Winthrop’s Crohan named a top-50 college baseball prospect

Winthrop baseball’s sophomore left handed pitcher Matt Crohan has been ranked No. 39 by D1Baseball.com in the publication’s top-50 college prospects list.

Crohan is the only member of the Big South Conference to make this list and only the third from the state of South Carolina. The No. 1 ranked player was AJ Puk a left-handed pitcher from Florida.

Winthrop head coach Tom Riginos said “It is a great honor that Matt is getting recognized by D1baseball.com as one of the top 50 college players in the country. It is a testament to the hard work he has put in and the great potential that Matt has as we move towards this spring.”

Crohan went 7-4 with a 3.05 earned run average in 14 starts. He struck out 37 batters and walked 15, while holding opposing batters to a .220 average.

Over the summer, Crohan, a 6-foot-4 left-handed junior from Upstate New York, became the first Winthrop player selected to compete with USA Baseball. Crohan had a good outing in a loss to Taiwan, prompting USA coach Ed Blankmeyer to tell Baseball America, “He’s in with what we call the traditional name Division I schools. The program he pitches in is a good program too. Hopefully this outing gave him the comfort level that he belongs.”

Some baseball publications have Crohan pegged as a potential Major League Baseball first round draft pick in 2016.

This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 12:12 PM with the headline "Winthrop’s Crohan named a top-50 college baseball prospect."