2019 MLB Draft: JUCO Players - Pitchers Part Deux

First-Year Player Rules are that any Junior college player can enter the MLB draft regardless of what year they completed.

J1 = Two-Year College 1st Year

J2 = Two-Year College 2nd Year

J3 = Two-Year College 3rd Year

Oddly enough, we’ll be talking about three guys with some of the lowest walk rates, the pitcher with possibly the best fastball and Carter Stewart. There’s still a lot of talented arms to review, including eight guys that can hit high 90’s. Lack of control will still be a theme for most of these guys.

Carter Stewart, Eastern Florida, 6’6” RHP (J1) - There’s not much to add here that most of you don’t know. While his stuff is still really good, his fastball and curve have backed up a little bit. He didn’t miss any starts, so I have no clue if the wrist is bothering him or not. There is also the problem that he would have to give permission for the Braves to draft him again.

Key stats: 1.70 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 13.12 K/9, 3.77 BB/9

Justin Fall, Brookdale, 6’6” LHP (J1) - Here we have the pitcher with the best walk rate on the list at 1.80 BB/9. Fall has a fastball that sits low 90’s (max 95). His curve and change both still need some work, but he’s a guy that throws strikes. He’s currently committed to Arizona State.

Key stats: 1.95 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 9.73 K/9, 1.80 BB/9; BA ranked #122

Thomas Farr, NW Florida State, 6’1” RHP (J2) - Another pitcher that hasn’t pitched much this season (out since Feb 7). His fastball sits low to mid 90’s (max 96), his breaker flashes plus and his change has quite a bit of sink to it. The injury really throws a wrench into things, but his thee starts this season were exceptional. If he doesn’t get drafted he’s commited to South Carolina.

Key stats: 1.38 ERA, 0.77 WHIP, 9.69 K/9, 2.08 BB/9; BA ranked #186

Johnny Ray, John Logan, 6’3” RHP (J2) - Like Farr, Ray hasn’t pitched since mid February. His two starts were quite good though. He’s got a solid fastball that sits 91-93 mph with some movement (tops out at 95).

Key stats: 2.25 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 12.38 K/9, 2.25 BB/9; BA ranked #258

Adrian Chaidez, Cypress College, 6’1” RHP (J2) - Chaidez has a four pitch mix that starts with a fastball that is 91-94 mph. His curve, slider and change are all thrown with similar speeds (mid to high 70’s), so he’s going to have to work on getting more velocity separation to keep hitters off balance. He’s simplified his delivery too as a year ago he had a more Greg Maddux like delivery bringing the glove over his head, but he’s shortened it quite a bit. Control is obviously an issue.

Key stats: 3.33 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 12.32 K/9, 6.16 BB/9; BA ranked #281

Drew Hill, South Mountain, 5’11” RHP (J2) - It says something about Hill’s overall stuff when TCU comes to recruit you. He has a 90-93 mph fastball (max 95) to go along with a slider, curve and change. Unlike Chaidez mentined above, Hill offers more speed variation between pitches. His walk rate is a bit overblown as he had just one start where’s he’s walked over thee batters.

Key stats: 2.73 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 10.11 K/9, 4.81 BB/9; BA ranked #340

Gerrit Van Zijll, Alvin, 6’3” LHP (J2) - Zijil doesn’t throw very hard sitting around 90 mph. Despite not having high end heat, he’s struck out 122 batters on the season, right up there with Rutledge. He has a nice curve and change. The only video I could find was from HS that shows a nice slow looping curve that’s about a 1-7 shape.

Key stats: 2.36 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 14.41 K/9, 4.13 BB/9

Chase Webster, Chandler-Gilbert, 6’4” RHP (J1) - Webster was originally committed to Arizona State, but opted for the JUCO route since he wanted to pursue the MLB draft before his junior year. While he has a very good fastball that mid 90’s, he hasn’t been striking out guys at a high clip and his walks are really bad. He might opt to stay at Chandler Gilbert one more year to improve his secondaries and control, but you never know if a team takes a chance on a raw arm like Webster who already has a good fastball.

