D1 Baseball Preseason All-Americans (1st, 2nd, 3rd Team)

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1st team AA coming off February wins against Northeastern, Harvard, UNLV and Lipscomb.

It’s good to be Connor Prielipp.

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Connor Prielipp, LHP, Alabama

Throwing a plus—possibly double plus—slider with upwards of 3,150 rpm from the left side is a quick way to grab my heart. Working anywhere from 92-94 (touched 95 three times) as a freshman, Prielipp posted a 0.00 ERA and 0.52 WHIP in four starts during the college season prior to the COVID-19 shutdown. The absurdity of his freshman year didn’t stop there; the southpaw induced upwards of a 20.0 SwStr% on all three pitches (FB: 22.3%, SL: 25.0%, CH: 23.8%). If end results are your thing, a 47.9 K% should grab everybody’s attention. Mechanically, Prielipp is a carbon copy version of Mike Soroka from the opposite side, with similar body tilt to his right side because of his arm-slot. Prielipp’s timing can be off at times and his stiff front leg is a bit of a turn off. The current data on the fastball is less than ideal, the approach angle is steep (5.35) and the release height is around 6.1. Prielipp works quickly and gets good sinkage in his hips, prolonging his shoulder separation and in turn creating hard-hitting velocity. Part of a deep LHP class, Prielipp already stands out as one of the top follows next year.

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Connor Prielipp, LHP, Alabama

Alabama has struck gold with their new Friday night ace and the rest of the SEC West can’t be thrilled that they have to deal with him for three whole seasons. In game one of a Friday doubleheader against UNLV, Prielipp breezed through his five-inning outing, giving up no hits and one walk while fanning eight. He has extremely projectable length to his frame with room to still fill out as he continues to strengthen. His motion and delivery are quick and his short arm action comes up to a high three-quarters arm slot. He closes himself off at the top of his leg lift then quickly fires back open down the mound.

His fastball sat 93-94 mph and he touched 95. There’s good downward angle on his fastball to the plate thanks to his length, and there’s some occasional arm-side run as well that becomes more drastic when he locates to his arm side. His poise and confidence on the hill cannot be understated, and his ability to locate his fastball to all four quadrants with intent is already excellent.

His breaking ball is a very sharp high 1-to-7 shaped slider that has the potential to be lights out when located down in the zone. It has a smaller overall shape with plus-plus late bite down as it disappears off of hitters’ barrels at the last moment. Prielipp’s tempo was phenomenal throughout as he pounded strike after strike. He was able to generate so many empty swings out of the UNLV lineup that once the Rebels were finally able to draw a walk in the bottom of the fifth off a quality take on a breaking ball down in the zone, their home dugout went nuts over finally finding some sort of production against Prielipp.

Prielipp’s fastball really never wavered off that 93-94 mph mark. Later in his outing he began to flirt in the 92-93 range, but his durability seems to be above par as well. With his power arm, unfinished frame, and mature poise on the hill, it’s hard to imagine where his ceiling even is. If he continues down the path he’s on, he could easily develop into one of the top arms to come out of the 2022 draft class.

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