Nick Lorusso
9th Round: 3B Nick Lorusso, Maryland; 175.1K Slot Value
A teammate of the 13th overall pick Matt Shaw, the fifth-year senior, posted an insane .379/.446/.765 triple-slash over the 2023 season with 26 home runs and 105 RBIs, the latter of which tied for the D1 lead. Another Cape Cod participant, Lorusso, hit .379/.440/.517 over 29 at-bats for the 2022 Brewster Whitecaps. The Northeast’s native campaign was so notable that Keoughs Computations graded his offensive performance as having the 11th-highest OPS+ out of any D-I player in 2023.
The 2 pictures below are of the OVR & OPS+ leaders among 3B. Standouts include @WakeBaseball's Brock Wilken, @DiamondHeels' Mac Horvath, & @StanfordBSB's Tommy Troy. @TerpsBaseball's Nick Lorusso had a great year too as a Senior, might be a high value pick later in the draft pic.twitter.com/prZ0e3qdJQ
— Keoughs Computations (@KeoComputations) July 3, 2023
The fourth Terp selected this draft as of this writing, Lorusso finished in the top ten in Maryland’s program history with his 258 at-bats, 70 RBIs, 145 total bases, and 83 runs scored, coupled with a 92 mph average exit velocity. He also collected a 31-game hitting streak, cementing his position as one of the nation’s top colligate bats.
In a UMterps.com column about his season, Lorusso said,
“Usually in long hit streaks like that, there’s some flares here and flares there, and there’s some cheap ones here,” Vaughn said. “I don’t know if that guy had a cheap hit in that streak, he was slamming balls all over the yard. Just extremely impressive to watch and you know that’s gonna be a hard streak to break and I’m glad his name is going to be on that one because that’s pretty special.”
“I think he’ll be a Double-A manager’s favorite player right away,” Vaughn said. “You could literally stick Nick in the middle of a Double-A lineup, and he’d go hit .320. There’s not a doubt in my mind with the kind of hitter is, and he’s gonna make some team really lucky.”
It’s worth noting Lorusso was formerly a two-way player at Villanova; the Mets drafted Nolan McLean as a two-way player earlier this afternoon.
10th Round: C Christian Pregent, Stetson; 165.8K Slot Value
Selected out of the same college as Jacob deGrom and Logan Gilbert, Pregent served as the captain for the 2023 Hatters. In 51 games, the fourth-year senior slashed .315/.394/.567 with 12 home runs and 46 RBIs.
Christian Pregent gives the Mountaineers a 6-5 lead in the 8th! pic.twitter.com/0qGhV64ncI
— The New England League (@TheNECBL) August 7, 2022
Stetson’s Athletic Page noted that he’s regarded as one of the nation’s top defensive backstops, committing just two errors throughout the 2022 campaign. A study from Jacob Messineo analyzed how Pregent’s positioning has led to his impressive pitch-framing marks. Pregent was the first freshman captain in school history.
