Jackson Mayo (Williamsport) and Judah Morris (West Virginia) continue to barrel baseballs. The duo was previously featured in Week 8 of the Prospect Report and more success is deserving of more attention. Morris leads the league with an out-of-this-world 62.9% Hard-Hit rate in the second half and Mayo is in second at 46.3%.
Mayo continues to show that he’s one of the most well-rounded prospects in the league. The lefthanded hitter combines speed, power, hit ability and defense. In the past two weeks he had raised his average to .412 and SLG to .605, squaring up a dozen doubles to go along with three home runs, 18 RBI and 18 stolen bases. His 109.3-mph max EV is tops in the league over the second half and his Z-Whiff is top 25 in the league at 11.1%. Defensively, the leftfielder has yet to commit an error in 49 chances.
Morris has also further established himself as a premier slugger/plate controller in the league. The right-handed hitter has walked 36 times (18% walk rate) and struck out 36 in 199 plate appearances to go along with eight home runs, a .507 SLG and a .237 ISO. Morris’ max EV of 113 mph in the first half led the league and his 107.7 mph in the second half places him in the top five.
Another Black Bear who is in a special place right now is West Virginia’s Jace Rinehart. The utilityman recorded a five-hit night Thursday, three more Friday and then stretched it to 11 consecutive hits Saturday, raising his season average to .350. With a season max EV of 105.3 mph, the right-handed hitter doesn’t hit it as hard as Mayo or Morris, and with some excess length in his swing he has had his fair share of swing-and-miss, but he destroys offspeed offerings, especially changeups which he’s batting .533 and slugging .933 against this season.
A couple shortstops who are whistling hot sticks recently are Mahoning Valley’s Patrick Roche and Trenton’s Connor Maryniak. Maryniak, the Thunder’s 6-foot-1, 200-pound shortstop has been en fuego the past two weeks, batting .487 with a double, two triples and eight RBI. With a flat swing path (5.2 degree average LA) he has a 12.9% Z-Whiff against all pitches and it dwindles down even more to just 7.4% against in-zone fastballs. For the season the right-handed hitter has produced a .353/.447/.500 slash line and defensively, Maryniak has committed only two errors in 126 chances (.984 FLD).
Roche also has been on the offensive. He continues to consistently put the ball in play with just a 8.2% Z-Whiff and slugged his first home run of the season Sunday. For the season he’s batting .339 with an .859 OPS.
Max Mandler in Williamsport hasn’t shown the same power as the rest of the list (101.9-mph max EV), but the 6-foot-2, 215-pound corner infielder/outfielder controls the strike zone and rarely whiffs at pitches in the strike zone. He’s walked 26 times against 17 strikeouts and has a Z-whiff rate of just 9.2%. The right-handed hitter uses all fields and has currently produced a .377/.496/.430 slash. Mandler destroys every offering, including fastballs (.529 against), sliders (.429) and changeups (.385).
Catchers who can hit are a hot commodity in any league and the Draft League has a handful of them led by Williamsport’s trio of TJ Racherbaumer, Matt Flaherty and recently moved DeMarkus Smiley. Racherbaumer controls the zone with 12 walks vs. 11 strikeouts on the season in 62 plate appearances. Over his last seven games he’s batting .391 with a 1.046 OPS. The 5-foot-10 left-handed hitter tries to work the middle of the field and doesn’t miss the fastball very often with a 6.7% Z-Whiff. He’s also thrown out 12 of 38 attempted base stealers (31.7%). Flaherty’s 109-mph max EV has been tops in the league for much of the second half and is batting .298 in 14 games (47 at-bats). Smiley has cooled a bit in just five games after his transfer from West Virginia, but totals a .333 batting average between the two clubs for the season in 63 at bats.
State College outfielder Conor Higgs doesn’t yet have the statistics (.232/.343/.375) to show for it, but with a season max EV of 107.5 and an ever-rising hard hit rate (42.5%) it’s all coming together for the 6-foot-2, 195-pound left-handed hitter. Be on the lookout for even better to come the last few weeks of the season from the Spikes’ corner outfielder.
Since Sunday, Aug. 10, Frederick’s Ethan Ott has found his power after putting up his strongest season as a senior with New Mexico. In his last seven games, the Keys’ infielder has collected an extra-base hit in six games with four doubles and two home runs, driving in 11. Collecting a hard hit one-third of the time, he’s seen his exit velocities peak at 107.3 mph and consistently driving the ball in the air with a fly ball/line drive rate of 62.2%.
For more information about the MLB Draft League, visit mlbdraftleague.com or follow @mlbdraftleague and @draftleaguedata on X, and @mlbdraftleague on Instagram.
David Seifert is the current Scouting Director for D1Baseball and the Director of College Scouting for Prep Baseball. Seifert is a former college coach and crosschecker and scout for the Philadelphia Phillies.
