They only went HS in 2018 because there wasn't a college hitter to ever consider. The same with why they went with Small. The preference of Johnson will be college hitter, because the analytics favor that approach. Obviously, you can't force it if the players aren't there, but it looks like they will be this year.
Getting a 3B coming off a 1.348 OPS sophomore year at #27 is light years better than pre-Johnson when we took an OF coming off a 933 OPS junior year, in the same conference. Just have to cross our fingers that Wagner lasts that long.
Yes, there's way more to it than just OPS, but those things are favorable with Wagner too.