Stanford Baseball's Matt Scott Named Top-15 MLB Draft Prospect

Jason Burke | Aug 4, 2024

Matt Scott (28) of Stanford pitches against Arizona State University during a game at Phoenix Municipal Stadium on May 6, 2023. / Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Stanford baseball finished with a 22-33 record in 2024, and moving to the ACC may not help, with some of the nation's best baseball players residing in the conference. Yet, Stanford has one of the top MLB Draft prospects on the board themselves.

According to Baseball America, Stanford has the No. 12 ranked college MLB Draft prospect in right-hander Matt Scott. The 6-foot-7 right-hander is set to enter his junior season with the Cardinal, and while his ERA's the past two seasons have been over five, scouts love his skill set.

BA had this to say: "Scott pitched to a 5.10 ERA with 62 strikeouts across 67 innings as a freshman and while his ERA was again nothing to write home about, he collected 103 strikeouts across 80 innings. Scott has a durable, workhorse frame at 6-foot-7 and 247 pounds with a thick lower half and serious physicality.

"Scott keeps his delivery under control and repeats it well. His fastball has been up to 98 mph with an absurd 24.5 inches of ride. Scott also features a low-80s split-changeup that on average is 11 mph slower than his fastball with heavy tumbling action as well as fade to the arm side. His mid-80s slider flashes late sweeping life and a touch of depth, and has the potential to be a strong 60-grade offering. It is an effective pitch that is difficult to get the barrel on."

He added 41 strikeouts in his sophomore season while tossing just 13 additional innings, improving his strikeouts per nine from 8.3 as a freshman to 11.6 this year. In the midst of that leap forward, Scott also lowered his walk total, and his walk rate. He gave up one less free pass with the extra innings, lowering his rate from five per nine to 4.1 per nine.

One interesting wrinkle to Scott's current ranking is that one of the teams that will be picking right around that spot is the Oakland Athletics. With MLB's new draft lottery in place, there is a rule that prohibits teams that receive revenue sharing (like Oakland) from picking in the lottery three years in a row. In 2023 they held the sixth selection, and this year they picked fourth, so in 2025 the best possible selection they can hold is 10th.

Given the Chicago White Sox battle with the wrong kind of immortality at 27-85, it's looking like they will get that tenth overall selection, which would bump the A's to No. 11. If these rankings hold, there is a chance that Oakland could take a chance on Stanford's Matt Scott.

The biggest obstacles would be how the A's want to attack that selection with their bonus pool (perhaps wanting an under-slot deal), and their recent track record which has favored position players early in the draft, while picking up pitchers a round or two in.