Sean McGrath
Scouting Director, New Jersey

Name: Brandon Jenkins               
High School: Sterling High School
Summer Team: South Jersey Sandsharks
Position: RHP

The Buzz

Brandon Jenkins is an extremely fast twitch athlete who has strength in his 6-foot-2 wiry frame. Being only a sophomore, Jenkins shows tremendous upside on the mound and should be an excellent ace-type of pitcher at Sterling High School, replacing LHP Andrew Miller who is headed to Maryland and was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 34^th round of this year’s MLB Draft.

Scouting Report

There is a bit of rawness to Jenkins right now, both mechanically and feel for pitching but the upside is undeniable. Jenkins pitches exclusively out of the stretch and starts with a high hand set. His only hand rhythm is downward into his arm circle. He lands across his body, restricting his ability to consistently find direction into the strike zone. The same lack of direction provides some deception to his fastball and especially his slider. His arm swing is extremely loose and there is a quick whip to it.

When he is in a full lift, he stays over the rubber well and uses a small drop and drive before heading down the slope. In the two outings I’ve seen from Jenkins, his fastball velocity has ranged from 87-91 miles-per-hour. He also rips off a tight, two-planed slider at 76-77 MPH. He also flashed a changeup at 80-82 miles-per-hour that has late run and fade when he stays through it with conviction. He does an efficient job holding runners with pick off attempts and slide step mechanics but his velocity is down with the slide step. He drifts some with his slide step which takes away from his fastball velocity (83-86 MPH). As he learns to add some rhythm in his mechanics and finds some repeatability, he is going to be a highest level prospect.