Prep Baseball Report

2021-2022 Newcomer Breakdowns: Recruiting Classes 16-20


Aaron Fitt | Shooter Hunt | Nathan Rode

Every year, D1Baseball ranks the Top 25 recruiting classes in the country after they show up on campus. These rankings consider all newcomers who arrived at D-I schools this fall or at the semester break: freshmen as well as transfers from junior-college and four-year schools. For the third year in a row, we decided to wait until the end of the fall to rank the Top 25 classes, so that all the additional insights we gain by traveling the country watching scrimmages and writing fall reports can help inform our rankings. Then we got together with Nathan Rode and Shooter Hunt of our partners at Prep Baseball Report and hammered out which groups of newcomers stand out the most. Nobody knows high school baseball prospects like Rode and Hunt, so their perspective combined with our fall travels and conversations with coaches and scouts give us the most well-informed recruiting class rankings anywhere.

All week, we’re counting down our Top 25 with a batch of five teams every day, continuing today with teams 16-20: Stanford, Vanderbilt, Dallas Baptist, Alabama and Washington. The analysis of each class was written by either Aaron Fitt, Nathan Rode or Shooter Hunt.

**Player rankings in parentheses refer to where current freshmen ranked in the Class of 2022 Overall Rankings (which also included players who signed pro contracts out of high school this past summer).

16. STANFORD

OVERVIEW: The Cardinal appeared on the Newcomer Rankings in 2016 (No. 6) and 2020 (11). Thanks to an elite combination of academic prowess and program history, it rarely loses a recruit to the draft. That also keeps the classes small and the 2021 incoming group has nine freshmen and one four-year transfer.

BLUE-CHIP FRESHMEN: OF/RHP Braden Montgomery (37) was among the top prospects to get to campus and is a legitimate two-way threat. He’s an excellent athlete with body control and projectable power from both sides of the plate. He has a plus arm in the field, which translates to the mound, where he can sit in the low 90s and show feel for his secondary stuff. C Charlie Saum (149) excels defensively with flexibility and good lateral mobility behind the plate to go with a strong arm. He routinely finds the barrel and will hit for some pop down the road.

IMPACT TRANSFERS: OF Joe Lomuscio is a graduate transfer from Brown and hit .303 with 59 runs, seven home runs, 51 RBIs and 14 stolen bases in 88 games with the Bears. The All-Ivy Leaguer brings energy and toughness to the field.

SLEEPERS: OF Saborn Campbell (179) is powerfully built at 5-foot-11, 185 pounds with above average to plus speed, a short swing and quick bat speed from the right side. He also has athletic bloodlines, as his father played football at Michigan State and his brother is Boston College RHP Jon Campbell Jr. RHP Ty Uber (339) is a physical beast at 6-foot-3, 230 pounds. He works at 88-92, touching 93, with above average spin and shows a plus slider, as well as feel for a changeup. SS Temo Becerra (439) and SS Trevor Haskins (444) figure to play up the middle with each other in the future. Both have high baseball IQs and are strong defenders who will only get better as they mature physically. RHP/1B Jake Sapien is another two-way option who has been up to 93-94 and shows right-handed power. LHP Gavin Nalu has good pitchability and could feature as a lefty specialist early on with a funky 3/4 slot. IF Brett Blair profiles as a corner guy and is packed with power in his 5-foot-10, 210-pound frame.

— Nathan Rode

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