This Mets Prospect May Have the Most Electric stuff in the Minors Leagues
An Analysis of Brandon Sproat
The Mets selected Brandon Sproat for the 2nd time in two years in the 2nd round of the 2023 draft. The 23-year-old has gotten off to a roaring start in high Brooklyn, posting a 0.92 ERA in 19.2 innings. Let's look into what his future could look like.
As a starter in his Junior year at Florida, Sproat posted a 4.66 ERA in 106.2 IP. His Fastball got hit hard at times and he has had issues repeating his release point, causing him to tip pitches and lose control. However, he did have some dominant performance in the CWS. Sproats Fastball touches 101 and at times has incredible run. The pitch does not have superb rise at about 15 iVB but from his flat arm angle, it can play up in the zone. The pitch has sat around 95-95 topping out at 98 early in the year at Brooklyn.
Sproats main strikeout pitch in college, especially to lefties was his changeup. The pitch has a ton of drop and horizontal movement. But it has incredible horizontal movement and it sits in the high 80s touching 90. A hard Slider is Sproat's third-best pitch it has a shape like a Cutter. He uses it to jam lefties inside and it sits in the high 80's. It is useful to set up his changeup to lefties since it has similar velocity. A Curveball and a new Sweeper round out his arsenal. He used the Curveball in college to change speeds since his Slider and Changeup were the same speed. He is likely working on the Sweeper with the pitching lab and if it works it could be an out pitch to righties.
When watching Sproat pitch I see a little bit of Max Scherzer in the the way his pitches explode in the zone with ride and run. Both of their Fastballs don't have the most elite metrics, but they are what I like to call a "dancing " Fastball. Where because of their low release, above-average run, and some ride the pitch almost looks like it zig-zags in the zone. Sproat no doubt has nasty stuff but at this point, I can't project him as a future ace. He still has serious issues with control and at times his mechanics. However, with the Mets pitching lab anything is possible and he has already made improvements.
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