MLB Draft: Five College Baseball Data Darlings Who Improved Their Stock In 2024
Image credit: Bridger Holmes (Tracy Proffitt/Four Seam Images)
To piggyback off of last week’s draft podcast episode with Carlos, I thought it would be a fun exercise to take an even deeper look into some of the players we discussed. Four of the guys below were discussed on the podcast, but I am bringing one additional player into the fold who is looking more and more like a top-three-to-five-round pick by the day. There is no rhyme or reason as to the order in which the players are listed, and this is not a ranking.
Daniel Eagen, RHP, Presbyterian
After logging just 53.1 total innings between his freshman and sophomore seasons—including 9.2 in 2023—Eagen has exploded onto the scene in 2024 to the tune of a 2.98 ERA with 87 strikeouts to 21 walks across 51.1 innings.
Eagen has a prototypical pitcher’s build at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds with some physicality in his lower half. He has a somewhat up-tempo operation on the mound with an abbreviated arm stroke and attacks from a three-quarter slot. Eagen relies primarily on his fastball, which sits 92-95 but has regularly been up to 96. It explodes out of his hand and flashes exceptional carry through the zone, averaging nearly 21 inches of ride. Unsurprisingly, it is at its best—and generates the most swing-and-miss—when located in the top half of the strike zone.
Eagen supplements his heater with a plus low-80s curveball that is both big in shape and flashes sharp, downward bite. It is effective against both right and lefthanded hitters, and this season opponents are hitting a measly .093 against the pitch. He has solid feel for the offering and it is a legitimate swing-and-miss pitch that this year has an impressive miss rate of 58%.
The key for Eagen going forward will be to show continued improvement in the strike-throwing department as well as the addition of a viable third pitch. He has occasionally mixed in an effective gyro slider as well as a mid-80s changeup, and it is reasonable to project at least one to be an eventually average pitch—especially his slider.
There is plenty of good clay to mold here with Eagen as well as exciting upside. He is on track to be a fourth-to-sixth-round pick in this year’s draft.
Bridger Holmes, RHP, Oregon State
Holmes came to Oregon State via Feather River College, where in 2023 he posted a 2.50 ERA with 86 strikeouts to 33 walks across 57.2 innings. He has been nails for the Beavers this year and has cemented himself as one of the best relievers in college baseball. Across 23.2 innings, Holmes has pitched his way to a 1.14 ERA with 34 strikeouts to 11 walks.
He is plenty physical at 6-foot-4 and 218 pounds, but what makes Holmes so unique is his sidearm slot combined with his pitch traits. College sidearm and submarine pitchers typically top out in the mid-to-high 80s with their fastball, but Holmes’ heater sits in the low 90s and tops out at 94. It averages over 20 inches of run and darts away from lefthanded hitters, while bearing in on the hands of righthanded hitters.
Holmes’ best pitch is his wicked low-80s slider, a pitch he throws 73% of the time. It has plenty of sharp, long sweeping life and averages over 21 inches of horizontal break. Its spin rates routinely eclipse 3,000 RPMs, and this season it has an impressive miss rate of 40%. Holmes has an advanced feel for the offering and is comfortable throwing it to both right and lefthanded hitters.
His lethal fastball-slider combination makes for an incredibly uncomfortable at-bat for opposing hitters, and there is an argument to be made that he is the most effective reliever in all of college baseball.
As far as Holmes’ draft stock goes, it is a bit of a tricky case. Jackson Kelley and Noah Ruen—the two best “weird slot” pitchers in the last two seasons—were both selected in the 12th round in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Ruen is similar to Holmes in that his fastball has also been up to 94 from his submarine slot, but his slider was not as effective as Holmes’ is. With that being said, Holmes likely fits somewhere in the eighth-to-12th round of this year’s draft.
LP Langevin, RHP, Louisiana
A former standout at Junior College powerhouse Wabash Valley, Langevin has emerged this season as one of the most effective back-end arms in all of college baseball. Prior to this season, Langevin showed flashes of his thunderous arsenal in the MLB Draft League, where he was virtually unhittable. In 10 games this summer, Langevin allowed only two hits across 11.1 shutout innings in which he notched 22 strikeouts.
Fast forward to this year and Langevin has been excellent for the Ragin’ Cajuns, pitching his way to a 2.62 ERA with a whopping 77 strikeouts in 44.2 innings. The physical righthander has a simple operation on the mound and features a short, whippy arm stroke with present arm speed and he attacks from a difficult-to-pick-up low three-quarter slot. Langevin throws his mid-90s fastball—that tops out at 96—a whopping 80% of the time, and for good reason. For starters, its 48% miss rate is tops among all Division-I pitchers. He could signal that it’s coming and opposing hitters still wouldn’t be able to touch it.
