Mike Clement and the biggest MLB Draft risks in Ole Miss' Top 10 2023 recruiting class

Ole Miss baseball on Wednesday signed the No. 6 recruiting class in the country.

The Rebels — who all this week have been celebrating the program’s first-ever national championship won in June — signed 19 high school recruits, including five ranked in the Top 100 nationally by Perfect Game.

Among them is Oxford products Cooper Pratt, an infielder, and Campbell Smithwick, a catcher. They’re also two of the biggest MLB Draft risks, according to Ole Miss hitting coach Mike Clement.

“The good thing is two of the biggest draft risks are guys from Oxford,” Clement said. “Cooper Pratt is a 6-4, 200-pound shortstop. Kind of a similar body type to (Ole Miss shortstop Jacob Gonzalez). He has completely shot up draft boards here over the summer and kind of blown up. Was in the (Perfect Game) All-American game. But I think it will take a lot for him not to come to Ole Miss and play.

“Similar to him, Campbell Smithwick, who’s a senior at Oxford High School. Left-handed-hitting catcher. He’s one of the best catchers in the country. Both of those guys are really, really strong on their commitment to academics and coming to school. But that’s easy to say right now. Everybody’s got a price, and that’s the hard part about recruiting top recruits in college baseball. Not everybody shows up.”

A few pitchers are worth following, too.

“On the pitching side of things, there’s a kid named Zander Mueth, from outside of St. Louis, the right-handed pitcher,” Clement continued. “Up to like 98 miles an hour, 99 miles an hour (with his fastball). Big, big arm, who I certainly think will have a chance to be a really good grab. Josh Knoth, a kid from New York that we picked up late, who’s also in the Perfect Game All-American game (and) has a really good arm. He’ll run it up there in the mid-to-upper 90s.

“Those four guys are probably the biggest draft risks that we have, but I think they’re all really, really solid in their commitment and excited about coming to school here, too.”

Clement has the full breakdown of the class in this edition of Talk of Champions, as well as his first-person account of all the festivities this week — the latest being the team’s trip to the governor’s mansion in Jackson on Thursday.

Ole Miss will also close out the fall intrasquad season with the Pizza Bowl on Friday.

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