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Ole Miss starting pitcher Gunnar Hoglund is going to have a huge 2021 season.

In fact, the MLB Pipeline actually thinks Hoglund will have such a great season that the rising junior is ranked as a first-round pick for the 2021 MLB Draft. 

MLB.com ranks Hoglund as the No. 14 overall prospect for the 2021 draft, the seventh ranked college player on their newly released list. 

Below is their scouting report on Hoglund, as written by Jonathan Mayo:

Ranked No. 66 on our 2018 Draft Top 200, Hoglund was selected in Competitive Balance Round A by the Pirates that June as a bit of a pop-up guy from the Florida high school ranks. He scuffled as a freshman, but was dominant out of the gate as a sophomore, with a fastball that touches the mid-90s with very good breaking stuff and a changeup that has improved.

Only two college pitchers appear on the list before Hoglund, Vanderbilt's Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter are the top top players ranked on the list. 

In only four starts during the shortened 2020 season, his sophomore year, Hoglund went 3-0 with a 1.16 ERA. His strikeout numbers (37) significantly outpaced his hits allowed (18).

One of the bigger changes for Hoglund from his freshman to sophomore seasons was the addition of a wipeout slider. The pitch really changed his swing-and-miss arsenal, something that becomes wildly evident when digging into the numbers. 

As a freshman, Hoglund struck out 0.78 batters per inning. As a sophomore, that number skyrocketed to 1.56 strikeouts per inning. Obviously, Hoglund didn't play SEC teams as a sophomore, but he did get two of his four starts against No. 1 Louisville and a ranked East Carolina team. In those two games, he allowed just three runs over 11.1 innings.

It's easy to see how teams could fall in love with the rising Rebel junior.

More from The Grove Report:

Projecting the 2021 Ole Miss Baseball Lineup

Ole Miss Esports disassociates with the 'Rebel' moniker  

NCAA Approves Updated Offseason Plan: When Can Ole Miss Begin Real Practices?

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