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College  | Story  | 4/7/2021

Scouting Notebook: Indiana

Brian Sakowski     
Photo: Cole Barr (Indiana University Athletics)
College Player Report Database

Players Featured: Cole Barr, Grant Richardson, McCade Brown, Tommy Sommer, John Modugno



What Happened: Indiana headed up to East Lansing for a three-game series with Michigan State and came away with the series victory, 2-1. They outscored MSU 19-11 on the weekend, including victories of 10-4 and 8-2 before falling 5-1 in the series finale. Consistent hitting and good, but not great starting pitching told the story of the weekend for the Hoosiers.

Carrying Tool: It’s hard to say starting pitching given the combined inconsistencies of the Hoosier rotation, but it SHOULD be starting pitching, given the rotation consists of Tommy Sommer, McCade Brown, and Gabe Bierman—all of whom have varying levels of draft interest. Overall though, the nod should be given to the IU offense, who ambushed fastballs all weekend and did a nice job of doing damage in damage counts and not giving in—much—to the off-speed-heavy approach of the MSU arms.

Concerns: How good is McCade Brown? The Hoosier Saturday starter has first-round stuff with some wild inconsistencies ranging from start to start. When he’s on, Indiana will win any game he pitches and he’s got the stuff to carry them far. When he’s not, the Hoosiers find themselves playing from behind and struggling. He’s not the sole key to their success and not sole concern of the ball club by any stretch, but he certainly is a sort of lynchpin right in the middle of every weekend series.

Best Player on the Field: By upside? McCade Brown, and it’s not particularly close. With excellent size, good athleticism, and mid-90s heat backed up by one of the best breakers in college baseball, Brown has unquestioned sky-high upside, but lapses in fastball command have gone from “of concern” to “problematic” for Indiana very quickly, and he likely won’t be able to bail himself out by just throwing curveballs like he did versus MSU. But all that being said, when Brown is on, he’s amongst college baseball’s most unbeatable pitchers.


McCade Brown, RHP, 2021 Eligible

Indiana's Saturday starter and likely highest draft choice, McCade Brown was good but not great in his win over Michigan State on Saturday afternoon in East Lansing. He allowed just one run in five innings with seven strikeouts, though he did walk four and really struggled with fastball command. 

Brown is an XL-framed, broad-shouldered right-hander with good projection remaining on his frame, and he's got the athletic components that allow an evaluator to really project. He does a solid job of engaging his back hip over the rubber and driving downhill, getting his hips inline and landing slightly open-toe with some spin-through upon release. Overall, it's a low-effort delivery that he repeats well in his lower half, though the arm stroke causes some timing concerns. There's some length through the back with a moderately-offline hook at the apex of the arm stroke, highlighted by plus arm speed and some serious ease in spite of the mechanical quirk. Brown struggled to consistently time the arm stroke up and as a result sprayed the fastball, but was more in-sync with his breaker and could command that pitch.

Brown throws from a high three-quarters slot release and is capable of generating steep plane to the plate on his fastball, which mostly worked in the 91-93 mph range in this start. There were several 94s early and a 96 or two when he got angry and really amped up in one of the middle frames, but for the most part this was a solid-average fastball by velocity. It's easy to see more velo in there given the ease, the arm speed, and the athleticism that Brown possesses, and it was a cold/windy day in East Lansing during this look. The fastball has plus projection overall, though there is some worry about what the realistic projection his fastball command will look like. 

The curveball is an equalizer, one of the better breakers in the whole draft class. He's got innate feel to spin the baseball and is adept at changing both speeds and shapes of the pitch when needed. Once it became clear that Brown really couldn't find his fastball command on this day, Indiana went to more and more breaking balls from him with more and more success. He can spin the pitch anywhere from 77-84 mph, ranging from more of a true 12/6 curveball with very good depth to more of a slurvy 10/4 shape with good tilt and bite. It's a pitch that was plus frequently in my look and is easy plus projection long term. I did not mark a third pitch type from Brown in this look. 

Overall, Brown is without question a big draft riser this spring, but it would be wise to not get too aggressive with him. He's still far from a finished product and the fastball command issues are serious ones, but the spin traits he possesses along with the size and athleticism give him sky-high upside, and one can pretty easily project at least two plus pitches with an even chance to start long term. That's the makings of a first rounder. Brown was No. 41 on our draft board heading into the spring and will tick up in our next update. 


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