2017 Draft: Brendon Little

Brendon Little | LHP

Background
The 20-year-old Little grew up outside Philadelphia and was a 36th round pick out of high school by the Giants in 2015, though he didn’t sign. He got buried on a deep North Carolina pitching staff as a freshman last spring — Little threw four innings last year — so after pitching well in the Cape Cod League last summer, Little transferred to the State College of Florida. So far this spring he has a 2.53 ERA with 133 strikeouts and 33 walks in 85.1 innings. Because he’s now at a junior college, Little is draft-eligible again this spring.

Scouting Report
At 6-foot-2 and 195 lbs., Little has good size and athleticism. His fastball sits 92-94 mph and he’s run it up as high as 97 mph this spring. Little’s breaking ball is a hard power curveball that misses plenty of bats. He also throws a changeup, but it lags far behind his other two pitches at the moment. His arm is loose and he generates his velocity with ease. Little does run into command issues at times, and there’s also some concern his short stride makes his stuff play down, pointing to a future in the bullpen.

Miscellany
In his latest rankings, Keith Law (sub. req’d) ranked Little as the 17th best prospect in the 2017 draft class. MLB.com and Baseball America ranked him 35th and 36th, respectively. The Yankees hold the 16th overall pick. Lefties with good velocity and an out-pitch breaking ball are always in demand, though my guess is the Yankees would prefer to nab Little (or someone like him) with their second round pick, 54th overall, than their first rounder.