Tennessee Pitcher Could be Best Draft Prospect Since Stephen Strasburg

Tennessee Volunteers Pitcher Chase Hollander could be the best pitcher draft prospect since Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg, both of whom were selected with the no. 1 overall pick of their respective drafts.

Tennessee Volunteers pitcher Chase Dollander is entering the 2023 season with sky high expectations.

Dollander is the projected no. 2 overall pick on MLB Pipeline's latest mock draft, put together by Jonathan Mayo. Mayo dubbed Dollander 'the best arm in the class.'

"Last year, there wasn’t a college pitcher who belonged in conversations up here, but Dollander, considered by some to be the best college pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg and Gerrit Cole, could end up going 1-1," Mayo wrote.

As a high school senior, Dollander went unselected in the five-round 2020 Major League Baseball Draft, and chose to attend Georgia Southern University. Dollander logged a 4-3 record with a 4.04 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 49 innings in 2021. He then transferred to Tennessee for his sophomore year in 2022, in which he excelled. Dollander went 10-0 with a 2.39 ERA and 108 strikeouts in 79 innings. He was named the SEC Pitcher of the Year.

Strasburg and Cole were a pair of can't-miss prospects, each of whom have found great success in the big leagues. Both were dominant at the college level, and each was selected with the no. 1 overall pick of their respective drafts.

Strasburg's 1.32 ERA in his junior season at San Diego State made him the no. 1 overall pick of the 2009 MLB Draft, by the Washington Nationals.

The Pirates made Cole the no. 1 overall pick, out of UCLA, in the 2011 MLB Draft.

If Hollander really is a Cole or Strasburg-type prospect, he could be the no. 1 overall pick come July.

Tennessee opens the 2023 season ranked as the no. 2 team in the nation.

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