Christian
MacLeod

2021 MLB Draft: The ace of the Bulldogs’ staff as a red-shirt freshman in 2020, MacLeod went 4-0, 0.86 with a 35-6 K-BB mark in 21 innings. With a 6-foot-4, 225-pound durable build, his fastball ranges from the high 80s to low 90s and he pairs it with a plus changeup at 79-82. He also mixes in a mid-70s downer curveball. Although the pure stuff isn't overly exciting, his command and pitch mix are. The separator is his ability to work the ball in and out and up and down, changing the hitter's eye level and allowing his below-average velocity to play up.

The ace of the Bulldogs’ staff as a redshirt freshman in 2020, MacLeod went 4-0, 0.86 with a 35-6 K-BB mark in 21 innings. With a 6-foot-4, 225-pound durable build he showed arm strength with a fastball ranging from 88-91 mph and mostly pitched at 88-89 during his Saturday start at the Showdown. He paired his fastball with a plus changeup in the 79-82 mph range and mixed in a mid-70s downer curveball. Although his pure stuff isn’t overly exciting, his command and pitch mix are. The separator is his ability to work the ball in/out and up/down, changing the hitter’s eye levels and allowing his below average velocity fastball to play up. He also worked back/forth with his fastball/changeup combo, slowing the Longhorn bats. The change is a swing/miss offering that also plays up due to his ability to repeat and command the pitch. This command allows him to exploit a hitters weakness, while also sticking to his strengths. Overall, MacLeod shows Day One pitchability with mid-Day Two stuff. He will likely be selected somewhere in between this July.

After missing 2019 with an illness, MacLeod emerged as the ace of Mississippi State’s staff as a redshirt freshman in 2020, going 4-0, 0.86 with a sparkling 35-6 K-BB mark in 21 innings over four starts. He held opponents to a .127 batting average. A physical, durable 6-foot-4, 227-pound southpaw, MacLeod has some effort and rigidity in his high three-quarters arm action, but he’s a good athlete who repeats his delivery well and fills up the strike zone with three pitches. He pitched at 89-92 and bumped 93 in our look last fall, then attacked at 89-91 early and settled in at 87-90 in the middle innings of our early-season look this spring. But even when he doesn’t have his best velocity, MacLeod’s heater plays up because of its riding life up in the zone, so he pitches off it heavily. He also does a nice job changing eye levels with his big-breaking, sharp downer curveball at 75-78, and his 82-83 changeup has solid arm speed and diving action, helping him get soft groundball contact against righthanded hitters. Given his knack for throwing strikes with three quality pitches and his physical frame that hints at velocity gains to come, MacLeod looks like a strong bet to be drafted on Day One as a redshirt sophomore in 2021.