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AAP: Brandon Brennan


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Brandon Brennan, RHP

Born 7/26/1991 in San Juan Capistrano, CA

6’4”, 220

Throws: R

Bats: R

 

OVERVIEW

Brandon Brennan was the Sox 4th round pick of the 2012 draft. The 20 year old has only one year of college under his belt, pitching well for Orange Coast College. He's a fairly big kid with a strong frame, who throws from a 3/4 arm slot that is sometimes inconsistent. His fastball ranges from 90 to 95, and the variance may be related to the inconsistent delivery. He also throws a slider and a change-up. Prior to the draft, he was ranked in the Top 250 draft prospects by both Baseball America and Perfect Game.

 

Here is a

 

PERSONAL/PRE-COLLEGE NOTES

Capistrano Valley High School, Mission Viejo, CA

 

COLLEGE

Originally on the team at University of Oregon, but did not play.

 

Then went to Orange Coast College, as a starter in spring of 2012: 108.1 IP, 1.25 ERA, 72 K, 23 BB, 76 H. Led conference in ERA, second in wins, third in strikeouts.

 

SIGN/DRAFT

Drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 4th round (141st overall) of the 2012 Amateur Draft. Signed for $320,800 (slot). Previously drafted by Colorado in the 40th round in 2010, did not sign.

 

MINORS

Brandon has been assigned to Great Falls (Rk) of the Pioneer League, and as of this writing has not yet pitched in a game. Given he is already over 100 innings this spring, they may limit him a bit this year.

 

OTHER PROFESSIONAL

n/a

 

REFERENCE

 

Baseball Cube page

 

MiLB page

 

FS Draft Tracker blurb (scroll down)

 

2012 college stats

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  • 1 month later...

First monthly update for Brandon...

 

So far, they've primarily been using Brandon in relief in Great Falls, probably due to his innings count for the year (inclusive of college). He has pitched in 7 games, 2 of which were starts, but he hasn't pitched more than 3 innings at a crack. Here are the overall numbers for the just-turned-21-year-old...

 

12 IP, 16 H, 7 ER, 1 HR, 6 BB, 14 K... 5.25 ERA, 1.83 WHIP, .296 BAA, 2.43 GO/AO, 10.5 K/9, 4.5 BB/9

 

Core results aren't too great, he's getting hit a bit... but look at the bolded. He's missing a lot of bats, and when they do make contact, he's getting a lot of ground balls. Those are both good signs.

 

Best guess is, Brandon is a starter in Kanny next year as a 21 year old. The numbers he puts up there will be more meaningful than in rookie ball after a full college spring season.

 

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  • 1 month later...

End of 2012 update...

 

Brandon had already pitched 108.1 innings before the draft, so he wasn't used heavily at Great Falls in his draft year season (14 games, 37.1 IP). Pitching in a hitters' league, he put up a decent 7.5 K/9 rate, and a very nice 2.80 GO/AO. His walk rate (3.8 BB/9) is maybe a little high, but it improved as the season went on, posting a 4.9 in July, and a 3.5 in August/September. He also increased his GO/AO (2.50 to 2.91) and decreased his BAA (.314 to .280) in that same split, though his K rate dropped off - this trend seems to indicate he was attempting to refine his control.

 

Brandon had only 1 year of college experience going in and started the season as a 20 year old, so he was considered pretty raw. Considering that, I'd call his season a success. A couple publications have him on the Top 20 or 25 radar among Sox prospects. He will likely start 2013 as a 21 year old in Low A Kanny, for his first year of full season ball. I think that's when we'll get a good idea of what Brennan brings to the table.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

Offseason up to Opening Day update for Brennan...

 

Brandon had his name show up on the periphery of a few top prospect lists over the winter. He is in Kannapolis' starting rotation as expected, so he should make his first start by early next week at the latest.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Monthly update...

