I should not be in charge of any team’s draft…but if I were then OF/2B CJ Krowiak would be at or near the top of my pile of potential senior-signs. Krowiak is a glider in center with the plus speed to chew up plus range in the outfield. He’s also an outstanding athlete with phenomenal hand-eye coordination who puts a ton of balls in play without striking out much. He’s going to fall much further (farther?) on draft day than he should. This isn’t to say that I think he’s a lock to have pro success and turn into a big league regular. I’m just saying I think Krowiak has a high probability of having a long career as a useful pro with enough upside to turn into a contributing big league role player if everything breaks right. There’s certainly value there and my hypothetical team would be more than happy to scoop Krowiak up once some of the higher upside priority targets were off the board.

C/1B Jason Agresti is another quality Binghamton senior-sign. He’s solid enough defensively to stick with enough power and patience to give you a little something at the plate. A capable defensive catcher with enough offensive promise to be a non-zero with the bat in his hands? It may sound like damning with faint praise, but that’s a good enough all-around package to get a shot in pro ball for me. This may shock you, but I think SS Paul Rufo could also be a useful senior-sign. He’s not flashy at the plate or in the field, but he consistently gets results. Like both Krowiak and Agresti before him, Rufo is good enough to stick at a premium defensive position while giving you enough offensive punch to potentially move up level by level in pro ball. You can’t ask for more than that as you fill out minor league rosters late in the draft.

Ouch, ouch, and ouch. Those were literally the words I wrote down next to each of Binghamton’s most promising 2018 pitching prospects after checking in on their early season results to date. All three of these guys have been unusually wild while posting ugly ERAs. For RHP Jacob Wloczewski, a redshirt-senior facing his last shot going through the draft process, the timing could not be much worse. A strong 2017 made it seem like he had turned the corner, but now more digging would be needed to see what version is the real version of the 6-3, 180 pound righthander. He has enough in the way of stuff to at least be moderately interesting — 88-92 FB (93 peak) with a quality 79-80 SL — but will have to turn it around in a hurry to convince teams he’s worth a late pick. RHP Joe Orlando, also a senior, has his back up against the proverbial draft prospect wall as well. He’s shorter with less of a breaking ball — though no less velocity, so at least there’s that — and a reliever all the way. Even in today’s game where seemingly every pro reliever comes in throwing mid-90s missiles, any guy who can pop 93 MPH is at least some kind of draft prospect for me. Orlando may not be a particularly promising one, unfortunately, but at least he is one. That’s more than my rag arm can say. The guy with the lowest current velocity (upper-80s) of the trio, RHP Nick Gallagher, may be in the best spot. That’s not necessarily because of his great changeup, but because he’s a junior who will get another shot to prove himself next season.

rSR RHP Jacob Wloczewski (2018)
JR RHP Nick Gallagher (2018)
SR RHP Joe Orlando (2018)
SR RHP Jake Erhard (2018)
JR RHP Cal Lawrence (2018)
JR LHP Robert Brown (2018)
SR LHP/1B Nick Wegmann (2018)
SR OF/2B CJ Krowiak (2018)
SR C/1B Jason Agresti (2018)
SR SS Paul Rufo (2018)
SR 3B/1B Luke Tevlin (2018)
SR OF Pat Britt (2018)
rSO OF Daniel Franchi (2018)
JR OF Anthony Meduri (2018)
SO RHP Ben Anderson (2019)
SO RHP Jake Miller (2019)
SO 3B Justin Drpich (2019)
FR LHP Reid VanScoter (2020)
FR OF Andrew Eng (2020)