By Andrew Bell
According to a recent 2019 Top 300 MLB Draft Prospect board done by Baseball America, there is plenty of potential big league talent ranging across the Grand Canyon State.
From Arizona, Arizona State, and Grand Canyon University, the major universities are represented well.
Arizona State
The Sun Devils boast three players in the top-300 who are eligible to be drafted in 2019. Juniors Alec Marsh, Carter Aldrete and Hunter Bishop are all listed.
Marsh is a right-handed pitcher whose current ERA is under one. He has over a 3/1 strikeout-walk ratio and he is 5-0 as a Friday night ace on an undefeated Sun Devil team that is 19-0.
As for the position players, Aldrete has played all over the diamond as a utility man. He is batting .273 with 21 RBI’s. Aldrete is the son of former professional baseball player Rich Aldrete. His uncle, Mike, had a 10-year major league career and was a 1996 World Series Champion.
Bishop is among the top-hitters in the entire country. He is batting .438 with 10 home runs and 29 RBI’s in 19 games played. Along with his bat, Bishop has started and played every game in center field. His brother, Braden, is currently on the Seattle Mariners.
Arizona
The Wildcats were highlighted with two top prospects out of the top-300. Junior infielders Nick Quintana and Cameron Cannon were listed.
Cannon, a Mountain Ridge High School product out of Glendale, batted .321 in 2018. He is currently at a .417 clip with 22 RBI’s. Cannon was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks out of high school but he elected to head to Tucson instead.
Quintana was drafted by the Boston Red Sox out of high school in Las Vegas. He led the team in home runs last year and has been a defensive catalyst at third base for the Wildcats.
Grand Canyon University
GCU was represented with one player in the top-300. The lone Lope was junior outfielder Quin Cotton.
In 2018, Cotton was the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Player of the Year with a .417 average and a .648 slugging percentage.
Preps
At the high school level, one Arizona product was on the list. Senior Davis Heller, who is committed to the University of Oklahoma, made the top-300 out of Mesquite High School in Gilbert.
Heller is listed as one of the top two players in Arizona. He is a 6-foot-8, 205-pound right-handed arm.
