Baseball boasts impressive first-year class ahead of Greenspan’s third season

A top recruit and a sea of pitching enter Evanston.

An influx of new students are arriving on the Evanston shores in exactly two months. Summer is the time for baseball, and the transfer portal is doing its thing as the eyes of the college baseball world turn towards summer leagues. In the midst of all this change, it’s time to take a look at who are the new first-years joining head coach Ben Greenspan and Northwestern baseball after a year of improvement.

Under the Spotlight: The Big Names

It is rare for Northwestern baseball to see even a top 100 prospect in a first-year recruiting class — the last was Jack Lausch in 2022, if you choose to count him as a part of the first-year class. Greenspan has one name who is the highest-ranking recruit since the dual-sport threat from Chicago.

It’s also worth noting that due to the high number of high schoolers taken in the MLB draft, especially when compared with other sports, the best recruits who choose not to forgo college commitments may often come without eye-popping rankings. In baseball especially, a good set of skills is important, but the proper coaching is truly at a premium.

James Whitaker

A top 100 RHP in his class who originally committed verbally to defending CWS champion LSU, Whitaker is the best high school recruit in the early stages of Greenspan’s NU tenure. Hailing from Bishop Gorman HS, which has produced numerous MLB talents, Whitaker might just be the next player in that category when his Wildcats career is said and done.

Whitaker’s fastball sits in the low 90s and topped out at 94. Scouts emphasized the drastic movement on his two-seam fastball as a primary tool to fool hitters, alongside effective breaking balls. How the rotation will develop remains to be seen, but Whitaker is likely to be a major part of the equation. If Garrett Shearer is healthy, he is likely to return to that number one slot. Kouser and Christian Forniss took on several starts down the stretch last season. Incoming Clemson transfer Chayce Kieck will likely also compete for starts. With three total spots (four in a few early season tournaments) and the departure of Sam Hliboki and Crawford Wade, expect Whitaker to establish a presence early and even become a potential ace for the ‘Cats. When the games matter most, I wouldn’t be surprised if Whitaker winds up being the most trusted arm on the staff.

Nick Barron

As the second-ranked player both in Northwestern’s recruiting class and his home state of Massachusetts, Nick Barron will have his hands full at first base. He played high school baseball at IMG Academy, one of the country’s best programs, where he was a solid contributor in a stacked lineup of future professional talent. Taking over for the departures of Trent Liolios and Tyler Ganus, the job at first will likely belong to Barron very early on. This freedom is likely to remove some pressure and give him a bigger leash to adjust to the college level.

Barring the remaining transfer portal uncertainty, the ‘Cats are likely to have many solid returners in the lineup. In his first-year, I think the ceiling for Barron is a bat that follows the likes of Jackson Freeman and Ryan Kucherak in the lineup, likely hitting fifth. He does have a high floor, though, in my eyes, and at worst, may be a bench piece or a fixture toward the bottom of the lineup.

The Pitchers that Coaching Can Make Elite

Greenspan put a major emphasis on pitching in this recruiting class, as this entire tier of five “Top 500” players are pitchers.

This tier is hit-or-miss at times. In last year’s class, for example, Luke Burden, who struggled in his limited playing time, was ranked in the same “Top 500 players” tier as Matthew Kouser, who, while far from perfect, was a starter in Northwestern’s rotation from the first series of the year. This is no knock on Burden, but merely establishes how many players are given this blanket rating by Perfect Game. When simply looking at high school stats or film, it is often hard to differentiate this larger class of pitchers from one another. The ultimate test will be how they respond to the slugfest that is Big Ten hitting.

Colton Cravens

If I had to predict one of these players to have the greatest impact in their first season, it would be Colten Cravens. While some recruits have already reclassed and many are generally older given their level of high school competition, Cravens comes into Evanston with young blood.

Standing at 6’5 and having just turned 18 years old, Cravens is already topping out at 93 MPH. In fact, he hit 90 MPH when he was still playing 15U. Cravens is ranked as the best right-hander in the state of Kentucky by Perfect Game and is in the top 200 nationally. Given the Wildcats’ struggles for consistent pitching last season, don’t be surprised if Cravens is another one of those arms fighting for a spot in a crowded rotation.

Sam Michel

Greenspan balances out the right-handed heavy pitchers mentioned earlier with Sam Michel, who has cemented himself as a top 100 left-hander in his class. Michel is another arm who has hit 90 on the radar gun while in high school, and being a lefty may allow for him to garner more significant time out of the bullpen. With Wade and Blake MacMillan being the two significant left-handers in the bullpen last season, Michel has an opportunity to fight for an open spot to face the bulk of hitters in left-handed heavy lineups. Look for him to compete to earn those innings alongside arms like Forniss, Alex Grant and incoming Middlebury transfer Charlie Kutz.

Dominic Deloreto

Deloreto is an interesting arm to preview in that he is a top 200 lefty who competed in Florida, one of the hardest states in the country to play high school ball. He was also a bit of a late bloomer. Deloreto boasts a fastball in the 90s now, but it took until he was 18 to do so. This later development helped make him one of the older first-years at 19 years and eight months. However, when he is on the mound, it’s hard to deny his success, posting a sub-one ERA across 54.1 IP in his senior year of high school according to MaxPreps. Deloreto could well be in that group of lefties mentioned earlier who will compete for innings in relief.

Justin Fryer

Fryer is another solid first-year lefty ranked in the top 200 in his class. He projects as one of the more athletic pitchers in the class and excelled defensively in the outfield, though ‘Cats fans will likely only see him on the mound. His slider looks especially impressive, and with the help of NU pitching coach Ben Keizer, it will be fascinating to see how this group of first-year pitchers develop together.

Other Noteworthy Names

Northwestern rounds out its class with a few other names on both the pitching and hitting side. Jake Rifenburg profiles very similarly to Fryer as a solid left-handed arm with clear forms of growth and great overall potential. The other pitcher added, Duncan Russell, is a bit of a wild card due to him not appearing in as many showcases as the others in his class. There isn’t a lot of film on Russell, but the incoming first-year stands at 6’6”, 235 lbs at just 18 years and 3 months old. His ranking is respectable, sitting at 231 among right-handers in his class. It’s hard to make a great prediction on what to expect, but Russell’s ceiling could be very high.

Finally, a few bats join the ‘Cats. While these players are not ranked outlandishly high, and they are most likely to start out as depth pieces who could easily grow into larger and larger roles with the team in future seasons. First off is a pair of shortstops in Jake Yang and Noah Brocklebank.

While Yang’s exit velocity numbers aren’t eye-popping, many of his strengths rely on parts of his game that aren’t always tracked by the numbers. Scouts praise his patience and ability to work pitch counts while delivering veteran at-bats, while also highlighting his speed and athleticism.

Brocklebank was a two-way player for much of high school but is likely to be sticking in the middle infield for the ‘Cats. The switch-hitter is effective at hitting balls into the gap, but was much more of a contact over power hitter, which could play well into a home run-happy Northwestern lineup.

Last but not least is the unranked switch-hitting outfielder Amaad Garrett. A defensive specialist, Garrett is another player who is a bit unknown due to limited showcases. He may be another diamond-in-the-rough bat for Greenspan, but only time will tell.