Kentucky right-hander Sean Hjelle is the tallest pitcher I’ve ever personally gone to scout: 6-foot-11, listed at 215 pounds and looking, if anything, lighter than that. The 2017 SEC pitcher of the year doesn’t have huge stuff, but his size gives him a huge advantage over hitters who aren’t used to seeing the ball come from that height or from that close to the plate.

Hjelle threw seven innings on Friday night, allowing just one unearned run, in the Wildcats’ blowout 14-1 win over South Carolina. He worked with good command of a bunch of average pitches that played up because he’s throwing everything from the second floor. His fastball was 88 mph to 92 mph. And he gets good downhill plane on the pitch, occasionally elevating it to try to miss a bat. His breaking ball is a "slurvy" slider at 78 mph to 83 mph; it was best at the high end of the velocity range, with good tilt, and he seemed to throw it for strikes when he wanted to. He threw some average changeups as well at 79 mph to 82 mph. The Gamecocks' hitters had no answer for him; he punched out eight and walked none of the 25 batters he faced.

He’s very slight of build, so there’s some question about whether he’s a starter long term, although I prefer to look at his atypical frame as an advantage because it’s such a unique look for hitters. He’s a little bit cross-body in his delivery, but he didn’t have much trouble getting to his glove side. The lack of a plus pitch really limits his ceiling, but I could see him becoming a league-average starter, given where his command is already and the natural deception he gets from his height. He’s also one of the only college starters this season who hasn’t stumbled at some point this spring, and that should push him into the back of the first round.

• His opponent, South Carolina right-hander Adam Hill, had a disastrous outing, walking seven batters in three innings and falling behind guys repeatedly in the second and third. Hill’s fastball topped out at 93 mph, coming from a low three-quarters slot that he couldn’t repeat at all. While he has had a lot of swings and misses on the fastball so far this season, he couldn’t get to that point on Friday night, with Kentucky hitters -- especially their lefties -- taking pitch after pitch to get to 2-0 or 3-1. Hill’s breaking ball and changeup are both below-average pitches, so with grade 35 command, he’s not going to get college hitters out, much less pro guys. He has been up and down so far this season, and I think he fits somewhere early on day two of the draft, maybe the fourth to sixth rounds, because of the potential for the fastball to miss some bats.

• Kentucky left fielder Tristan Pompey, the younger brother of Toronto Blue Jays minor leaguer Dalton Pompey, had a huge night at the plate, with three hits and five of those things you get when you drive a run in, although I read a book last year that said that was a stupid stat and we shouldn’t pay any attention to them. Pompey ran some deep counts all night when hitting left-handed, producing a pair of hard-hit singles on Hill fastballs, later drawing a seven-pitch walk to force in a run, then driving a fly out to deep right-center hitting right-handed. He’s an above-average runner with bat speed, lacking present power but with enough feel to hit and a good enough swing path to see him as a potential regular in a corner or, if he gets the chance in pro ball, perhaps in center.

• South Carolina left fielder Carlos Cortes was 0-for-4, continuing a miserable season in which he has put the ball in play consistently with nothing to show for it. His swing was good in high school, and it’s still good now, but even the one time he got some backspin on a ball, lining out to center, the sound off the bat was dead, like he was swinging a rolled-up carpet. I liked Cortes in high school and still think his ability to make contact gives him some chance to be productive in pro ball, but it’s hard to see a team justifying the use of a high pick on a player hitting .219, even with good mechanics and more walks than strikeouts.