Second, its metrics are flat-out nutty. Coming from a ridiculous vertical approach angle of -4.29, it flashes plenty of run and ride through the zone and averages north of 2,500 RPMs. Langevin has above-average feel for the pitch, and its effectiveness is amplified when elevated on the arm side. He rarely deploys it—mainly because he doesn’t need to—but Langevin’s mid-80s slider at times has flashed above average with tight two-plane break.
Finally, Langevin’s changeup could be another effective weapon in his arsenal and has shown at times ample fade to the arm side with a bit of tumbling life. He has seen his stock soar in the last month and looks like a fifth-to-eighth-round pick.
Rafe Perich, 3B, Lehigh
Perich is one of my favorite under the radar bats in this year’s draft class. The junior third baseman has done nothing but hit since arriving on campus, but is in the midst of a career year to the tune of a .384/.489/.576 slash line with 11 doubles, six home runs, 41 RBIs, and 32 walks to 22 strikeouts.
Perich has a physical build at 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds with length in his lower half and present strength. He is a switch-hitter, though the vast majority of his sample size is from the left side. Perich stands tall in the box with a slightly open front side, and deploys an interesting pre-swing move where his hands start low, but he proceeds to raise them almost to the crown of his helmet.
It’s unorthodox, but it works for him and he’s consistently on time and in a good position to hit. Perich does not stride and instead opts for a toe-tap move. His hands don’t drift at all and he takes a direct path to contact with present bat speed.
Perich handles himself well at the hot corner and makes all the plays he should make. There is nothing overwhelming in the athleticism department, but he has some range to the glove side. His arm is comfortably plus and he has the skillset to stick at the position long term.
Where Perich really shines is “under the hood.” His feel to hit is outstanding and his bat-to-ball skills are double-plus. He has an 88% overall contact rate (95% against fastballs), including a ridiculous overall in-zone contact rate of 96% (98% against fastballs). Perich’s pitch recognition skills are also plus, and he seldom expands the zone. His chase rate this year is just 17%.
Perich consistently generates high-quality contact and I’d grade his raw power as plus. His maximum exit velocity this year is 115, including a 90th-percentile exit velocity of 109. Simply put, the impact is real. Perich will need to get the ball up in the air more to achieve his power upside, but it should be a relatively simple tweak that comes down to adding a little bit more loft and leverage in his swing.
He is a mighty intriguing player who will look to finish out the regular season on a high note as Patriot League play wraps up this Sunday. Perich is a slam-dunk day two pick who profiles as a fifth-to-seventh-round selection.
Ryan Waldschmidt, OF, Kentucky
Waldschmidt began his collegiate career at Charleston Southern, where he enjoyed a strong true freshman season, in which he hit .310/.485/.559 with 16 extra-base hits, 43 RBIs, 18 stolen bases and more walks (36) than strikeouts (26). Following the 2022 season, Waldschmidt transferred to Kentucky and had a productive 2023 campaign. This past summer, he was off to a fast start in the Cape League before a knee injury derailed his season.
The junior outfielder missed opening weekend and was not an everyday member of the lineup until the end of February, but he is still on track to have a career season. Waldschmidt is currently hitting .370/.506/.652 with 11 doubles, nine home runs, 32 RBIs and 18 stolen bases.
He has an athletic build at 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds with physicality throughout his frame, but especially in his lower half. Waldschmidt has a simple setup in the box with a medium-high handset, minimal load and no stride. He has an ultra-explosive, athletic operation with comfortably plus bat speed and an engaged lower half. Waldschmidt consistently has quick, tight turns with his hips and his backside really fires. He does a great job of creating leverage in his swing and regularly gets the ball up in the air with authority.
Waldschmidt has a tantalizing, yet underrated hit-power combination. He has plus pitch recognition skills and an advanced approach. Waldschmidt seldom expands the strike zone and his overall chase rate is under 20%. He also has plus feel for the barrel with an overall in-zone contact rate of 89%, including 95% against fastballs. Waldschmidt routinely generates high-quality contact and has shown above-average power to all fields, but plus to the pull side.
While I would say his speed overall is above average, Waldschmidt has turned in plus run times and his speed—combined with advanced baseball sense—has translated well to the basepaths, where he has 53 stolen bases in 150 career games. He is a sound defender in the outfield with an average arm, and while he has primarily played left field this season for the Wildcats, Waldschmidt could get some run in center field as his professional career gets underway.
Waldschmidt’s stock seemingly improves with each passing day. I would say right now he fits best in the third-to-fifth round, but it would not totally shock me if he plays his way into an eventual day one selection.
