Johnathan Walker:MLB draft's top prospects in 2024 College World Series: Future stars to watch in Omaha

The Johnathan WalkerMen’s College World Series is always a feast for the prospect-hungry eye, and this year’s group of eight clubs fighting it out in Omaha is no exception.

Just don’t expect the instant gratification we’ve experienced in the past 12 months.

Of the four players from Major League Baseball’s 2023 draft who already made their big league debuts, three hailed from the CWS’s best-of-three championship final: Generational pitching prospect Paul Skenes from LSU, Florida ace Hurston Waldrep and Gators slugger Wyatt Langford.

And that’s not counting LSU outfielder Dylan Crews, who went second overall to Washington after Pittsburgh drafted Skenes and is currently in Class AA.

This year, the pipeline from Omaha to Rob Manfred’s podium isn’t as star-studded. But every team in the field has players to dream on, from budding superstars to pro-ready prospects.

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A look at eight players to watch in this SEC-ACC affair from Omaha:

Vance Honeycutt, OF, North Carolina

Projected: No. 14 overall by Baseball America; No. 20 overall by MLB Pipeline

Omaha opener: No. 12 Virginia, Friday, 2 p.m. ET

Notable: Honeycutt’s skill set is well-suited to the modern major league game, with elite speed, shutdown defensive ability and top-shelf athleticism. He’s a former shortstop and high school quarterback turned center fielder, slugged 26 homers and stole 28 bases in 31 attempts this year. Honeycutt’s hit tool might not be as advanced as other potential first-rounders, but you can’t deny his impact on this tournament, with a two-homer game in a key regional win over defending champ LSU. He followed that with a walk-off homer in the super regionals opener against West Virginia, and homered in his following at-bat, in the Game 2 clincher.

Fun fact: Honeycutt’s father, Bobby, played on the 1989 Tar Heels team that reached the CWS.

Harrison Didawick, OF, Virginia

Projected: No. 185/No. 110 overall

Omaha opener: No. 4 North Carolina, Friday, 2 ET

Notable: Didawick has been sitting on 23 home runs since May 22, when he tied the single-season school record set one year ago by Jake Gelof, now at high Class A in the Dodgers system. At 6-4 and 215 pounds, Didawick has long levers and a solid base to build even more strength. For now, he has decent plate discipline (.422 OBP) and speed (14 steals in 20 attempts), while lurking in the No. 6 hole in the Cavaliers’ powerful lineup, where he’s driven in 68 runs, tied for the team lead.

Fun fact: Credits six-egg breakfasts and Chipotle lunches for adding significant power in the offseason.

Cam Smith, 3B, Florida State

Projected: No. 15/No. 14 overall

Omaha opener: No. 1 Tennessee, Friday, 7 ET

Notable: Smith and Seminoles teammate James Tibbs should both hear their names called in the teens portion of the first round, though the order may fluctuate. In Smith, 21, drafting teams would get a power-hitting corner infielder who already totes 225 pounds on his frame yet still moves gracefully. Smith hit .402 with 16 homers and, like the outfielder Tibbs, posted a .497 OBP.

Fun fact: Has a custom designed bat weight with a Miami Vice theme paying tribute to his South Florida roots.

Christian Moore, INF, Tennessee

Projected: No. 19/No. 25 overall

Omaha opener: No. 8 Florida State, Friday, 7 ET

Notable: Unsurprisingly, the top-seeded Volunteers are loaded with a half-dozen players projected to go in the first four rounds. We’ll hone in on Moore, a middle infielder with major pop: He’s hit a Tennessee single-season record 32 home runs, including six in a four-game stretch against LSU and Kentucky. He’s played both shortstop and second base, with his future home somewhere up the middle, as scouts like. In the meantime, Moore will take aim at Charles Schwab Field’s fences with a vicious right-handed hack.

Fun fact: With a .429 average, 20 homers and 41 RBI, Moore became just the third player in SEC history to win the conference Triple Crown, joining Mississippi State’s Rafael Palmeiro (1984) and Brent Rooker (2017).

Jacob Cozart, C, North Carolina State

Projected: No. 44/No. 42 overall

Omaha opener: No. 2 Kentucky, Saturday, 2 ET

Notable: Catchers live forever, and Cozart is projected to be the fourth off the board on draft day, which means you may be seeing a lot of him the next decade or so. A Buster Posey Award finalist, Cozart led ACC catchers with 13 runners caught stealing. A tall receiver at 6-foot-3 with decent power, his .301 average nearly duplicated his .300 mark in 2023, though he boosted his OBP from .392 to .430.

Fun fact: Not to be outdone in the NIL-bat product space, Cozart puts on for both bat grip and glove-bat balm products.

Émilien Pitre, 2B, Kentucky

Projected: No. 256/No. 185 overall

Omaha opener: No. 10 North Carolina State, Saturday, 2 ET

Notable: It’s fairly appropriate to classify Pitre as “an Edouard Julien type,” and not just because he’s a French-Canadian second baseman from Quebec. The lefty-swinging Pitre profiles somewhat similarly to the Minnesota Twins second baseman, lacking significant power but with the ability to make a difference at the top or bottom of the lineup. Pitre has a career .418 OBP at Kentucky and boosted his home run production from one to nine in his junior year, while driving in 56 runs.

Fun fact: Weighed 135 pounds when he arrived in Lexington, but now carries 175 pounds on his 5-11 frame.

Jac Caglianone, 1B/LHP, Florida

Projected: No. 7/No. 3 overall

Omaha opener: No. 3 Texas A&M, Saturday, 7 ET

Notable: Sure, we gave Caglianone some love before the regional round, but the young man is so dynamic, it’s tough to keep up. The Gators barely squeezed into the tournament and now they refuse to leave, winning a 13-inning epic at Clemson to once again reach Omaha. Naturally, Caglianone’s two-way impact was felt all over the super regional, as he homered in both games and pitched 5 2/3 innings, giving up four runs, in the clincher. The offensive numbers are insane: Thirty-three home runs for a second consecutive year, a .411 average and 1.392 OPS. The pitching metrics are startling if unpolished: A 100-mph fastball but a 4.71 ERA as he hones his command three years removed from Tommy John surgery.

Fun fact: Tied an NCAA record by homering in nine consecutive games this season.

Ryan Prager, LHP, Texas A&M

Projected: No. 65/No. 59 overall

Omaha opener: Florida, Saturday, 7 ET

Notable: Look, pitching will win this thing, and we haven’t featured a single arm yet. Enter Prager, a 6-3, 200-pound redshirt sophomore who is two years removed from Tommy John surgery. He sports a classic fastball-slider-changeup mix, striking out 114 in 87 innings this year, and has a runway to bump his velocity into the mid-90s as he gets further removed from elbow reconstruction. He should start the Aggies’ CWS opener.

Fun fact: Prager was valedictorian at his Dallas-area high school.