2024 MLB Draft Player Profiles: College Pitching

Between a rock and a weird place

Welcome back to Seattle Mariner draft breakdowns! With many speculating Seattle will return to their roots and select a college pitcher to balance out their elite group of young position players, it’s easy to adopt the mindset of “pitching or bust” for this impending first round pick. This idea, however, is much easier said than done. With where their draft position lies, they’re in a relative valley of college pitching; Too late for the top line guys, too early to justify someone else. There’s always the prep route, but as I illustrated in the draft primer last week, that has never been the case under the current regime. Taking an arm at fifteen is definitely possible, but they’ll need some things to break their way. If they don’t, don’t think the sky is falling should they look to the offensive side of the player pool.

Trey Yesavage

This is the guy you’re hoping slides on draft day. Yesavage, the consensus third best starting pitcher out of the college ranks this season, was an absolute workhorse for the East Carolina Pirates this season. Graced with a physical 6’4 225 lb frame, Yesavage has thrown a ton of innings for ECU the past three seasons and has done so with relative ease. After working out of the bullpen as a true freshman, Yesavage took over as a starter his sophomore year and pitched to a 2.61 ERA with 105 strikeouts across 76 innings. This season, Yesavage outdid himself and managed a 2.03 ERA over 93.1 innings with a 145/32 K/BB ratio. Yesavage established himself as one of the premiere pitchers in the country and was a near lock to provide his team productive innings every single time he took the mound.

From a pure stuff standpoint, there’s a lot to love. His fastball sits in the mid-90’s consistently and will hold its velocity well into starts. Due to his over the top delivery (he releases the ball nearly seven feet off the ground), Yesavage’s fastball features a massive amount of carry through the zone with above average command. He pairs his fastball with a cutter/slider combination that acts as his primary offspeed pitch. Additionally, Yesavage features a truly disgusting splitter. A new addition to his arsenal, it’s quickly becoming Yesavage’s best pitch and has completely neutralized hitters thus far. With such a high release point out, his splitter has immense downward movement and passes through the zone at an incredibly steep angle which makes it tough to barrel up and induces a lot of whiffs. He also throws a changeup and a curveball, though they lag behind the others and are a bit more hit-and-miss.

Yesavage rarely walks batters, strikes out people left and right, throws a bunch of innings, and will still be 20 years old on draft day with a college resume few can rival. What’s the catch? A month ago, Yesavage was hospitalized with a partially collapsed lung and missed his chance to pitch in the AAC tournament. Fortunately, Yesavage recovered and was able to quickly return to the mound to duke things out with Chase Burns, perhaps the best pitcher in the nation. In his first and only action after the injury, Yesavage managed 7.1 innings of shutout ball and allowed just one hit. It’s knocked his draft stock down just a tick, but I struggle to think it will keep him down come draft day.

I really don’t see Yesavage making it to fifteen. There’s not much physical development left in his profile and he doesn’t necessarily have “ace” upside, but that’s the biggest critique I can make. It’s far from out of the question he slips to Seattle and I’d love for it to happen, but college pitching seemingly always goes earlier than expected, especially in a draft so barren of quality arms. Should he make it to their selection, I’d be stunned if he wasn’t the pick.

Brody Brecht

This is where the college pitching starts to get a little weird. Brecht, a former two sport athlete at the University of Iowa, switched full time to baseball this season due to his early season buzz as a potential early first rounder. Armed with the best pure stuff in the draft, Brecht features an upper 90’s fastball and a hellish slider that’s in the high 80’s with tremendous two-plane tilt. They’re both special offerings and border on an 80 grade depending on who you ask. Coupled with his athleticism and size (6’4 235lb), it’s not hard to see the makings of a frontline starter.

Unfortunately for Brecht, the control is yet to be anywhere near where it needs to be. Walking 49 batters and hitting 12 across 78.1 IP this season, it’s certainly not the cleanest of ways to manage run prevention. Due to his extreme strikeout rate (14.7 K/9) and excellent ability to limit hits (5.3 H/9), Brecht managed a 3.33 ERA this season, but evaluators wanted to see the control improve in a more significant way and he’s thusly slid closer to the latter half of the first round.

The control was trending ever so slightly in the right direction towards the end of the season, but Brecht is still an incredibly long way away from possessing the control to be in a starters role. There’s tremendous reliever risk in his profile. If he’s the pick at fifteen, I’d be both terrified and cautiously optimistic that the pitching lab can dial him in.

Jurrangelo Cijntje

This is where we peak on the weirdness scale for today. A switch-pitcher, Cijntje (pronounced sain-ja) has gone viral for his unique ability to pitch into the 90’s with both hands. Further still, the young pitcher was born in the Netherlands and grew up in Curaçao, representing his country on their little league team when he was twelve. He would eventually move to the states and play high school ball in Florida where he was highly recruited and wound up with the SEC’s Mississippi State.

It’s obviously an incredibly unique player that has premium athleticism and body control. Few, if any, can do what he can do. That said, Cijntje is much more than a novelty. In his time at Mississippi State this season, Cijntje worked a 3.67 ERA and a 113/30 K/BB ratio across 90.2 IP. From the right side, the fastball can reach the upper 90’s and sits around 95. The slider is his go-to breaker and can touch 90 mph, though it’s usually in the mid 80’s. He also throws a changeup, though it’s behind the other two pitches. As a lefty (his natural side), pretty much every pitch is a tick below it’s right side counterpart. Many evaluators see him exclusively as a right hander moving forward, and I tend to agree.

He’s an amazing athlete with unique traits, a low release point, and carry on a good fastball. Plus, the slider is a potential out pitch and can work as his main secondary as a pro. All things considered, however, I’m wary of his smaller frame (5’11 200lb) and question whether taking Cijntje is the smartest move with so many other talents available. To me, taking a pitcher for the sake of “the farm needs an arm” is not in the best interest of the club. There’s plenty of upside with him and I’d love to see how good he could be acting full-time as a righty, but barring some sort of underslot deal, taking him or Brecht in the first round feels like you’re losing out on value by unnecessarily restraining your options.

That wraps up the profiles this week! Check back next week for more and GOMS!