On Wednesday, November 8th, thousands of high school baseball players across the country signed their National Letters of Intent to successfully fulfill their dedication to playing baseball at the collegiate level, with hundreds of players in Missouri alone going through this process. 

Over the next few weeks, our staff will spend some time highlighting those names that signed their NLI to play baseball at the Division I level. We’ll do so by breaking these names up by conference, starting with the SEC last week, which you can find HERE, followed by the Big 12 story, which we published HERE, and then the Big 10 story HERE. 

Our conference by conference breakdown continues today with the Missouri Valley, and you'll learn more today about the players from Missouri headed to those programs below.

MISSOURI STATE

Missouri State has built itself into a perennial winner under head coach Keith Guttin, who will retire following the 2023 season after 42 years at the helm. In that time, the Bears have won 1,373 games, produced 36 All-Americans, have seen 21 players reach the big leagues, and secured 20 conference championships while appearing in 12 NCAA Regionals. 

Always a threat to take the ‘Valley’ crown, the Bears add two in-state athletes in LHP/OF Ross Lawrence (Logan-Rogersville) and RHP Charlie Spoonhour (Vianney): 

+ Lawrence is a true two-way talent that really looks the part in a uniform, listed at a well-proportioned 6-foot-2, 180-pounds. He’s a left/left athlete that’s likely to impact more on the mound long term, where he’s breached the 90 mph mark in the past with real pitchability, including feel for a fading changeup and depth on a breaking ball he’ll land for strikes. Offensively, it’s a flat left-handed swing with hand speed and backspin feel that stays on plane. Lawrence dominated for the top-ranked Wildcats this spring, as well as throughout his summer circuit, and he has starter’s upside at the next level, especially should he continue to add velocity. 

Ross Lawrence

+ Spoonhour showed three pitches for strikes at the St. Louis Top Prospect Games this summer, coming away from that event as one of its biggest winners. A lean 5-foot-11, 150-pound athlete with wiry strength, Spoonhour’s fastball plays in the mid-80s, touching 86 mph. His go-to secondary pitch is a sweeping low-70s breaking ball that he’s able to land for strikes (T2405 RPM) and he sparingly turned to an upper-70s changeup in our most recent look. 

Charlie Spoonhour

BRADLEY 

The Braves’ recruiting class features two Missouri natives, with OF Kenton Unruh (Staley, 2024) and C Dominic Anselmo (Eureka, 2024) headed to Peoria next fall: 

+ A PBR Future Gamer in 2022, Unruh checks several boxes as one of the top prospects in Missouri’s senior class. He holds present strength on a 6-foot, 190-pound frame, though still capable of adding more, and is a 6.77 runner in the 60. Offensively, Unruh offers a blend of power and feel to hit, with a simple and direct right-handed swing that’s flashed gap-to-gap jump off the barrel in previous looks. He has the arm strength (T88 mph), athleticism, and offensive output to stick in a corner outfield spot at the next level, making for an all-around intriguing profile that could crack the Braves’ lineup sooner rather than later. 

Kenton Unruh

+ Anselmo showed all sorts of tools at the A’s Scout Day earlier this year within a physical 6-foot, 200-pound frame. He’s a 6.71 runner, a well above-average number for his position, that was also up to 85 mph from the crouch with pop times in the 1.86-to-1.91 range. Anselmo’s swing is aggressive, though controlled, with bat speed to pair. In that look, Anselmo hammered baseballs on repeat to the pull-side, posting a peak exit velocity of 100.9 mph with an average mark of 93.1 mph. He also averaged 278 feet per batted ball and launched his furthest 367 feet, both of which are advanced batted ball metrics for his age.

Dominic Anselmo

EVANSVILLE

Evansville is coming off back-to-back seasons of 30+ wins, including a 37-win campaign this past spring that earned them a spot in the conference championship game. The Aces dipped into Missouri again in this recruiting cycle, signing INF Drew McConnell (Blue Springs) and RHP Isaac Boss (Westminster Christian) last week: 

+ Perhaps no other name in the 2024 class increased their prospect stock this year than McConnell, who skyrocketed more than 150 spots up our rankings after a spring season with Blue Springs that saw the Wildcats capture a District crown. McConnell can really hit, staying through the baseball from a balanced left-handed swing that’s able to easily elevate the baseball gap-to-gap. There’s juice and barrel feel in his swing, though he’s more than comfortable slapping an off-speed pitch or an outer-half heater the other way, too. He adds even more value on the infield, where he’s likely to stick on the dirt moving forward with sure-handed actions that play up on the move. McConnell will look to make an impact early on for the Aces, though first he’ll play a big role for a Blue Springs squad that has championship aspirations this spring. 

Drew McConnell

+ Boss is a physical 6-foot-4, 200-pound arm that’s impressed our staff in previous looks. We’ve seen his fastball play in the mid-to-upper-80s before, touching 88 mph, while also spinning a low-70s breaking ball off it. 

Isaac Boss

VALPARAISO

+ INF/RHP Evan Fulhorst (Fort Zumwalt South) officially joined the Beacons recruiting class last Wednesday. At 6-foot, 185-pounds, Fulhorst helped lead his Fort Zumwalt South to the state playoffs this past spring, playing a pivotal role on both sides of the ball. He slashed .358/.466/.587 with 18 extra-base hits and 31 RBIs over 134 at-bats, while also punching out 43 across 27 ⅔ innings pitched on the bump. Offensively, Fulhorst has inherent raw strength shows in his two-way efforts as well - we’ve seen him run his fastball up to 91 mph, while pitching in the upper-80s, and he’s posted near triple digit exit velocities at our events in the past as well. 

Evan Fulhorst

RELATED CONTENT