be an average hitter with average power or better may see this year as an opportunity to get him on the ground floor.