It was a heartbreaking ending to an almost storybook season for Florida baseball when the Orange and Blue fell in three games to the LSU Tigers in the 2023 College World Series Finals, which concluded on Monday. Now that the collegiate season is wrapped up, it is time to take a look at who will make the biggest splash in the upcoming Major League Baseball amateur draft.
Among those expected to be drafted early is Wyatt Langford, who has been projected as a top-five selection since the beginning of the season — and his performance this spring only helped his cause. However, a pair of his teammates saw their stock rise after the conclusion of CWS.
MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo responded to a mailbag question on Wednesday asking which players got the biggest boost from the college postseason. His answer included starting pitcher Hurston Waldrep and this is what he had to offer on the talented right-hander.
If you expand beyond the time in Omaha to include regional and super regional play, Florida right-hander Hurston Waldrep comes to mind. He’s at No. 19 now, which doesn’t represent much movement on the rankings because stuff-wise, he’s long belonged in the first round. But inconsistencies in his performance, particularly command, held him back. While his final CWS start wasn’t great, Waldrep had a string of three starts – regional, super regional and his first College World Series start – where he went 21 innings and gave up just two runs on 15 hits and only seven walks while striking out out 37.
Also mentioned was shortstop Josh Rivera, who broke out this season after being more of a glove-first player before finding his groove at the plate.
We also thought his teammate, shortstop Josh Rivera, helped himself. We moved him from No. 111 to No. 87 and he looks like one of the best seniors in the class, one who could go in the second round. He finished the year with an OPS over 1.000, 19 homers and 18 steals, all while showing he’s a very capable infield defender up the middle.
The MLB draft will be held from July 9-11 in Seattle, Washington, in conjunction with this summer’s MLB All-Star Game.
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Story originally appeared on Gators Wire