Top 10 Profiles of 2019: #1 Brennan Malone

Came out sitting 93-96 and held that most of the game. His last pitch, a called third strike, was 94. Both of his breaking balls were working and showing above average. The slider was sharp at 80-84 and the curveball had 11/5 shape and depth at 74-76. He threw a couple changeups late at 83-84 with sink. His command wasn’t pinpoint, but he did show better control than past appearances and threw 70 percent of his 89 pitches for strikes. Over seven innings, he allowed three hits, three walks and a hit batter while striking out eight.

North Carolina recruit, was the first to toe the rubber and sat 92-95 mph with his fastball, curveball was 75-78 with occasional sharp break and depth, slider was 84-85 with late, darting action and accounted for two of his strikeouts.

North Carolina commit. New to Florida, he is current No. 1 overall player in the state. Listed at 6-foot-5, 210 pounds he has an athletic frame. He continued to show his plus arm talent, as he ran the fastball up to 97 mph. The arm is extremely quick and clean, the separation of his hands led to some rotation and inconsistent release early. He shows ability to make adjustments and settled in after the first. The offspeed are average as of now and will need to improve some, but the arm talent and athleticism are real and still has a lot of upside.

Top prospect in attendance and the first arm out of the chute, toeing the rubber for the Braves. He was a little scattered at first, as his delivery was out of sync, and he started out with a couple walks, but escaped with a fielder’s choice, caught stealing and strikeout. He allowed two runs on two hits and a walk in his second inning and struck out one more. His fastball was 91-94 mph while mixing in a hard slider at 78-80 and a curveball at 73-75.

Star prospect of this game, and Day One of the showcase overall. Armed with a 93-97 mph fastball and 80-83 mph breaking ball, he powered his way through four innings showing every part of a high 1st round draft pick. At 6-foot-4, 210 pounds, he has the physical strength and size of a MLB starter to go along with a sound delivery, good arm action and super quick arm speed.

Didn’t have the results to show for it, but in regards of pure stuff, athleticism and upside, the North Carolina recruit checks all the boxes. At 6-foot-4, 205 pounds, Malone has a proportionally strong build and is highly athletic. The arm is ultra-fast and clean coming out of a compact high-3/4 window. He pitched at 94-95 and touched as high as 97. His fastball played mostly true, but flashed occasional arm-side life. In the past, we’ve seen him spin a sharp low-80s slider, but didn’t throw it much - and hung one that Greene deposited into the right-field stands. He also yielded a double, hit a batter and struck out one.

Works extremely quickly, barely giving you anytime to even write a note about him. He touched 95 a couple times, sitting 91-94 with riding life at times. His breaking ball wasn’t as sharp as it was last week at TOS, but he also showed a running changeup that had deception and was thrown with fastball arm speed. It sat 79-81. He allowed a run on three hits and three walk in four innings while striking out three.

Arguably the best arm on the day. He has a strong frame at 6-foot-3, 203 pounds and sat 90-94 in 3.1 innings of work. He allowed three runs (none earned) on two hits and two walks, though all of that came in his final two-thirds of an inning. He works extremely quickly and got arm-side sink to his fastball while also spinning a sharp curveball with 11/5 shape and depth at 75-77. It had rolling break at times, but has the makings of being at least an average pitch down the road. He also showed feel for a changeup at 84.