With the collegiate fall baseball season wrapping up across most of the country, the depth of high-caliber pitching has reached an unprecedented level. We kick off our 2027 MLB Draft positional preview with what might be the strongest class of college pitchers since 2004—a landmark year featuring future Hall-of-Famer Justin Verlander (ODU) at No. 2 overall, three-time All-Star Jered Weaver (Long Beach State) at No. 12, and top-six selections Phil Humber (Rice), Jeff Niemann (Rice), and Jeremy Sowers (Vanderbilt). This class also boasted deep talent with J.A. Happ (Northwestern), Jason Vargas (Long Beach State), Glen Perkins (Minnesota), and Huston Street (Texas).

Other notable college draft classes since 2004 include 2007 with David Price (Vanderbilt), Corey Kluber (Stetson), Jake Arrieta (TCU) and Jordan Zimmerman (UW-Stevens Point). The 2010 class is led by Chris Sale (Florida Gulf Coast) and Jacob DeGrom (Stetson) and 2011 with Gerritt Cole (UCLA), Sonny Gray (Vanderbilt), Kyle Hendricks (Dartmouth) and Trevor Bauer (UCLA).

High potential classes that are still developing include 2018 which is led by mid-round picks Tarik Skubal (Seattle), Drew Rasmussen (Oregon State) and Joe Ryan (Cal State Stanislaus), as well as first-rounders Logan Gilbert (Stetson), Brady Singer (Florida) and Shane McClanahan (USF). The 2021 class of Andrew Abbott (Virginia), Gavin Williams (ECU), Tanner Bibee (Cal State Fullerton) and Mason Miller (Gardner-Webb) could also accumulate heavy impact over the next five years. And it would be foolish to omit the 2023 class with Paul Skenes (LSU) as the lead and emerging value coming from Grant Taylor (LSU), Rhett Lowder (Wake Forest), Connelly Early (Virginia) and Zac Thornton (Grand Canyon).

Whether evaluated by front office analytics as we recently did for the 2027 class or with traditional at-the-field scouting eyes, the ace potential is sky high. It’s a preseason five-star group that includes an extraordinary number of pitchers who profile as professional starters.

At the top, whether it’s determined at the field or in the office, Dax Whitney (Oregon State) is the crown jewel of the 2027 college pitching class. However, his auto-selection of the first college pitcher selected isn’t a lock. Whitney will likely miss the entire spring season as he recovers from his May elbow surgery.

At No. 2, Tomas Valincius (Mississippi State) is no slouch. In fact a strong case could be made for the left-hander to be selected over Whitney. Valincius is all things aces are made of – stuff, command, makeup, health. If you think Tarik Skubal is good, wait until Valincius has a few more years to perfect his craft. He’ll likely become the first lefty since Garrett Crochet to skip the minor leagues entirely.

Up next are Chris Levonas (Wake Forest) and Jackson Barberi (Florida). Most scouts would select the bat-misser Levonas over Barberi, but many data analysts favor Barberi. In either case, both touch 100 mph and have a nasty breaking pitch. Barberi also has a plus changeup that he seldom throws, but it’s a back pocket pitch that he’ll likely throw more often as a reliever-turned-starter this spring.

At this point, the ranking of the class becomes a bit cloudy, but not due to a lack of great options. Data-wise, Sean Jenkins (East Carolina) and Will Sanford (Oregon) rise to the top, but many scouts in the field prefer LSU co-aces Casan Evans and William Schmidt, along with another set of teammates from Mississippi State – Ryan McPherson and Duke Stone – represent the right-handers while Ethan Lund (Oklahoma State) and Dylan Volantis (Texas) lead the left side.

McPherson pitches into the upper-90s, but it’s his split-change that leads the whiff of his multi-pitch arsenal. Evans buckets the whiff with his change-up, slider and mid-90s fastball, while Schmidt, Lund and Volantis all lead with hammer breakers. Lund’s power breaking ball projects as a plus-plus pitch and Volantis presents a different look from a high release point that unleashes a nearly unhittable curve and a low-90s fastball. Stone thrives with 7-foot extension on his mid-90s fastball and has some built-in deception with higher effort and funk to his delivery.

Jenkins is a barrel-misser with a mid-90s heater and high-whiff slider. He’s also the youngest of the entire class – he won’t turn 20 years old until mid-April. Sanford masters his pitch mix, consisting primarily of an up/down curve (-18 IVB) and riding heater (21.7” IVB) which create an elite movement differential.

A thin-slice below, the parade of arms continues with Landon Mack (Tennessee), Jack Ohman (Yale), Austin Nye (Vanderbilt) and Southern Miss lefty Grayden Harris. If it’s present polish and high performance that you want, look no further than Florida ace Aidan King. Although there’s not a ton of remaining physical projection, he’s an elite present mix of stuff, command, pitchability and competitiveness. Harris may be a name many aren’t too familiar with at this point, but he excelled this summer for the USA CNT with a plus slider, a swing/miss cut/ride four-seamer and a hard sinker. Mack is a 95 mph sinker specialist who also generates whiff with his upper-80s cutter and Ohman has both Major League bloodlines and a fast arm that piles up whiff with a traditional fastball/slider/changeup mix. Nye will be closely watched as he missed all except the first three weeks of the 2026 season due to TJ surgery.

There’s also a lot of top two round love for sophomore-eligibles Sam Cozart (Texas), John Paone (Virginia) and Josh Whritenour (Florida). Third-year potential top two round right-handers include Sebastian Lippman (Florida State), Andreas Alvarez (Auburn), Kyle Alivo (Iowa), Camden Clark (Southern Miss), Wylan Moss (UCLA), Easton Hawk (UCLA) and Anderson Nance (NC State). Penn State’s Genei Sato adds some international flavor to the mix after transferring from Sendai University, Japan. The 6-footer will pitch in the mid-90s with two deadly change-of-pacers in his split and forkball.

High round southpaws include Jake Marciano (Auburn), Carson Bailey (Texas Tech), Jake McCoy (Tennessee), Rhys Bowie (Wake Forest), Casey Euper (Pepperdine), Cole Gibler (Arkansas), Mason Brassfield (TCU), Walker Hooks (Ole Miss), Jackson Sanders (Auburn) and Cayden Suchy (Florida State).