I’m a big fan of OF/RHP Matt Vierling, though I think it’s time we put the pitching side of his game to bed. Vierling’s stuff — 88-92 FB (up to 94) with a nasty (occasionally) hard cut-slider — should be good enough to make him a viable two-way performer, but the results simply haven’t been there on the mound. Thankfully, Vierling can really hit. And run. And throw. The well put together 6-3, 200 pound athlete has above-average speed, a strong arm befitting a part-time pitcher, and enough range to dabble in center. It’s easy to put a backup outfielder — a good one, to be fair — ceiling on him and call it a day, but I’m not ready to rule out Vierling as being skilled enough to play regularly if the power plays in the pros.

3B/2B Nick Podkul is really appealing as a bat-first utility type who can play just about every defensive spot but catcher and short. He’s steady but not spectacular at multiple positions with enough of a power/patience blend to potentially profile as a regular if his hot hitting to start 2018 is for real. I’ve been burned by Notre Dame infielders before, but am happy to go back to the well one more time with Podkul. No mention of this Notre Dame infielder is complete without bringing up his propensity for getting plunked. Quick math has Podkul’s career college HBP% at 5.4. That would put him second all time in ML history (1921 on) behind Brandon Guyer, who is now sitting at 5.8% for his career. Lots of black and blue for the guy in blue and gold.

2B/SS Cole Daily doesn’t have quite the same track record of hitting (or getting hit) as Podkul, but his 2018 has been really good so far. He holds the edge over his infield mate when it comes to athleticism and ability to play a credible shortstop, neither of which being a small thing when it comes to forecasting success of likely bench players.

OF Eric Gilgenbach is a small sample three-true-outcome poster boy who is more interesting to me than he probably ought to be. We’ll wait to check back on him until we get closer to the 2019 draft.

LHP Scott Tully hits all the undersized pinpoint command/plus control lefty archetype boxes without having the pinpoint command/plus control.

rSR LHP Scott Tully (2018)
SR RHP Charlie Vorscheck (2018)
JR OF/RHP Matt Vierling (2018)
JR 3B/2B Nick Podkul (2018)
JR 2B/SS Cole Daily (2018)
SR OF Jake Johnson (2018)
JR OF Eric Gilgenbach (2018)
rSO OF Eric Feliz (2018)
JR 3B Jake Singer (2018)
SR OF Alex Kerschner (2018)
SO RHP Zack Martin (2019)
SO RHP Anthony Holubecki (2019)
SO RHP Cameron Junker (2019)
SO RHP Andrew Belcik (2019)
SO LHP Cameron Brown (2019)
SO RHP Patrick McDonald (2019)
SO 1B/OF Daniel Jung (2019)
FR RHP Joe Boyle (2020)
FR RHP Brian Morrell (2020)
FR LHP Tom Sheehan (2020)
FR LHP Tommy Vail (2020)
FR LHP Brandon Knarr (2020)
FR OF Niko Kavadas (2020)
FR C David LaManna (2020)
FR 1B/LHP Cole Kmet (2020)
FR 3B Jared Miller (2020)