2014 Draft: Brandon Finnegan

Brandon Finnegan | LHP

Background
Finnegan is from Fort Worth and he passed on signing with the Rangers as their 45th round pick out of high school in 2011. He had a 3.03 ERA and 142/65 K/BB in 141.2 combined innings as a freshman and sophomore at TCU before taking off this spring: 1.66 ERA and 100/20 K/BB in 76 innings. Finnegan missed time in recent weeks with a sore shoulder but returned to the mound last night.

Scouting Report
Despite a tiny frame (listed at 5-foot-11 and 184 lbs.), Finnegan sits in the 91-95 mph range with his fastball and has run it up as high as 98. He learned a new slider grip from fellow 2014 draft prospect NC State LHP Carlos Rodon when they played for Team USA last summer, which gave Finnegan a much needed out pitch. It’s a hard slider, usually in the mid-to-high-80s, but he still needs more experience with it. Finnegan has an okay changeup that shows potential. There is quite a bit of effort in his delivery, though his control is fine.

Miscellany
In their latest rankings, Baseball America, MLB.com, and Keith Law (subs. req’d) had Finnegan as the ninth, 11th, and 19th best prospect in the draft class, respectively. TCU has a history of working their pitchers hard — Andrew Cashner, Jake Arrieta, and Matt Purke all had arm problems after leaving TCU in recent years — and the shoulder soreness is a red flag, enough that Finnegan is sliding down draft boards. He was terrible last night (six runs in 6.1 innings) and that surely didn’t help things. This draft is deep in arms and there is talk Finnegan might fall out of the first round entirely after looking like a top ten pick a few weeks ago. The Yankees don’t pick until the second round (55th overall), and while shoulder problems are scary, they never get a chance to land this kind of talent.