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Draft  | Prospect Scouting Reports  | 4/16/2015

Draft Pack: April 16

David Rawnsley      Jheremy Brown     
Photo: Vanderbilt Athletics
2015 Perfect Game Draft PacksRoll over the dates below to see the list of player covered
March 19 March 26 April 2 April 9 April 16 April 23
April 30 May 7 May 14 May 21 May 28 June 4

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Prospects covered this week: Kep Brown, Walker Buehler, Ryan Burr, Drew Finley, Kyle Funkhouser, Alonzo Jones, Cole McKay, Kevin Newman, Cornelius Randolph and Kal Simmons.





Kep Brown – OF

Height/Weight: 6-5/200
Bats/Throws: R/R
Birthdate: July 14, 1997
High School: Wando
Hometown: Mount Pleasant, S.C.
Travel Team: Atlanta Blue Jays
Commitment: Miami
Projected Draft Round: 3-40

We're all well rehearsed on what happens when a pitcher goes down in the spring with a torn UCL and has to undergo Tommy John surgery. The theme is becoming repetitive with Jeff Hoffman and Erick Fedde last spring and Brady Aiken and Mike Matualla this year. Lucas Giolitto, perhaps the best pitching prospect in baseball, endured the same thing in 2012.

But what happens when a high school position player suffers an injury with a long rehabilitation period in the middle of the spring? That rarely happens. There isn't as much precedent for how the scouting industry will handle it.

Unfortunately, that's exactly what PG All-American outfielder Kep Brown will be facing. The power hitting outfielder tore his Achilles tendon in a game on April 10. That injury is very rare in baseball and 20-30 years ago could have been career threatening, but improvements in treatment have reduced the recovery time to 6-9 months.

Prior to the injury, Brown was looking like he could go anywhere from late in the first round to the end of the second round. He's a very projectable athlete, with an imposing build with present strength but plenty of room to add more. Brown is also one of the youngest top prospects in the 2015 class and won't turn 18 until the middle of the summer, something scouting directors are likely well aware of.

Brown's prospect status is built on his power potential but he's also a multi-tooled player who has run a 6.69 60-yard dash and has a big league average throwing arm from the outfield. While some have questioned his hit tool, in part due to his size and length, Brown actually has a very sound fundamental swing. His present power is middle-of-the-field oriented and some of his most impressive contacts last summer were to right-center field. He's the type of power hitter whose power will actually increase as he gains repetitions against high level pitching and learns to recognize counts and pitches he can hunt to pull the ball.

There is a very close Major League comp for Brown in former Milwaukee Brewers All-Star and current Pittsburgh Pirate Corey Hart. Hart is 6-foot-6, 240-pounds now but was a slender athlete who excelled at basketball as well in high school and was a solid average runner for much of his career. It's very easy to see Brown following the same physical and tool development path as Hart over the next 15 years.

Part of the next step will be up to Brown and his family, of course. He's a good student with a ride to Miami and could easily develop into a first round pick in three years and still be only 20. But part of the choice is up to the scouting directors as well. They've all seen Brown multiple times last summer and perhaps early this spring. The tools are well known, just as they've always been with Brown's unfortunate pitching peers.


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