LOGIN
Hobbs

Collegiate Corner: Five Surging SEC Stars

March 14, 2024 | 2024 Fantasy Baseball | 3 Comments

by:

We are officially four weeks into the 2024 college baseball season, with SEC Opening Weekend finally upon us. You will no longer turn on your television to find top-ranked Arkansas battling Northwest Southeastern Central New Mexico State Tech. It’s SEC-on-SEC now. It will be fierce. Tigers. Bulldogs. Wildcats. Gators. Razorbacks. Commodores. More Tigers. More Bulldogs. And then you have the Gamecocks of the world. We won’t touch that one. At least not publicly.

Through the first four weeks, SEC stars have been stockpiling statistics against varying qualities of competition. Now, it gets real. But even though the competition has been questionable to this point, a handful of SEC draft hopefuls have begun separating themselves from the pack or significantly enhancing their stock. We’ll get into five such players this week, with more Collegiate Corner updates in store for the weeks ahead.

Charlie Condon, 1B/OF, Georgia
Entering the 2024 season as MLB Pipeline’s No. 4 draft prospect behind JJ Wetherholt, Nick Kurtz, and Travis Bazzana, Condon is making an early-season push to be right in the thick of the 1-1 conversation. In my way-too-early rankings in August, Condon was at No. 5 on my collegiate board behind Jac Caglianone, Brody Brecht, Wetherholt, and Chase Burns. That came on the heels of Condon’s redshirt freshman season in 2023, where he exploded onto the collegiate scene with a loud .386/.484/.800 slash line, 25 home runs, 17.7 K% and 13.0 BB%. Well, he has been even better through 18 games this season, slashing an unearthly .569/.670/1.308 with 13 homers, seven doubles, an 11.0 K%, and 19.8 BB%. He leads the SEC in batting, slugging, OBP, runs, hits, home runs, and total bases. Maybe I should have just said “everything.” He has split his time between first base, third base, right field, and center this year, although he will solely be a first baseman or corner outfielder at the next level due to his fringey speed and hands. Condon also does not offer anything on the basepaths, as he’s been caught in his lone attempt over 74 games at Georgia. You will have to pay a pretty penny for Condon in first-year player drafts, but he is one of the safest, high-impact bats in the 2024 draft.

Billy Amick, 3B, Tennessee

Amick transferred to Tennessee this offseason after two years at Clemson, where he broke out as a true sophomore for the Tigers in 2023. In 46 games, Amick batted .413/.464/.773 back by 13 homers, 17 doubles, and two stolen bases. He struck out at a 16.7% clip and walked at a meager 6.8% mark. Although the average has come back to Earth this season, the power numbers are even better through 18 games: .369/.440/.877, nine home runs, four doubles, two steals, 16.0 K%, 10.7 BB%. Amick is just days away from his first-ever SEC series, so it will be essential to monitor his performance as the competition reaches new heights. On the downside, Amick is unlikely to stick at third base long-term due to his arm strength, meaning he is destined to be a first baseman or potentially even a corner outfield guy. He also has a very aggressive approach, as evidenced by his K-to-BB numbers as a true sophomore. Still, he has put himself on the first-round radar for this July after coming into the campaign as the No. 50 prospect per MLB Pipeline.

Ryan Prager, LHP, Texas A&M

This one came out of nowhere. Check top draft rankings far and wide – you won’t see much of Prager. That’s because he missed all of last year with a torn UCL requiring Tommy John surgery. The season before that, as a true freshman in 2022, Prager was not all that impressive anyway. He pitched 59 1/3 innings for the Aggies with a 5.16 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 8.0 K/9, and 3.8 BB/9. He won the Friday night starter job at Texas A&M in fall and preseason camp, which was somewhat of a surprise but the stuff looked good. The decision appears to be the correct one. Prager has been untouchable: 4-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.51 WHIP, 23.2 IP, 40 K, 3 BB. Zero runs allowed in 23 2/3 innings. 40 strikeouts against three walks. That’s a 15.2 K/9 and 1.1 BB/9. In one outing this year, he threw 74 of 92 pitches for strikes. The fastball sits in the low 90s, which he pairs with a low-80s CB/SL and above-average CH. There’s not much scouting data out on Prager yet outside of game film, so expect more on him here at Razzball in the months ahead leading into July. If he can string together some strong SEC starts beginning this weekend at Florida, he will be in the top 50 collegiate prospects before long.

Jac Caglianone, 1B/LHP, Florida
One of three Golden Spikes Award Finalists a season ago, Caglianone has opened the 2024 season looking more polished as both a pitcher and a hitter. Through 16 games, Caglianone has slashed .412/.500/.647 with five home runs. Most impressively, he has drawn more walks (11) than strikeouts (seven) in 68 at-bats for an 8.8 K% and 13.8 BB%. Those numbers are great, but Caglianone was already a top-10 draft prospect in the sport as a hitter alone coming into the year. What has transformed his stock is his work on the mound, as he has been the Gators’ best pitcher through three starts: 2-0, 1.80 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 15.0 IP, 16.2 K/9, 4.8 BB/9. In his last two starts alone, Caglianone has pitched 12.0 shutout innings on three hits, six walks, and 20 strikeouts with a .081 BAA. Of the last 46 batters he has faced, the southpaw has struck out 22 while allowing just three hits – meanwhile collecting four on his own at the plate in that stretch. This is a rare talent that will go in the first five picks of the 2024 draft. With his recent performance, the only major question is whether his long-term home in pro ball is on the mound, at the plate, or both.

Luke Holman, RHP, LSU

Pitching his first two seasons at Alabama, Holman broke out as a sophomore in 2023 with a 3.67 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 9.7 K/9, and 3.4 BB/9 in 81 innings. As a result, he transferred to LSU and quickly took over the Friday night role. So far this year, the concept has been a success: 4-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.50 WHIP, 24.0 IP, 15.0 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9. Holman sits around 92-96 with his heater, but his best offering is a low-80 slide piece with legitimate horizontal and vertical break. He also wields a slightly above-average curve in the upper 70s and a fringey changeup that will need some developing as he works through the SEC slate. Holman is ranked as the No. 35 overall draft prospect per MLB Pipeline at present. He is a borderline first-rounder this July depending on how the rest of the campaign goes, but if he continues his current level or performance that will not be in question several months from now.

That’s all for this week, Razzball fam! As always, I’m happy to take this conversation into the comments section or on Twitter, where you can find me @WorldOfHobbs.

Copyright 2007-2024 Razzball LLC. All rights reserved.
Razzball.com and the Razzball logo units are copyright Razzball LLC.