Five UVA players projected to go in first five rounds of 2024 MLB Draft

Five of the members of the UVA Baseball team that just wrapped its season in the College World Series are projected to go in the first five rounds of next month’s MLB Draft.

MLB.com has shortstop Griff O’Ferrall as the top prospect from this year’s UVA roster, as the #41 overall prospect.

O’Ferrall gets an overall grade of 50 (on the 20-80 prospect scale) from MLB.com.

I wrote last week about how the Colorado Rockies, which have the 38th and 42nd picks in this year’s draft, have a lot of interest in O’Ferrall, so, that may be a landing spot for the Richmond native.

Ethan Anderson, who split time at catcher and DH this year, and played first base the past two years, is the #75 prospect, which would land him at the top of the third round.

Anderson gets a 45 grade on MLB.com’s prospect scale.

Next up: Harrison Didawick, a draft-eligible sophomore outfielder, who is the #127 prospect, according to MLB.com, and Casey Saucke, who played rightfield this season, and is the #129 prospect in this year’s draft class, per MLB.com.

The 127 and 129 slots are in the latter stages of the fourth round.

Both Didawick and Saucke get 45 grades on the MLB.com prospect scale.

Finally, we get to Jay Woolfolk, who isn’t among the Top 200 prospects in the latest MLB.com draft class, but D1Baseball.com’s updated draft list has Woolfolk actually ranked ahead of Didawick, and projects him going as high as the third round.

If you’re wondering about grad senior Jacob Ference, who had a monster year in 2024 after transferring from D3 Salisbury, what I’m seeing as a consensus is, undrafted free agent.

Age is a consideration here. Ference, as a fifth-year college player, is already 23 years old, which is relatively ancient for a minor-league prospect.