The 2023 Men's College World Series will get underway Friday. Eight teams have advanced to Omaha, Nebraska -- Florida, TCU, LSU, Oral Roberts, Virginia, Wake Forest, Tennessee, and Stanford -- by virtue of winning their Super Regionals. Those teams will now be split into two, four-team sides, amongst which they'll play a series of double-elimination games until one team is left standing on both sides of the bracket. Those teams will then meet in a best-of-three series to determine this year's champion.
Because we here at CBS Sports primarily cover Major League Baseball, and because MLB's amateur draft is less than a month away, we figured it would be worthwhile to highlight some of the finest prospects playing in this year's Men's College World Series. Below, you'll find the top 10 players, in our estimation, as well as a quick summary about what makes each player enticing.
Do note that the players are presented in the same order they were ranked on our recently published top 30. The players who were not ranked on that list, meanwhile, are presented at the end in alphabetical order.
1. Dylan Crews, OF, LSU (No. 1)
Crews is regarded by the industry as the best prospect in this class. That doesn't mean the Pittsburgh Pirates will pick him -- they could take the same approach they did in 2021, selecting the top prospect with the lowest signing bonus demand and funneling those savings elsewhere within their class -- but it does mean that he's positioned atop our rankings as well as this list. Crews hit .405/.454/.685 with more walks than strikeouts against SEC competition, and some of his boosters believe he could develop 70-grade hit and power tools. Those projections will likely prove to be overzealous, but he has middle-of-the-order potential and could move quickly once he turns pro.
2. Wyatt Langford, OF, Florida (No. 2)
Langford would be a legitimate No. 1 prospect in most drafts. He's another potential middle-of-the-order hitter with the chance for plus or better hit and power tools. Langford also has sneaky above-average speed despite sealing just 13 bases during his collegiate career. He hit .350/.484/.720 with just one fewer walk than strikeout during SEC play. As with Crews, Langford doesn't figure to require much time in the minors before reaching The Show.
3. Paul Skenes, RHP, LSU (No. 5)
Skenes, a strapping right-hander who transferred to LSU from the Air Force, is the top pitcher in the class. He sits in the upper-90s with his fastball and he struck out 48% of the SEC opponents he faced. Sounds like a slam dunk, right? Skenes is a more divisive prospect within the industry than you might suspect. Scouts and analysts have concerns that his suboptimal fastball spin axis will cause the pitch to play down, albeit not until he reaches the majors. He's still the favorite to be the Washington Nationals' pick at No. 2.
4. Kyle Teel, C, Virgina (No. 7)
Teel bounced back from a rough, if brief, showing in last summer's Cape Cod League by hitting .366 with a 14.4% strikeout rate against ACC foes. He's an above-average athlete who played some outfield during his collegiate career, but whichever team selects Teel will do so with the intent to play him at catcher. He has a strong arm and has shown an understanding of how to position his body in order to manipulate the strike zone. Teel's potential to contribute on both sides of the ball should land him somewhere in the top 10 come draft night.
5. Chase Dollander, RHP, Tennessee (No. 8)
Dollander entered the spring widely considered as the best pitching prospect in the class thanks to his combination of stuff and polish. He suffered through a disappointing season that caused him to slip beneath Skenes in evaluators' eyes, but he just turned in a great showing against Southern Mississippi to punch Tennessee's ticket to Omaha. Teams remain enamored with Dollander's arm talent and believe they can unlock more from him at the next level. As such, we still expect him to be drafted sometime in the top 10.
6. Tommy Troy, 3B, Stanford (No. 12)
You'll see Troy standing at the hot corner after he previously bounced around the infield. It's to be seen where his pro employer will want to play him (though second base is the best guess). Whatever the case, the real selling point here is his bat. Troy posted career-best walk and strikeout rates, and stole 17 bases after stealing a total of eight over his first two seasons.
7. Hurston Waldrep, RHP, Florida (No. 14)
Waldrep, like Dollander before him, is an SEC-based pitcher with apparent upside. He has big-time raw stuff, including a fastball that has been clocked into the upper-90s and a trapdoor splitter. He struck out 30% of the batters he faced in the SEC while generating 56% grounders. That's a good combination. Unfortunately, Waldrep battled his control, to the extent that he walked more than 14% of the batters he faced in conference play. For reference, only one MLB starting pitcher this season has walked as much as 13% of batters faced.
8. Rhett Lowder, RHP, Wake Forest (No. 15)
Lowder is a polished right-hander who commands four average or better offerings, beginning with a pair of low-to-mid-90s fastballs and extending to a good changeup. The Demon Deacons are one of the best groups in the country at pitching development, be it at the collegiate level or otherwise. Lowder's game, then, is likely already optimized. That gives him a higher floor and a lower ceiling as compared to some of his pitching peers in this class.
9. Brayden Taylor, 3B, TCU (No. 30)
Taylor was considered to be one of the safer second-tier collegiate bats back in the preseason. He had an uneven year that saw him slug a personal-best 22 home runs while also punching out at a career-worst 17.7%. (Taylor hit fewer line drives, too, suggesting he was going all-out for power.) Teams still like him enough to envision him going in the first round.
10. Brock Wilken, 3B, Wake Forest (NR)
Wilken was arguably the biggest (or, at least, best known) top-30 snub. He's coming off a 30-homer year that saw him hit .375 and walk 14 more times than he struck out. Evaluators who spoke to CBS Sports have expressed concern about his swing-and-miss tendencies within the zone, as well as with the disparity between his in- and out-of-conference statistics. To wit, he hit just .269 against ACC foes, suggesting he fattened up on lower quality opponents. Wilken could still go in the top 30, and perhaps even earlier than that.
