NASHVILLE – Vanderbilt leads the nation with six players appearing on D1Baseball.com’s Top 150 overall prospects for the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft class, the publication announced Thursday.
The Commodores were joined by Louisville, who also netted six players on the overall list, while Stanford, Texas Tech, UCLA, Georgia Tech and North Carolina each had five players mentioned.
JJ Bleday led the charge, ranking as college baseball’s No. 11 prospect. The Panama City, Fla., native paced the Dores with a .368 average, .511 slugging percentage and .494 on-base percentage a season ago while capping the year on a 28-game reached base streak.
The right fielder was joined by left-handed pitcher Jackson Gillis, who appeared at No. 67; right-hander Drake Fellows (94), outfielder Pat DeMarco (110), catcher Philip Clarke (118) and southpaw Zach King (124).
Gillis posted a 4-1 record and 4.81 ERA across 20 appearances a season ago. Fellows turned in a 7-4 record and 3.92 ERA while finishing 46th nationally with 107 strikeouts. King matched a team lead with 21 appearances and recorded a 3.46 ERA.
Meanwhile, Clarke and DeMarco are each coming off freshman All-American campaigns. Clarke led Vandy with 16 doubles and added 18 multi-hit games. DeMarco paced the Dores with 48 runs and 116 total bases while finishing second on the team with 13 multi-RBI outings.
Eight Commodores heard their names called during the 2018 MLB Draft, a mark that ranked tied for eighth nationally. Vanderbilt leads all universities in Top-5 round picks over the last 10 years including Connor Kaiser and Reid Schaller, who went in the third round this year.
