Right-handed pitcher Davis Daniel from Auburn University comes in at number 83 on our top 100 countdown.
Coming out of high school he was ranked as the second best player in the state of Alabama, and Perfect Game ranked him as the 56th best player nationally.
He was drafted in the 34th round of the 2016 MLB Draft by the Chicago Cubs, but his mind was pretty much already made up to play for the Auburn Tigers.
He had an up-and-down season as a freshman for Auburn posting a 5.89 ERA in 70.1 innings pitched with 61 strikeouts. He appeared in 17 games with 16 of those coming as a starting pitcher.
However, he got much better as the season progressed, making his decision to come to college even better. His development in the SEC will set him up to be major league ready when it’s his time to go to the next level.
He spent this past summer in the ultra competitive Cape Cod Baseball League. The results there weren’t much better as he posted a 5.28 ERA in 15.1 innings (4 starts). Davis struck out 13 batters, walked eight and gave up 18 hits.
In his third start of the summer he tossed six shutout innings, allowing just a hit and 2 walks, while striking out seven.
The 6-foot-1, 179 pound sophomore has a very smooth delivery that looks very easy. His fastball sits in the low 90’s with some action on it that comes in on right-handed hitters. And he features a big, sweeping slider that breaks away from right-handed hitters.
Daniel has all the tools to be a great pitcher, we just need to see more consistency from him. I expect him to have a breakout year for Auburn this spring.
