Youngstown State baseball players Braeden O'Shaughnessy, Turner Grau, Braden Gebhardt and Matt Thompson each earned preseason recognition from D1Baseball.com when the website released its Horizon League preview on Sunday. The Penguins were picked to finish fifth in the Horizon League in D1Baseball.com's projected conference standings.
O'Shaughnessy and Grau were each ranked among the website's top-10 MLB Draft prospects for 2023 while Gebhardt and Thompson were listed as top-five impact freshmen in the conference.
O'Shaughnessy, who was ranked as the No. 4 2023 draft prospect, was named First-Team All-Horizon League in 2022 after leading the Penguins with a .357 batting average, 79 hits, 16 doubles, seven home runs, 41 RBIs, 36 runs scored, a .543 slugging percentage, a .434 on-base percentage, a .977 OPS, 120 total bases and 221 at bats. The Poland, Ohio, native also recorded two triples, 27 walks and seven stolen bases in eight attempts. O'Shaughnessy finished the season ranking second in the Horizon League in batting average and hits, fourth in at bats, tied for fourth in doubles, fifth in OPS, seventh in on-base percentage, ninth in slugging percentage and ninth in RBIs.
O'Shaughnessy was the only Penguin to start all 57 games in 2022 to set new single-season school records for games played and starts. He became just the second YSU infielder to earn First-Team All-Horizon League honors since Drew Dosch in 2013. He batted .382 and slugged .573 with 12 doubles, three home runs and 23 RBIs over 28 starts in Horizon League play. O'Shaughnessy's 79 hits are tied for the sixth most in a season in program history, and he became the first Penguin since Drew Dosch in 2012 to record at least 79 hits in a campaign. He also became the first Penguin since Jeremy Banks in 2012 to record at least 16 doubles in a season.
Grau, who was ranked as the No. 6 2023 draft prospect, is coming off an injury-plagued 2022 season that saw him miss the first 44 games of the season. He returned to the lineup on May 8, and went on to bat .213 and slug .319 with one triple, one home run and 11 RBIs over 13 games played and 12 stats. The Pittsburgh, Pa., native batted .295 and slugged .541 with 13 doubles, seven triples, eight home runs and 42 RBIs over 54 starts as a sophomore in 2021. Grau tied the single-season school record of seven triples that was set by Lou Vassalotti in 1994. He led the Horizon League and ranked second in the nation in triples while ranking fifth in the league with 112 total bases.
Gebhardt is a true freshman left-hander from Howland, Ohio, who was ranked as the 51st overall prospect in Ohio and the No. 10 left-handed pitcher in Ohio by Perfect Game. Gebhardt, who holds the career strikeout record at Howland High School, posted a 2.52 ERA and 57 strikeouts in 33.1 innings as a senior in 2022. He set the single-season strikeout record at Howland with 70 strikeouts as a junior in 2021. Gebhardt tied the career strikeout record in only two seasons with 122 strikeouts, and he finished third in the AAC in strikeouts as a freshman. Thompson is a true freshman infielder from Wadsworth, Ohio, who was ranked as the No. 33 overall prospect in Ohio and the No. 10 shortstop in Ohio by Perfect Game. He batted .473 and slugged .770 with a .560 on-base percentage and a 1.331 OPS during the summer of 2021.
D1Baseball.com picked YSU to finish fifth in its projected Horizon League standings. Wright State, the 2022 regular season and tournament champion, was picked to win the league while Oakland was selected second. Northern Kentucky was projected to finish third, Milwaukee was picked fourth and Purdue Fort Wayne was selected sixth.
The website projected Wright State's Sammy Sass as the Horizon League Player of the Year while Raiders' right-hander Sebastian Gongora was picked as the league's Pitcher of the Year. In addition, Oakland outfielder Reggie Bussey was tabbed as the Horizon League Freshman of the Year.
The Penguins are scheduled to open the 2023 season with a neutral-site content against Illinois at noon Feb. 17 in Winston-Salem, N.C. For news and updates leading up to the season, follow @YSUBaseball on Twitter.
