11 Gators on MLB top draft prospect list

The college baseball season is over. The College World Series has been cancelled and just Wednesday MLB officials began discussing a shortened 2020 season.

Without actual baseball games to cover outlets have turned their attention to the draft. Perfect Game released its top 400 prospects for the MLB Draft and featured 11 Gators.

32. RHP Tommy Mace
157. RHP Jack Leftwich
215. OF Jacob Young
301. INF Cory Acton

Mace was projected to go 32nd overall to the Kansas City Royals. The Royals have had a recent affinity for Gators. The club took Brady Singer 18th overall and Jackson Kowar 33rd overall in the 2018 draft. In 2019 they selected shortstop Brady McConnell in the 2nd round.

Most fans will be surprised to see Jacob Young and Cory Acton on the list. Both are draft-eligible sophomores because both will be 21 years of age by the time the 2020 Draft occurs. Christian Scott also falls into that category but wasn’t on Perfect Game’s list.

Seven Gator signees are also on the list, including four who are among the top-100 ranked high school prospects in the country, according to Perfect Game.

4. OF Zac Veen (Spruce Creek, Port Orange)
63. 3B Coby Mayo (Stoneman Douglas, Coral Springs)
99. LHP Timothy Manning (Cardinal Gibbons, Ft. Lauderdale)
148. INF Colby Halter (Bishop Kenny, Jacksonville)
167. INF Sterlin Thompson (North Marion, Ocala)
302. RHP Franco Aleman (JUCO) (Alonso, Tampa/ St. Johns River CC)
312. C Mac Guscette (Venice, Nokomis)

Veen is the top-rated high school prospect on Perfect Game’s list. He’s drawn comparisons to Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich. Perfect Game wrote that Veen has “the type of tools and body a scout can dream on.” Veen was an Under Armour All-American and plays with the Orlando Scorpions Founder Club team out of Orlando. Veen, like OF Riley Green (No. 3 overall prospect) from 2019 is very unlikely to ever get to campus, even in the unprecedented times we’re living in right now.

Mayo, Manning, and Halter are the other three top-100 rated high school signees. All three were selected to play in the Perfect Game All-American Classic.

The 2020 MLB is scheduled to run from Wednesday, June 10 through Friday, June 12.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC