Florida Baseball: Three Gators in 1st round of Keith Law’s 2023 mock draft

As Florida baseball prepares for the SEC tournament and beyond, the MLB Draft is also fast approaching in July. Players can either be drafted straight out of high school or have to wait at least three years to become draft eligible again.

This means Jac Caglianone isn’t draft eligible this season, but according to Keith Law of The Athletic, the Florida Gators have three other players that he projects will be selected in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft.

If you have a subscription to The Athletic, you can read his entire mock draft here.

Florida Baseball: Wyatt Langford

• 5th to the Minnesota Twins

Law has commented in the past that Langford would be the overall number-one pick in a ton of previous drafts and could be the top overall pick this year if not for Dylan Crews of LSU.

While Langford does have a better OPS than Crews this season, Law makes the case that Crews is the safer bet, given his production over all three seasons at LSU.

The reason Langford could then fall to fifth overall is the Washington Nationals might want a pitcher, and the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers prefer to take high school players that they can mold in their system.

This would leave Langford to go to the Twins, which wouldn’t be a bad landing spot for him. Minnesota’s outfield right now is chalked full of guys all hitting under .220, so the opportunity to get moved up quickly is there.

Also, Langford better hope he doesn’t fall past fifth because picking sixth is Oakland…

Florida Baseball: Hurston Waldrep

• 18th to the Milwaukee Brewers

Law acknowledges that Waldrep has had an up-and-down year, with a 4.83 ERA. But he also points out that the Brewers tend to draft college players and are generally intrigued by players who have sky-high ceilings, even if their floor tends to be lower.

In the case of Waldrep, his splitter is MLB quality, and he has four outings this season with ten or more strikeouts.

Florida Baseball: Brandon Sproat

• 27th to the Philadelphia Phillies

Like Waldrep, Sproat has been up and down this season with a 4.85 ERA. A lot of his numbers are also in line with Waldrep, with 100 strikeouts to 35 walks.

He has the ability to 100 MPH on his fastball, which will garner the attention of any MLB team, but he can also change speeds and drop in an 80 MPH curve.

Law thinks Sproat will work through the minors quickly and could pop up in an MLB bullpen by next season.