UM Recruiting Class Ranked First in ACC by Baseball America
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami’s 2019 recruiting class was ranked highest in the ACC by Baseball America, as the Canes came in 12th nationally in rankings published Thursday.
The group continues a longstanding trend of top recruiting classes arriving on campus; Miami’s 2018 Class was ranked 10th, its 2017 class was rated eighth, its 2016 group was ranked No. 13, its 2014 group was ranked No. 20, its 2013 class was ranked sixth and its 2012 newcomers were ranked ninth.
“I feel this class has good balance with pitchers and hitters,” head coach Gino DiMare said. “We have four right-handed pitchers and four left-handed pitchers along with six hitters. We feel that there are some guys in this class that have a chance to go very well in the draft down the road. But, with every class, it all depends on how hard they work and how bad they want it.”
Two members of the class were selected in the 2019 MLB First-Year Player Draft; right-handed pitcher Dylan Eskew was taken by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 24th round, while fellow right-hander Alex McFarlane was selected in the 25th round by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Eskew (No. 165), McFarlane (No. 186) and outfielder Hylan Hall (No. 230) were all ranked among Baseball America‘s top 250 recruits, while right-handed pitcher Jason Diaz (N0. 398) gives Miami four in the top 400.
Baseball America rates catcher/outfielder Jared Thomas and infielder/outfielder Mykanthony Valdez among the top position players in Miami’s incoming class. Eskew, McFarlane and Diaz are joined by left-handers Yordani Carmona, Carson Palmquist and Spencer Bodanza and right-hander Jake Garland as pitchers Baseball America anticipates will be factors in 2019.
Miami’s incoming class features 12 freshmen and two junior college transfers.
“We are extremely excited about the additions we made to our roster and are looking forward to watching their talent develop at Miami,” assistant coach/recruiting coordinator Norberto Lopez said. “This marks four straight top 15 classes in the country. We feel like we have met the needs for our upcoming season. We have improved our pitching staff by adding more left-handed pitching and we are fortunate to have two pitchers turn down the draft in order to continue their career at Miami. We also needed to add athleticism and depth to our offensive lineup and we believe we were able to achieve that with this class.”
See below for Baseball America‘s full top-25 recruiting class rankings:
2019 Top 25 Recruiting Class Rankings
1. Vanderbilt
2. Mississippi
3. Florida
4. Texas Christian
5. UCLA
6. Mississippi State
7. Louisiana State
8. Arizona State
9. Auburn
10. Texas
11. South Carolina
12. Miami
13. Clemson
14. Oklahoma State
15. Alabama
16. Virginia
17. North Carolina
18. Georgia Tech
19. Stanford
20. Louisville
21. Maryland
22. Oklahoma
23. Texas A&M
24. Arizona
25. Brigham Young
