Diamond Deep Dive Week 4: What to expect out of Jack Lausch

The center fielder flashed the leather, but where’s the bat?

Northwestern baseball is already preparing for Big Ten action.

Last week, the ‘Cats split the four-game series at The Citadel two games a piece. Coupled with a loss to UIC on Wednesday, after Tuesday’s game against Illinois State was cancelled due to the cold, it’s safe to say that this was a disappointing week. While some bats have been as chilly as the Evanston air, there were some highlights from the past week.

Preston Knott had a dominant week, which landed him on D1Baseball’s Top Hitters of the weekend list. Trent Liolis clubbed two homers to build onto a stellar junior season. Jack Counsell stepped in for some big moments too, including an unassisted double play.

But the player that really caught my eye this week was Jack Lausch, who made two web gem catches in the outfield. Northwestern fans likely know him as the football team’s quarterback. Many also know that he was a top 100 prospect in high school, according to Perfect Game, with legitimate MLB draft stock.

At the start of the season, I predicted he would be drafted come July. There’s a reason it was a bold prediction. He had not yet played Division I baseball and was nearly three years removed from his senior season in high school. Entering the season, no one knew what to expect out of Lausch. Now that four weeks have elapsed, it’s time to take a more in-depth look at his potential. Does he have a case to get drafted? How is the hitting progressing? What changed in his approach from then to now?

Hunting through the toolshed

Hitting for Contact

Contact has been very hot and cold for Lausch so far. At this time last week, he was hitting .273. Earlier in the season, he was above .300. Now, after a cold 3-for-19 week against The Citadel and UIC, Lausch is on the outside looking in. Going into the Penn State series, he’s hitting .231 with a .286 OBP. Stats like these simply aren’t going to cut it at the next level.

Granted, this is a small sample size. There are plenty of games left in the season, but if this hot and cold streak continues, Lausch’s stock could sway wildly depending on if he manages to get hot at the right time. He’s certainly shown signs of the hit tool being there, but it’ll be one of those elements that fans will have to wait and see about.

Hitting for Power

This is the tool that I’m most wary of. As a high schooler, one scout on Perfect Game wrote that Lausch’s “power already plays to all parts of [the] field.” We have yet to see this so far at the college level. He knocked a double over the weekend that sailed away, but ultimately, when you look at the stats, he’s got 52 at-bats and just four of them have resulted in extra bases. None are home runs.

Scouts seemed to believe that this power was already developed. Perhaps fans will see more of it as the season goes on, but as far as his preseason projections to what has been seen so far, this seems to be one of the biggest changes.

Speed

This is an interesting one for Lausch. In high school, he stole a whopping 33 bases during a stellar senior season. So far, after reaching base 14 times, he’s only attempted one steal. It is not necessarily clear why an aggressive approach on the basepaths is lacking. One could point to his rushing yards to dissect his speed, but that’s a much different game. Lausch ran a 7.07 second 60-yard dash time at just 15 years old, according to Prep Baseball Report. That’s comparable to DI athletes and major league talent. That was also six years ago.

I think the lack of stolen bases is simply a part of the Ben Greenspan philosophy. Northwestern has attempted fewer steals than any other Big Ten team this season at just 13 over 15 games. By comparison, Michigan State has attempted 49 over 16 games. Modern analytics can point to the risk of a stolen base outweighing the potential rewards, but in Lausch’s case, it could be a useful addition to revitalizing his offensive game.

Fielding

After watching the highlights this weekend, I’m not sure how much more I need to explain this one. He certainly has a knack for highlight-reel plays. But he also has a good route straight to the spot he needed. It’s not obvious how effective his jump time was given the camera angles, but regardless, the amount of balls he’s able to get to shows an impressive range in center field. If there’s any tool that is sustainable for Lausch in the long-term, it is his ability to hold down center field.

Arm Strength

I want to blindly trust the guy who threw 159 completions this year on the football field to throw a dime from center field to home plate. It’s clear that several people across different sports believe in Lausch’s arm. Again, at 15 years old, he threw 83 mph from the outfield.

For reference, according to Statcast, among MLB center fielders with at least 50 throws in 2024, the median player was Lars Nootbaar. He threw 88.2 mph on average. Lausch was just 5 mph off of the average MLB center fielder at age 15. I’m confident in this tool going forward.

So what does that leave us with?

While some believe Lausch has the capabilities to be a five-tool player, he’s struggled at times this season. Of course, he’s athletic, but in comparison to how he’s playing now and where he was at in high school, I’d say he’s currently at 3.5 tools with the potential for more.

Critics may point to the Moneyball quote about looking for guys with a few tools and hoping they develop the rest, but I would respond with the fact that the A’s had MVP Miguel Tejada. It’s simply not an accurate insight.

In all seriousness, I still stand by my preseason projection that Lausch will be drafted. Whether he signs to play minor league baseball on a low salary or returns to the NIL benefits of college football remains to be seen. But at the very least, I think a team will take a chance on him in July.

Pitch of the week: Sam Hliboki gets a strike call when the batter was worried about having vision insurance

I’ve used this column to talk about pitching quite a bit, whether it’s Matthew Kouser, Blake MacMillan or Garrett Shearer. But Sam Hliboki deserves some love after this week’s performance. In game three of the weekend series, the Vanderbilt transfer went six innings, giving up one run. On top of that, he struck out five without giving up a walk. My favorite of these Ks was the first one below.

The ball remained above the batter’s eyes for most of its trip to the plate before darting away to nick the top of the strike zone. If I was the batter here, I’d consider ducking before I consider swinging. It may not be the flashy off-speed pitch that makes the batter flail and scrape the dirt, but it’s precision. Hliboki knows how to dot a corner and approach strikeouts unconventionally. Look for him to continue hammering the zone as the season goes on.

And with that, another week and another Diamond Deep Dive have come to an end. While Northwestern students are stressing about finals, baseball will be busy hosting Penn State. I’m sure the players are stressing too, but they already have their hands filled with this Nittany Lions team.

Next week, I’ll be back with less finals agony and more baseball joy as I recap what went right and wrong against Penn State.