Key stats: 2.86 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 8.29 K/9, 7.71 BB/9

Hunter Milam, Gulf Coast State, 6’0” LHP (J1) - Milam has almost a 20 mph difference between his fastball and curveball speeds. This helps keep hitters off balance. He’s about maxed out physically, so he’s not likely to see a bump in velocity. If he can improve the control, that fastball-curve combo could be quite good out of the pen.

Key stats: 4.50 ERA, 1.77 WHIP, 10.73 K/9, 7.27 BB/9

LJ McDonough, Hutchinson CC, 6’2” LHP (J1) - While his BB rate looks bad, he had eight walks in his first two innings to the season. McDonough split time between the pen and starting so he pitched a low 30 innings on the season (53 strikeouts). He’ll sit low 90’s and throws a slider & change.

Key stats: 4.80 ERA, 1.73 WHIP, 15.90 K/9, 7.80 BB/9

Cam Wynne, Johnson County, 6’6” RHP (J2) - Perfect Game rated Wynne as having the best fastball in the JUCO ranks, just ahead of Rutledge. His fastball sits mid 90’s, touching 98. He added a slider over a year ago and it’s already flashing plus. One the negative side, Wynne has only pitched 6.1 innings this year and missed over two months between February and April. He only pitched 21 innings last year and had 23 walks vs 21 strikeouts. So fastball command is a huge problem for Wynne and likely health. However, someone will take a chance on him, but he’s a project for sure.

Key stats: 4.43 ERA, 2.13 WHIP, 22.13 K/9, 13.28 BB/9

July Sosa, Monroe, 6’2” RHP (J2) - Sorry, this one isn’t related to Sammy Sosa. July has a below average fastball that sits 87-90 (max 91), but shows a lot of potential with the curveball and cutter.

Key stats: 2.04 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 14.43 K/9, 5.17 BB/9

Conor Angel, NW Florida State, 6’4” RHP (J2) - Angel typically works a fastball from 90-93 from a ³⁄₄ release, while mixing in a slider (slurve?) and change. He was rather thin coming out of HS at 170, so with more strength, it’s possible to see a small bump in velocity. He also has a nice simple delivery, so it’s curious as to why he has issues throwing strikes.

Key stats: 2.99 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 11.51 K/9, 9.67 BB/9

Antoine Kelly, Wabash Valley, 6’5” LHP (J1) - Kelly is another fireballer where his fastball tops out at 97, but lives in the 92-95 mph range. He throws a slider and change to finish out a solid three pitch mix. His K-rate is off the charts ridiculous and he’s doing this while starting (90 strikeouts in 43.2 innings). He’s struck out 10+ in five of his nine starts, which includes a crazy 17 strikeout performance in seven innings (giving up one hit and one walk). He was selected in the 13th round by the Padres in the 2018 draft. He’s definitely an intriguing arm.

Key stats: 1.46 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 18.75 K/9, 6.25 BB/9

Alex Haynes, Walters State, 6’3” RHP (J2) - Haynes has a three pitch mix in fastball, curve and change. His fastball sits low to mid 90’s (max 96). He can throw strikes, and while his walk rate isn’t great he’s really hard to square up on (just 40 hits in 70 innings). Also, he has given up just one home run and a total of just six XBH.

Key stats: 1.80 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 12.21 K/9, 4.24 BB/9

Some other guys to note: Britt Sparks and Braden Olthoff are ranked prospects by Baseball America, but I wasn’t able to find any info on them. Both had WHIPs under 1.00 with low BB rates. Jake Hamilton has an insane 16.87 K/9 vs 4.31 BB/9 (137 K’s in 73.1 innings) and is committed to Wichita State. He led JUCO in total strikeouts, just edging out Rultedge. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really find any info on him other than he’s 6’4” and throws right handed. Lucas Knowles is getting some love and he’ll sit low 90’s but his secondaries only flash average. Brayan Garcia has a fastball that can get up to 96, but hasn’t pitched since March 30 and walked about as many batters as he struck out. Finally is Spencer Bodanza who is an undersized lefty that can sit low 90’s (currently committed to Miami), but only pitched 15 innings on the season as a reliever. Bodanza has a slow windup, but a hard jerky motion to the plate.