Prospect Review: North Carolina

Prospect notes on the Tar Heels by Aaron Fitt of D1Baseball during his travels around the country this fall.

Despite being draft eligible in 2019, righthanders Joey Lancellotti and Gianluca Dalatri plus outfielder Dylan Harris all returned to UNC for another season. Lancellotti, who declined to sign as a 34th-round pick by the Yankees as a draft-eligible sophomore in June, has been a flame-throwing weapon out of the UNC bullpen for two years. The Tar Heels have stretched him out this fall to give him a chance to compete for a weekend rotation spot. He’s been extended before out of the bullpen and maintained his stuff well, but he doesn’t bounce back great when he works multiple outings in a weekend, so the move to the rotation might suit him perfectly.

Of course, a major key will be Dalatri’s health. After going 7-3, 3.34 in 97 innings to earn freshman All-America honors in 2017, Dalatri was limited by injury to 27 innings as a sophomore and 17 innings as a junior. He hasn’t pitched in scrimmage action this fall while rehabbing from April hip surgery, but he started his throwing program in the last two weeks and is now working to build up his strength so he’s ready to go full throttle by the time the spring season starts. At his best, he’s a polished four-pitch strike-thrower and a bona fide ace.

Given Dalatri’s health history and Lancellotti’s lack of experience as a starter, it’s hard to know exactly what to expect from them in the rotation, but the potential is clearly there for them to form one of the nation’s best one-two punches. And the Tar Heels have a third potentially dominant — but unproven — weekend starter in redshirt freshman righthander Max Alba, who has...