 

Expectations for Brennan were heightened in the offseason, with Buddy Bell talking him up. But he's still raw, and his numbers so far in Kanny's rotation show it. In 5 starts, he's got a 7.43 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, and batters are hitting .323 against him. His K rate is 7.0 per 9, which is OK but not great. The walk rate is nice and low though, at 2.3. And he's inducing ground balls at a decent rate.

 

He was drafted as a raw arm, especially by college player standards, so hopefully he can make some adjustments. His last outing on 4/27 was by far his worst, going just 2/3 of an inning, giving up 6 ER on 4 hits, walking 2 and striking out none. That really pushed his numbers in a bad direction. But as the season goes on, that one game could be less meaningful.

 

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  • 5 weeks later...

End of May update for Brandon...

 

May was statistically no better than April, which is not a good thing. For the month he booked an 8.28 ERA, .369 AvgA, WHIP north of 2, and a 15:13 K:BB ratio.

 

The good news... there appears to be some improvement. Leaving out his first two starts of May, his last 4 starts look like this: 25 IP, 30 H, 16:6 K:BB. There is also word that his mechanics have solidified some, and he's now again throwing the 90-93 FB he was scouted to have. Slider is inconsistent though, as is the change. And he's inducing ground balls pretty well.

 

His first start in June was his best overall of the year, going 8 innings, striking out 7 and walking none. Hopefully he can build on that.

 

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  • 1 month later...

Brennan had a much better June, posting this line in 5 games: 33.1 IP, 27 H, 8 R, 8 BB, 21 K, and was inducing ground balls well with a 1.77 GO/AO.

 

Unfortunately, just as he was turning things around, he went on the DL in late June. And he just posted on Twitter that he is having TJ surgery tomorrow (Friday 7/19). So he's probably out for the season.

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  • 1 month later...

End of season update... Brennan did indeed miss the rest of the season, and will likely miss part of next as well, after his surgery. Best case is he's back for Opening Day, but that seems a stretch. The missed development time is a real blow, since he's got a live arm but is very raw and needs repetition to be successful. He's still on the radar prospect-wise, but we'll have to see if he can get in a full season next year. Repeating at Kanny seems the most likely outcome for him in 2014, then perhaps W-S if he looks sharp enough.

 

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  • 2 months later...
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  • 6 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Brennan back in Kanny after 5 rehab games in Great Falls. Solid in 1st start: 6 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, twice as many ground-outs as fly-outs.

 

He's 22, about to turn 23, so he's no longer young for his level. But he was drafted raw with only one year of college pitching, and then lost another year recovering from TJ. So from a developmental standpoint, it wouldn't hurt to have him repeat Kanny next year, at least to start. Depends on how he does the remaining couple months of the season.

 

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  • 2 months later...

End of season update on Brandon...

 

The bad news was, between 2013 and 2014, the already-raw Brennan missed a year of development time.

 

The good news is, considering it was his year back from TJ and he was still in his 22/23 season, he did pretty darn well this year. In 68 innings (14 games, all starts) he compiled a 2.91 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 7.9 H/9, 3.3 BB/9 and 6.5 K/9. He was among the top 10 among Sox starters in MiLB in ERA, WHIP and H/9 and led all starters in GB:FB (an astounding 5.00 rate). That's not a fantastic K rate, but it's decent and the other numbers look good. I don't have any reports on velo or movement from this year. He pitched across Rk, A and A+.

 

Brandon will be 23/24 next season, likely in the rotation for Winston-Salem to start. He'll need to build up innings, but he's a guy who shouldn't be written off yet. His sinking fastball and slider were both attention-getting pitches when he was drafted, and he only had a year of college pitching plus now 186.2 innings in pro ball.

 

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  • 6 months later...

After losing all that time with TJ surgery and recovery, it was great to see Brandon come back and pitch pretty well in 2014. He looked like a potential sleeper for 2015.

 

But, as the season opens, Brennan is yet again on the DL. No word yet what the injury is (or if it is more of a "disabled list" thing), but if he misses significant time again or it is another arm injury, that could really put him in a deep hole.

 

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