Ryan
Brown

Brown put up absurd numbers over the first two weeks of the season, though he came down to earth against a stout Wake Forest lineup on the third. After the first two blowouts of the weekend didn’t provide an opportunity for the blue chip righthander to throw high leverage bullpen innings, he took the mound to start the series finale. Pitching on a blustery cold afternoon, Brown came out working in the 92-94 mph range with his fastball (92.2 average) with a spin rate that topped out at 2305 rpms. Eschewing a windup, Brown works exclusively out of the stretch and gets good extension toward the plate. Thrown in the 81-85 velo band with late tumble, Brown’s Vulcan changeup is one of the nastier pitches in college baseball. He threw it 50% of the time on Saturday, landing it for strikes early in the count and burying it in the turf to put hitters away. He got eight empty swings (23% whiff rate) on the pitch and elicited a number of eight ground ball outs with it. He threw just a handful of sliders in the contest, which flashed moderate depth with spin up to 2138 rpms.

Brown was phenomenal in 2022, finishing with a 2.14 ERA in 46 innings and 65 strikeouts. The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder runs his fastball into the 92-96 mph range and pairs it with a plus to better 83-85 mph split-change. The pitch is a separator for Brown from most other amateur right-handers. Although his ability to spin the baseball is behind that of his change-of-pace, it projects to become at least average as his cutter from last season morphed into a short 82-84 slider this fall. With an efficient, repeatable delivery, Brown projects as a starter. A handful of scouting directors made the trip to Muncie this fall, and many more will undoubtedly this spring.