Jed Bradley Scouting Report

Jed Bradley has been drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers and is expected to agree to terms prior to the August 15 deadline.

This is Part 5 in a series previewing 12 potential players for the Orioles’ #4 overall selection in the 2011 draft. The full series:

1. Anthony Rendon, 3B, Rice
2. Gerrit Cole, RHP, UCLA
3. Danny Hultzen, LHP, Virginia
4. Sonny Gray, RHP, Vanderbilt
5. Jed Bradley, LHP, Georgie Tech
6. Bubba Starling, OF, Gardner-Edgerton HS, Kan.
7. Francisco Lindor, SS, Montverde Academy HS, Fla.
8. Trevor Bauer, RHP, UCLA
9. Dylan Bundy, RHP, Owasso HS, Okl.
10. George Springer, OF, Connecticut
11. Taylor Guerrieri, RHP, Spring Valley HS, S. Car.
12. Archie Bradley, RHP, Broken Arrow HS, Okl.

If there is a way to describe Jed Bradley, it is prototypical: a left hander with natural sink on everything and a solid ground ball pitcher who could someday lead a team into the MLB playoffs. He is one of the few college pitchers that can continue to see projection in the future and has only scratched the surface with his abilities.

School: Georgia Tech
Position: LHP
Throws: Left
Height: 6’ 4”
Weight: 220 lbs.
Body: Tall, athletic and lean with solid proportion, but slightly lanky, loose composition. He has the frame and broad shoulders to fill out and add some in the rear. This could enhance his game and is one of the reasons he has a bit more projection than other college pitchers.

Fastball

Bradley will interchange the four-seam and two-seam fastballs throughout his outings. Both tend to have natural sink and his two-seam will tail in on the left handers. He tends to get stronger as the innings increase and is now sitting in the low to mid 90’s as the weather has warmed. He will reach beyond his 93-94 range and throw 95-96 on the occasion and continues to keep the ball down in the zone with velocity that lasts well into the late innings.

Jed Bradley is one of the few college pitchers that can continue to see projection in the future and has only scratched the surface with his abilities.

Slider

Bradley likes to attack right handed hitters with this pitch low and inside. His slider has a great deal of lateral and late sink movement that he keeps sharp, tight, and low in the zone. Sometimes it tends to sweep the zone, but overall his slider is a good pitch because of location. Hitters have a tough time adjusting based on its plane and the late movement; it can be a future out pitch for him. His slider sits in the upper to mid-upper 80’s and was really working against Miami this spring and running 87-89 mph off the 94 mph fastball.

Change Up

His changeup tends to have the same sinking effects as the rest of his repertoire. He throws either a straight or circle change with hand rotation because the ball simply slips towards the left side. It comes out of the hand looking like a fastball and similar touch planes, but it will hit the mitt considerably slower in the 82-84 mph range. I have seen him at his best and worst with this pitch and I think the problem is easily correctable. He tends to slightly decelerate while throwing this pitch at times. The long term fix is to reinforce the grip into long tossing situations to allow him to feel comfortable throwing the pitch like the fastball on a consistent basis. This does not happen all of the time and I do not think it hampers the pitch long term.

Command/Control

I think Bradley’s control and command are better than people want to give him credit for. I really like the fact that he attacks right handed hitters and keeps the ball low in the zone and has not allowed a home run all season. He throws all of his pitches for strikes and keeps hitters off balance, working to both sides of the plate effectively.

Mechanics

Overall Bradley’s delivery is very smooth and balanced. He does not show any effort at all to generate the power.

He has some hand placement in the loading phase pointing slightly to first base, which lessens the impact on the shoulder girdle. As he transitions phases, his shoulder plane is facing towards the sky slightly. This might make those think his elbow to shoulder location could be a problem, but they are still located in a position that minimizes the impact on both joints. He has a solid tuck and trunk rotation in the upper body. He’s a downhill thrower, unlike most ¾ slotted left handed pitchers, where his slot sits between 1 and 2 o’clock.

He has a slightly shorter stride that he could set to increase by 6 to 12 inches, but it would not hamper him with his current distance long term. He gets a great push off the rubber and generates a nice lag in the delivery. The follow through is solid and he gains full extension. The great push, length, and solid follow through gives him a tremendous advantage because the ball leaves his hand somewhere between 54’ and 55’. This is something that makes him pitch bigger than his 6’ 4” frame.

He should be a fast moving prospect with a solid three pitch mix and projects as at least a mid-rotation starting pitcher at this point. If he can improve the slight tweaks and continue to work the slider sharp and tight, Bradley has the chance to enhance his game and become a #1 starting pitcher.

Discuss Jed Bradley in our MLB Draft forum >>

This is Part 5 in a series previewing 12 potential players for the Orioles’ #4 overall selection in the 2011 draft. The full series:

1. Anthony Rendon, 3B, Rice
2. Gerrit Cole, RHP, UCLA
3. Danny Hultzen, LHP, Virginia
4. Sonny Gray, RHP, Vanderbilt
5. Jed Bradley, LHP, Georgie Tech
6. Bubba Starling, OF, Gardner-Edgerton HS, Kan.
7. Francisco Lindor, SS, Montverde Academy HS, Fla.
8. Trevor Bauer, RHP, UCLA
9. Dylan Bundy, RHP, Owasso HS, Okl.
10. George Springer, OF, Connecticut
11. Taylor Guerrieri, RHP, Spring Valley HS, S. Car.
12. Archie Bradley, RHP, Broken Arrow HS, Okl.