LebCo College Baseball Prospect Tracker: June 4, 2024

By Steve Beard, LebCoSports Senior Baseball Contributor

Alabama’s season came to a close in Regionals on Saturday, going two and out versus University of Central Florida and Stetson. With Gage Miller’s season coming to a close, it also means an end to our coverage for the 2024 Season. We will follow up with late arriving awards and look to have an article at least one more Tuesday morning in June, so please check back for updates!

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By the Numbers

Before we catch up with Gage Miller, here is a look at the LebCoSports.com College Baseball Prospect Tracker… by the Numbers:

We tracked 28 players. Those 28 players played for 24 teams. Those teams played 1031 games. That’s how many box scores were examined. The teams had a combined 525-507-2 record. That’s a .510 winning percentage. The players hit a combined 50 home runs. The pitchers struck out a combined 199 hitters. Messiah (35) and Northampton (44) won more games this year than they have in school history. The smallest column this year was 350 words on February 5. The biggest column was 3994 words on April 30. (A ten page paper, single spaced is estimated to be about 2500 words). How many words across all 20 entries to date? 73,898 —just about 30 term papers. As Casey Stengel once said…”you could look it up.”

Gage Miller, Alabama University (Palmyra ’21)  Season Stats  Upcoming Schedule

The Alabama Crimson Tide entered the Tallahassee bracket as the #2 seed. They faced the #3 seed University of Central Florida on Friday afternoon. As he did a large part of the season, Miller led off the bottom of the first with a single. He eventually scored on a three run home run to put the Crimson Tide up 3-2. He singled in the fifth and was erased on a fielder’s choice. He then walked and scored the tying run in the seventh, but following a run in the top of the ninth by the Knights, Alabama fell 8-7 (Game Story and Box Score). On Saturday, Miller was 1 for 4 as the Alabama offense mustered only five hits against stout pitching for Stetson, a 4-0 loss for the Crimson Tide (Game Story and Box Score). Alabama ended the season 33-23.

Following a two year stint at JuCo Bishop State Community College, where he hit .394 with 15 HR and 100 RBI, Gage Miller put up an All American worthy season in the toughest conference in Division 1 Baseball. He ranks in the top 10 in the SEC in most statistical categories. His slash line of .381/.475/.714 entering the weekend equates to a gaudy 1.189 OPS, with 18 home runs, 56 RBI, 80 hits and 70 runs. Named on the midseason watch list for the Golden Spikes Award for the best player in college baseball, he reached base safely in 50 of 52 regular season games, hitting for average and power, living up to the social media moniker “12-Gage.” With a fielding percentage of .927, he was a fixture not only at the lead off spot but at third base as well.

As he looks toward the likely prospect of being drafted, the conventional wisdom is that the “hit” and “hit with power tools” are ready for professional baseball. Miller looks to be destined for second base or perhaps left field and is ranked from 80 (MLB.com) to 84 (PBR) to 96 (New York Times), all of which put him in the third round. At LebCo Sports, we’re predicting that his elite hitting is a bit undervalued by the national publications. With a first round pick at 22 and a prospect promotion pick at 32 for Gunnar Henderson wining rookie of the year in the AL in 2023, the Baltimore Orioles will pick two arms with #22 and #32 and use their second round pick, #67, to draft Gage Miller, adding an elite prospect to one of the top farm systems in baseball.

LebCo College Baseball Prospect Tracker: May 28, 2024