Tag: auburn baseball recruiting

5-star PF Kwame Evans Jr. announces top four, sets commitment date

Auburn will be battling Arizona, Kentucky, and Oregon for him.

Auburn is in the final group for of one the best players in the country.

Five-star power forward and top 10 prospect [autotag]Kwame Evans Jr.[/autotag] is down to Auburn, Kentucky, Oregon, and Arizona. He will announce his decision on Aug. 15.

He is ranked as the No. 8 overall prospect and the No. 3 power forward in the 247Sports Composite ranking. He is also ranked as the top player from Florida.

The 6-foot-9, 200-pound Evans took official visits to each of his final four schools. His trip to Auburn was on June 13.

Evans is full of potential but like many high schoolers is far from a finished product. He is still working to turn his length, versatility, and shooting into a more consistent product. Whenever it is all clicking for his he is capable of taking over, its just a matter of him being able to do so consistently, something he has improved at.

It looks like Evans will be headed to the PAC-12 as four of the five Crystal Ball predictions from 247Sports favor Arizona.

Auburn is still looking for their first commit of the 2023 recruiting class but is connected to several top players.

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Auburn baseball lands a promising grad-transfer pitcher from MAC

Auburn baseball lands promising transfer Jonathan Beard from the University of Miami-Ohio.

On Saturday, the Auburn baseball team received a bit of good news in regards to next year’s team. University of Miami-Ohio transfer and pitcher Jonathan Brand announced that he was transferring to Auburn via his Twitter account.

Brand is a native of Columbus, Georgia which is about 45 minutes east of Auburn. In high school, Brand was very successful. The product of Columbus High School was named the Region Player of the Year during his senior season. Along with that prestigious honor, he was also named to the All-Region team three different times.

After his high school days came to an end, he chose to further his college baseball career at East Georgia State. It didn’t take Brand long though to realize that he had potential beyond the junior college level. In his lone season with the Bobcats, he had nine starts on the mound with a 3.99 ERA (earned run average). He also struck out 67 batters in 47.1 innings pitched.

In his three seasons with the RedHawks, he had an impressive 12-6 record. In 154.4 innings pitched, Brand maintained a 2.54 ERA. He also had 181 strikeouts over the course of those three seasons. He will be a very valuable piece to the pitching rotation for the Tigers next season. Head coach [autotag]Butch Thompson[/autotag] and his coaching staff are building something special on the Plains. Recruits and transfers are buying into the program and it is starting to show. Brand will be a pitcher to keep an eye on next season when the Tigers return to Plainsman Park. Now, they have to take care of business in their region.

Auburn baseball lands commitment of 2023 pitcher Bjorn Johnson

Auburn baseball landed 2023 left-handed pitcher Bjorn Johnson on Sunday.

On Sunday, 2023 left-handed pitcher Bjorn Johnson announced that he was committed to Auburn via his Twitter account. Johnson is from Seattle, Washington.

Perfect Game USA lists Johnson at 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds. Previously, he was committed to Washington. However, it appears that Johnson will now be headed to the Plains to play for head coach [autotag]Butch Thompson[/autotag]. PBR Uncommitted posted his top speed on each pitch on May 10th. His fastball tops out at 87-89. They also mentioned that his breaking ball is thrown anywhere from the low-mid 70s.

The Tigers will likely lose several pitchers after the season is over. Relief pitcher and Notre Dame transfer Tommy Sheehan is in his fifth year, so he will have to enter the MLB draft. Carson Skipper and Jordan Armstrong are both seniors. They could elect to use the COVID year or enter the draft. Other pitchers like Trace Bright, Blake Burkhalter, Chase Isbell, Hayden Mullins, and Mason Barnett will all have the opportunity to either return or enter the MLB draft as they are juniors.

Johnson will likely have the opportunity to earn some time on the mound early on in his career at Auburn. Left-handed pitchers that throw high 80s are at a premium nowadays and the Tigers could use Johnson in a variety of different roles. With Joseph Gonzalez, Carson Swilling, and John Armstrong returning, Coach Thompson will have some flexibility. Regardless, the Tigers coaching staff has high hopes for the Washington native.

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