Nation-Leading Four Gators Tabbed Top-100 MLB Draft Prospects Outfielders Jud Fabian (No. 45) and Sterlin Thompson (No. 90) as well as pitchers Hunter Barco (No. 54) and Brandon Sproat (No. 98) all earned recognition on MLB Pipeline's list.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Four Gators were ranked inside the top-100 overall prospects for the 2022 Major League Baseball Draft, as announced by MLB Pipeline. Florida's four top-100 draft prospects is the most of any college program in the nation. Outfielder Jud Fabian led the way at No. 45, followed by left-handed pitcher Hunter Barco (No. 54), outfielder Sterlin Thompson (No. 90) and right-handed pitcher Brandon Sproat (No. 98).
Of the aforementioned Gators quartet, three have previously been drafted. Fabian went 40th overall in the second round to the Boston Red Sox in 2021, but elected to bring his talents back to Gainesville for a fourth season. The remaining two players were each 2019 draft picks out of high school: Sproat was a seventh-round selection by the Texas Rangers while Barco was a 24th-round pick by the New York Mets.
For Barco and Fabian, this represents their third appearance on a 2022 MLB Draft rankings list. Both were previously tabbed top-100 college draft prospects by D1Baseball in September and top-50 college prospects by Baseball America at the end of August. Coming in at No. 45 on the list, Fabian returned to Florida for a fourth season after producing a 2021 campaign that saw him become just the fifth Gator to hit 20 home runs in a single season en route to collecting Third Team All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA. Thanks to a .249/.364/.560 batting line with 30 extra-base hits, 51 runs, 46 RBI and a .971 fielding percentage, Fabian was also named Southeast-ABCA/Rawlings First Team, First Team All-SEC and to the SEC All-Defensive Team. Overall, the Ocala, Fla. native is a .249/.366/.512 career hitter with 32 homers, 25 doubles, 102 runs and 85 RBI in 132 games.
The next-highest ranked Gator at No. 54, Barco is coming off a 2021 campaign in which he was named to the Newcomer All-SEC Team and Southeast-ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Second Team. Pacing the Gators with 10 wins in a team-high 16 starts, Barco finished the year with a 4.01 ERA, .239 batting average against and 94 strikeouts in 83 innings pitched. The second-year performance came on the heels of a standout freshman season in which Barco went 2-0 with a 1.40 ERA and 26 strikeouts across 19.1 frames.
Ranked at No. 90, Thompson batted .301/.396/.470 as a true freshman in 2021. On his way to collecting a Freshman All-SEC Team nod, Thompson totaled five home runs, three triples, 10 doubles, 39 runs, 27 RBI, 21 walks and two stolen bases in his debut campaign. He appeared in 55 total games for Florida last season including 51 starts.
Rounding out the group at No. 98, Sproat worked 21.2 innings during his second season with the Gators last year and finished with a 2-1 record across 16 appearances. Sproat experienced his best outing of the season while making his first career start at Stetson on May 11, firing four shutout innings on one hit and one walk while striking out two batters. Prior to that, he pitched to a 1.50 ERA with eight strikeouts over 6.0 innings pitched as a freshman in 2020 while holding opposing hitters to a .105 batting average.
Additionally, Sproat shined on the hill for the U.S. Collegiate National Team this past summer. The hard-throwing right-hander went 1-0 across four starts, finishing with a 2.00 ERA after allowing just five hits in nine innings pitched. Included in that output was three scoreless, no-hit innings to open a July 19 game against the U.S. Olympic Team.Florida is set to open the 2022 season at home the weekend of Feb. 18-20 in the form of a three-game series against Liberty of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
Jud Fabian, Hunter Barco, Sterlin Thompson, and Brandon Sproat will be the core for Florida Baseball in 2022.
