Three from @MizzouBaseball Tabbed Top-50 Seniors by PefectGame
1/22/2018 11:29:00 AM | Baseball
Montes De Oca (No. 2) and Brett Bond (No.4) rank in top five; Trey Harris is No. 32
COLUMBIA, Mo. – With the college baseball season just 25 days away, the preseason accolades keep rolling in for Mizzou Baseball as three Tigers were named to PerfectGame.org's Top 50 College Seniors List, announced Monday (Jan. 22). Among the three Tigers listed, two rank in the national top four as RS junior Bryce Montes De Oca (Lawrence, Kan.) and senior C Brett Bond (St. Louis, Mo.) check in at No. 2 and No. 4, respectively. Senior OF Trey Harris (Powder Springs, Ga.) ranks No. 32 on the list.
Mizzou and Texas A&M are the only teams with two players ranked in the top 10 while the Tigers are the only team in the nation with three players ranked in the top 50. Rankings are based on the players' professional potential relative to the MLB Draft.
Montes De Oca, a physical and imposing pitcher who can touch triple digits with his fastball, will be looked at as one of the anchors of Mizzou's pitching staff in 2018. He went 4-5 with a 4.28 ERA in his first season as a starter as a redshirt sophomore in 2017. He makes the list of seniors as he is in his fourth year with the program after earning a redshirt in 2016. His .205 opponent batting average was the team's second-best mark last season while he struck out 61 batters in 61.0 innings of work. His 15 extra-base hits allowed were the team's second-fewest last season. Montes De Oca was drafted in the 15th round by the Nationals last season, but he elected to return for his RS junior season.
Bond has been one of the most productive and consistent hitters over his three seasons in black and gold. He is coming off a career-best year during which he hit .307 with 13 doubles, 10 homers and 45 RBI, all- career-best marks. He also slugged a career-best .507 and scored a career-high 41 runs as Mizzou's everyday catcher. Bond is a .274 career hitter and his 22 career homers are just seven shy of cracking the all-time Mizzou top-10. He was drafted in the 23rd round by the Astros before electing to return for his senior season.
Harris has been one of the most electrifying players in college baseball over the last three seasons and finally showed off his pure power potential in a career year at the plate in 2017. Harris slugged a team-best 12 homers last year while hitting a career-best .268 with 48 RBI, a team-best. His .508 slugging percentage was also a team-best as he added eight doubles to his 12 homers.
Mizzou will open the season Feb. 16 in Miami, Fla., with a three-game series at Florida International. For all the latest on Mizzou Baseball, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter (@MizzouBaseball) and like the team on Facebook (Mizzou Baseball) and Instagram (Missouri_baseball).
