Texas A&M’s recruiting class for the 2019 season earned the No. 7 spot in the D1Baseball.com Top 25 Recruiting Classes, released Monday.
Despite a losing a pair of commits to the Major Leagues following the June draft, Texas A&M landed the top rated class in the Lone Star State. The Aggies were one of 10 SEC teams in the Top 25. LSU was granted the No. 1 spot followed by Vanderbilt, Louisville, UCLA and Mississippi State. Florida State, Texas A&M, Miami (Fla.), Texas and Florida rounded out the Top 10.
The Aggies landed six of Baseball America’s top 500 prospects from the 2018 graduation class, including LHP Jonathan Childress (107), LHP/1B Joseph Menefee (247), RHP Brandon Birdsell (268), OF Miko Rodriguez (349), 3B/1B Hunter Watson (354) and LHP Christopher Weber (480).
Starting with the hitters, Rodriguez brings exceptional speed and athleticism to Texas A&M’s outfield. Power hitter, Watson, adds to the infield corners, and Ty Coleman, Aggies’ first baseman/catcher Hunter Coleman’s brother, is a potential starter at second base in the near future. Junior college transfer, Mikey Hoehner, serves as a solid pick up from Cisco College for behind the plate defense.
Left-handed pitching was a key strength for the season’s recruiting class with southpaws Childress, Menefee and Weber showing the potential to make early impacts. Standing tall at 6-foot-4 215 lbs., Childress brings an impressive slider to compliment his burning fastball in the low 90’s. Meanwhile, Menefee serves as a dual threat with the ability to play first base, in addition to his Team USA experience relief pitching in the 18U World Cup. Weber’s four-pitch mix and pitchability have him ready from the word go. Meanwhile, Birdsell and Bryce Miller are the hard throwing right-handers of the recruiting class.
The class includes two players who were drafted in June. Miller was a 38th round pick for the Miami Marlins and Birdsell was selected in the 39th round by the Houston Astros.
Texas A&M finished the 2018 campaign with a 40-22 mark, making their 34th NCAA Championship appearance overall and their 12th in a row. The Aggies’ return 17 letterwinners and six starting position players for the 2019 season.
