The University of Virginia lineup is loaded. The 2-4 hitters are all 2023 MLB Draft prospects, and the 5th and 6th hitters in the lineup are 2024 MLB Draft prospects. The lineup is explosive and the highlight of this Virginia squad. Rhode Island’s arms didn’t pose much of a challenge to this Virginia lineup, and they started the scoring early, putting up a seven spot in the first innings. They finished the game, winning 12-6. Catcher Kyle Teel, Third Baseman Jake Gelof, and Centerfielder Ethan O’Donnell highlighted the eligible 2023 MLB Draft prospects. Casey Saucke and Ethan Anderson qualify for the 2024 MLB Draft.
C Kyle Teel, Virginia
Kyle Teel comes in at #37 on Prospects Live’s 2023 MLB Draft prospects list, and it is easy to see why. He was quite impressive at the plate with one best approaches I’ve seen. His feel for the strike zone and ability to battle makes it a struggle for pitchers to put him away. He will foul off pitch after pitch until he can find something he can drive and won’t chase out of the zone. He will fight with two strikes on him. Behind the plate, Teel had above-average receiving skills. He does a great job behind the dish leading the staff. He struggled a bit with a few balls in the dirt. He has a live, plus arm. His back picks to first were on target. Very athletic and is a grinder. You can see why he is one of the leaders of this team.
3B Jake Gelof, Virginia
Jake Gelof (yes, his brother is 2021 A’s draftee Zack Gelof) has above-average to plus power from the right side and can use the whole field, which was seen on a ball he hit to the right center for a triple. The hit tool looks average, as he struggles with spin sometimes. He legged out the triple, and the speed didn’t blow you away—a below-average runner. Gelof looked very strong defensively in this one. He had made two great plays, a diving play to his left on a hard-hit ball and one he charged a slow roller to throw out a speedy runner. He has quick instincts. He was a tad clunky on the play he had to charge the ball and lacked some athleticism on plays like that. The arm will play at third. The ball has good carry, and he is accurate.
OF Ethan O’Donnell, Virginia
I came away most impressed with Ethan O’Donnell. He is so quick to the ball. His quick hands allow him to get good bat speed through the zone. Good at getting the barrel to the ball and uses the whole field. The swing is simple and smooth, with a well-balanced stance. There aren’t a lot of moving parts to it. O’Donnell is a plus runner who has above-average instincts. He is also quick out of the box and not afraid to try and stretch a single into a double. Defensively, O’Donnell didn’t have many opportunities to make a play in this one or throw runners out. He looks athletic enough, and his plus speed on the basepaths makes it seem like he will be capable of manning center.
Other Notes
Casey Saucke and Ethan Anderson were the two guys who expect to make noise in the 2024 MLB Draft. Saucke is just a dude. He looked great at the plate against the mediocre Rhode Island pitching. He can use the whole field and drove a bill to right-center for the first extra-base hit of the day for the Cavaliers. Anderson showed off some plus power by hitting a ball off the scoreboard. The ball was so LOUD off his bat when he made contact. He eats on fastballs and sometimes struggles with offspeed, but overall the hit tool looked above average.
Rhode Island had a sneaky reliever, Zach Fernandez, who was 90-92 with his fastball. His changeup (low 80s) kept the hitters off balance. Not much depth to it, but he could throw hitters off since not much changed with his delivery. Good repeatable delivery and decent control just left stuff middle/middle at times. Curveball (mid-to-upper 70s) had some hard break and looked very good when it was on.