It's Draft Week, and the Prep Baseball Draft HQ team is releasing all of their intel, and different draft perspectives ahead of Sunday's MLB Draft. They're analyzing the draft through tradtional means, like big boards and mock drafts, but they're also assessing things as front offices will often times, separating these players into buckets. This bucket below is the top-100 prep players in this year's MLB Draft. You can also find some of the other categories they organized in the links below.

• Draft HQ's Top-150 Draft Board
• Top-150 College Prospects
• Top Prep Prospects, By Position

Here's our take on the prospects from Illinois waiting to hear their name called:

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POTENTIAL DAY ONE

Analysis: The top two prospects in Illinois' senior class are looking to hear their names called on Day One of this year's MLB Draft. Sloan, who we recently named the Prep Baseball Illinois Player of the Year, is coming off a dominant high school season where he struck out 90 batters while only surrending five walks and two runs in 46 innings of work. The big right-hander has been up to 98 mph in our looks with polished off-speed offerings to pair, and the Prep Baseball Draft HQ team has him projected to be a Top-15 pick within their latest and final Mock Draft. Bell has contiuned to impress pro scouts with his impressive tool-set, one he put on display at this year's Super 60. He ranked atop the Blast leaderboards, posting a 80.5 mph average bat speed, and an 86.6 mph max bat speed, while also recording a max exit velocity of 101.1 mph, a max batted distance of 377 feet, a 90 mph infield velocity, and a 6.84 60 time. Bell is trending up on Draft Boards heading into this weekend, and our Draft HQ staff has him listed at the 26th best prospect in this year's draft.

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DAY TWO & THREE

Analysis: This next crop of high school prospects from Illinois are all names that could hear their name called on the second or third day of the draft. George and Tunink are two highly athletic prospects with all kinds of strength in their bats, too. Bagwell was up to 97 mph in front of our staff this spring, and Brummel is another arm that showed more polish in his four-pitch repitoire this spring, while also showing his fastball up to 94 mph. Hayse is another inriguing arm in this crop that's an athletic mover on the mound with a loose arm that we've also seen up to 94 mph. Jones has all kinds of strength in his right-handed bat while also recording some eye-opening metrics behind the dish, similar to Janicki, who's shown to be one of the top catching prospects in the class, alongside Mowry. Malamazian attended this year's Super 60 Showcase and showed well on both sides of the ball, and carried that success on to the dirt in the spring, hitting .396 with five home runs and 32 RBIs. Last but not least, Crafton, who was sidelined this year to to injury, is a highly impressive left-handed hitter that has all kinds of upside.

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College Drafts (IL)

Analysis: Here's a crop of prospects from Illinois that went on to play at the collegiate level and could potentially get selected in this year's draft. The Charleston native, Hess, struck out 106 batters while only walking 35 in 68.1 innings for the Crimson Tide, and he's currently slotted at No. 78 Draft HQ's Final Draft Board. Kent found some success out in Tucson this spring, tossing 86 innings on the mound and striking out 89 batters, while posting a 4.08 ERA. Antonacci is a name our staff has long been fans of, and he contiuned to show well in his first spring at Coastal Carolina. The left-hander hitting middle infielder hit .367 with six home runs, 47 RBIs and 90 runs scored. Janik and Hartl are a pair of catchers on this list that both had productive season's at their respective colleges. King, a Marian Catholic alum, posted impressive numbers for the Cardinals in 2024, slashing .322/.409/.664 with 14 home runs and 43 RBIs, leading the team in both home runs and runs batting in. Cutts, Lawler, and Crowder are three right-handed arms that round out the list of collegiate talent from the state that may hear their names called.

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