On Saturday night, while the Washington Nationals were preparing to watch their team earn w much-needed win over the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers, fans like myself were given a potential preview of the next potential Nationals #1 overall pick.
As people around the league have tried to figure out what the Nationals will do atop the MLB Draft next month, with the team being tied to primarily a few names, one player in particular made a massive statement in front of the entire country last night. The College World Series is an exciting spectacle for America to enjoy every year, and while the Nationals got a preview of Dylan Crews a few years ago in Omaha, we may have gotten a preview of another LSU superstar as well.
That would be lefty Kade Anderson, the ace of LSU's staff who has only really gotten better as the season has worn on. If you were not aware of Anderson before Saturday night, you should be fully familiar with his name by now. I did write a piece earlier this month about Anderson after he had begun to pick up a little bit of steam to be the #1 overall pick, but Saturday's performance might have really showed just how good he can be.
His performance was legendary, with the 20-year-old racking up 10 strikeouts and managing to scatter just 3 hits and 5 walks over a complete game shutout. Perhaps the only concerning part for Anderson, outside of walking 5 batters, was the fact that he threw 130 pitches, but that's typically the way College World Series games go in the finals.
To me, I was very impressed by Anderson, as while he didn't seem as if he had his 'A' level stuff going, the fact that he was able to completely shut down the hottest team in college baseball in Coastal Carolina, who had come into Saturday's Game 1 on a 26-game winning streak. Anderson having his 'B' or 'B+' level stuff and still being that dominant is what made me so impressed by him.
The fact that Anderson is only a draft-eligible sophomore who will have barely just turned 21 on draft day next month leads me to believe that he has a ton of upside to tap into, especially considering his pitch mix and the fact that this is his first year starting at the collegiate level.
Whether or not Anderson did enough to unseat Ethan Holliday as the expected #1 pick remains to be see, but for us Nationals fans who have been waiting for a college player to separate themselves from the pack, we might finally have our guy.
Do you think Kade Anderson will be the #1 pick? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.