Brandon
Sproat

Sproat went unsigned as the No. 90 overall pick by the Mets in last year’s draft, and this year the book on him remains the same. He still projects to become a four-pitch Major League starter if it all comes together, but consistency will determine his ultimate role. His performance in Knoxville qualified as a step in the right direction for increasing his draft stock. Sproat scattered four hits and four walks over 5.2 innings with nine strikeouts, while allowing just one run. There are no questions about his first round fastball velocity or top tier changeup. With a heater up to 98 mph his best pitch changeup was a bat misser, inducing six whiffs, three called strikes and three outs from the 21 that he threw. It’s thrown with fastball arm speed from the same window for good deception and grades plus-plus at times. At 6-foot-3, 210 pounds Sproat is also built for durability. He shows a repeatable delivery with loose arm action and can sit in the upper-90s deep into games. He has shown a livelier fastball this spring than in the past. His current heater has explosive arm side life, averaging 15.2" of horizontal movement on this look (NCAA average is around 9.6"). Although he was only able to induce two of 44 fastballs for swing/miss, he did get another 12 foul balls for strikes, making his fastball now play a little closer to its velocity. Sproat also mixes an 86-88 mph slider and a tighter-spin 78-82 mph curveball (2450-2500 rpm). Both pitches are generally in the fringe-to-average pitch quality category, but each will flash above average. Overall, the Gator righty has first round stuff, and he will likely be selected soon after.

2022 MLB Draft: Sproat projects to become a four-pitch Major League starter if it all comes together. Consistency will determine his ultimate role, but there are no questions about his first round type stuff or how he does it. At 6-foot-3, 210 pounds he's also built for durability. Showing a repeatable delivery with loose arm action, Sproat can sit in the upper-90s deep into games. He also showed a much livelier fastball this spring than the one he threw for the USA CNT last summer. His current heater has explosive arm side life at times, averaging 15.6" of horizontal movement (NCAA average is around 9.6") and his fastball now plays closer to its velocity. His next best pitch is an above average changeup with late bottom at 86-89 mph that he sells with fastball armspeed.He also mixes an upper-80s slider and a tight-spin curveball at 80-83 mph. Both pitches are generally in the fringe-to-average pitch quality category, but he will flash above average to better for each. With enhanced control, both pitches could develop into future above average at the Major League level. Overall, the Gator righty has 1st round stuff, but he will likely fall into the second to early third round range.

Showing improvement, yet still developing consistency this spring, Sproat projects to become a four-pitch Major League starter if it all comes together. Consistency will determine his ultimate role, but there are no questions about his first round type stuff or how he does it. At 6-foot-3, 210 pounds he's also built for durability. Showing a repeatable delivery with loose arm action, Sproat sat 97-98 for the duration of his six inning, 98-pitch start while touching 99 five times. It was a MUCH livelier fastball than the one he threw for the USA CNT last summer. This one had explosive arm side life at times, averaged 15.6" of horizontal movement (NCAA average is around 9.6") and played closer to its velocity than what I had seen in the past. His next best pitch on this look was an above average changeup with late bottom at 86-89 mph that he sold well with fastball-like armspeed. It induced four whiffs and a foul ball in 12 offerings. With near equal use, he mixed an upper-80s slider and a tight-spin curveball at 80-83 mph. Both pitches were mostly in the fringe-to-average pitch quality category, but he did flash above average to better for each. With enhanced control, both pitches could develop into future above average at the Major League level. Overall, the Gator righty has 1st round stuff, but he will likely fall into the late second-to-third round range.

Still developing consistency, Sproat projects to become a four-pitch starter when it all comes together. Consistency will determine his ultimate ML role as there are no questions about his pure stuff or how he does it. At 6-foot-3, 210 pounds he’s built for durability. He showed a balanced, repeatable delivery with a still head and compact arm action. He sat 97-98 for the duration of his three inning, 65-pitch start in Pulaski, then touched 99 repeatedly on Monday against the Olympic team. It wasn’t the liveliest of fastballs with a very ordinary 2100-2200 rpm spin rate and without adjustments he will need to locate to miss barrels. His curveball showed tight spin (2500+) at 81-82 mph and was mostly in the 45-50 (fringe to average) grade range. However, one could safely predict it as an above average pitch in the future. Sproat’s changeup flashed average with late bottom at 86-88 mph while a same velocity slider was his least used pitch. It graded out at a 40, or below average on this look. Overall, the Gator righty has 1st round potential for the 2022 draft.

Florida recruit. The lanky right-hander showed a loose, easy arm action with a lot of life. He had a full arm swing and had trouble repeating throughout the evening. The fastball worked mostly 90-93 mph, dropping off some in the fourth. He also showed a curveball a 76-79 with the harder end of the range showing more depth, and a changeup at 81-83 with fading action. The arm really works and is very whippy, but the front side can get rotational and the arm long which can lead to the high and arm-side misses. He has an extremely projectable frame and the ceiling is very high.