College baseball season is officially underway, and that makes it the perfect time to start looking ahead at the 2023 MLB draft.
Since this is my first in-depth look at this year's draft, which will take place July 9-11 in Seattle, here is a quick rundown of what to expect from a group that is strong, with a heavy SEC flavor to it. There's a nonzero chance that prospects from the conference are the first five players off the board come July, as they represent six of the top seven in my rankings right now. There is some name, image and likeness/transfer portal influence, as two of the six transferred into the conference from mid-majors, but it's also not that surprising that the entire top 10 is either playing at or committed to the SEC and the ACC.
There isn't one generational- or franchise-type talent in this draft, but this class has a solid top tier of players along with strong depth down the board. Prep pitching is the weakest of the draft demographics in this year's class, but that is also always the group with the most polarizing takes across teams on draft day, with the latest movement and the players who are most likely to get big bonuses later in the draft.
You can check out more on the Future Value (FV) system, the scouting scale, and see where these players could slot into a top 100 or your team's prospect list. Here's the 2023 mlb draft order.
And now let's rank the top 100, starting with a tight battle for the No. 1 overall spot.