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Draft  | Prospect Scouting Reports  | 3/25/2016

2016 MLB Draft Pack: March 25

David Rawnsley      Jheremy Brown      Andrew Krause     
Photo: Perfect Game

Once a week leading up to the 2016 MLB Draft Perfect Game will provide detailed scouting reports, and video (when available) on 10 of the top draft-eligible prospects. The first report each week will be available for free, the rest can be viewed with a PG Insider subscription. To learn more about Perfect Game's subscription packages and to sign up today please visit this link.

March 18 MLB Draft Pack: Josh Lowe, Matt Manning, A.J. Puk, Nick Senzel, Mike Shawaryn, Alex Speas, Bryan Reynolds, Blake Rutherford, Taylor Trammell, Robert Tyler.


Prospects covered this week: Braxton Garrett, Dakota Hudson, Connor Jones, Reggie Lawson, Kyle Lewis, Drew Mendoza, Mickey Moniak, Corey Ray, Buddy Reed, Forrest Whitley





Braxton Garrett – LHP

Height/Weight: 6-3/190
Bats/Throws: R/L
Birthdate: Aug. 5, 1997
High School: Florence
Hometown: Florence, Ala.
Travel Team: East Cobb Astros
Commitment: Vanderbilt
Projected Draft Round: 1-1S

In addition to having the necessary high-level tools, there is great value to having a long resume for a prospect. In baseball terminology, having a "track record" is an important thing in any overall evaluation. Lefthander Braxton Garrett, referred to as "Brax" by the Alabama media, has as long a track record as any pitching prospect in the 2016 class.

Garrett has pitched at the varsity level for his head coach father, Steve, since his freshman year. He went 8-2, 1.23, with 108 strikeouts in 57 innings as a sophomore and 7-1, 0.74 with 141 strikeouts in 66 innings as a junior, and as a result was named Alabama's "Mr. Baseball" by the Alabama High School Sportswriters Association.

Garrett also pitches for the East Cobb Astros during the summer and fall and has appeared in all the major events, including the PG National Showcase, the PG All-American Classic, the WWBA World Championship in Jupiter and a stint with the 2015 USA 18u National Junior Team.

The strikeouts (he also has 52 in 26 innings this spring) particularly stand out in Garrett's performance record.  His best pitch, both in quality and in command, is an upper-70s curveball that can be a true swing-and-miss pitch for quality hitters. Garrett will often go to his curveball as his primary pitch when he really needs an out with runners on base or when his fastball command is wavering a bit, and he obviously has both confidence in it and an advanced feel for the pitch. Garrett has also shown the ability to manipulate the shape and velocity of the pitch to the point where it's sometimes difficult to tell whether it's a curveball or a slider.

Two big areas of improvement for Garrett this spring, both of which have moved him into solid first round consideration, are his fastball velocity and his changeup. Garrett was mostly an 88-91 mph thrower with his fastball last summer, plenty firm enough but not first round type velocity. He's been more frequently 90-93 mph this spring and has touched higher and thrown his fastball with better command than he showed last summer as well.

Garrett has also spent time developing his changeup and has used it enough in games to show that it is a present part of his arsenal. The pitch is pretty firm in the mid-80s, but has nice life on it with good arm speed at release. (DR)


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