2021 18th round pick (527): Conor Grady - RHP - (Senior) Florida State

[lovetoaster]

6'2, 202

[lovetoaster]

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REDSHIRT JUNIOR (2021):

Made 15 starts and 16 appearances overall, finishing 5-2 with a 4.05 earned run average…struck out 99 batters in 73.1 innings pitched…finished Top 20 in the ACC in ERA, opponent batting average (.237), innings pitched and strikeouts…started all 14 regular season weekends before coming out of the bullpen in the ACC Tournament against Miami…did not allow a hit or run against the Hurricanes as FSU finished off the season sweep…struck out 6 in 6.1 innings against Southern Miss in the Oxford Regional…finished 36^th nationally with 12.15 strikeouts per nine innings…also Top 75 in strikeouts and strikeout/walk ratio (5.21)…along with Parker Messick (126) and Bryce Hubbart (94), joined national champion Mississippi State as the only Power 5 schools to have three pitchers with at least 90 strikeouts…named the national player of the week from Collegiate Baseball after setting a career high with 13 strikeouts in just 5.0 innings against Troy on May 2…against North Carolina on April 4, allowed just three hits and no runs, with 10 strikeouts, as FSU won the rubber match 8-0…retired his last 16 batters faced and did not walk a batter against the Tar Heels…also beat Miami in the regular season with a 12-0 win, giving up just one hit with seven K’s in 5.0 innings…won his season debut against North Florida with 5.1 innings pitched…threw 7.0 innings with two runs allowed and nine strikeouts against Virginia on March 7…tied his career high with 7 IP against Virginia and UNC.

https://seminoles.com/sports/baseball/roster/conor-grady/

[lovetoaster]

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Like Anderson, Grady also saw an uptick in velocity this season. The right-handed pitcher can start at the next level, but may move into a reliever role like early in his career at FSU. The pitchability that Grady has is hard to come by. The Tampa native has three pitches that he can throw for strikes and swing-and-misses. I would watch for Grady’s name to come off the board late on day two or early day three.

Prediction: 10th-12th rounds

https://www.tomahawknation.com/florida-state-seminoles-baseball-fsu-noles/2021/7/11/22572040/2021-mlb-draft-preview-edwin-arroyo-matheu-nelson-elijah-cabell-jackson-baumeister-robby-martin-acc

[SteveA]

4 minutes ago, lovetoaster said:

6'2, 202

Thanks for all the hard work, lovetoaster.

[lovetoaster]

Another Fangraphs favorite:

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Conor Grady, RHP, Florida State

At a glance, Grady is an underwhelming prospect. His fastball averages around 89–90 mph, and while his changeup and slider pass the eye test, they don’t possess the sort of otherworldly movement that would convince scouts to look over the fastball.

And yet, he gets results. If there’s one pitching metric that can be used in lieu of others, it’s swinging-strike rate. This season, Grady’s changeup and slider returned swinging-strike rates of 28.2% (73 of 259) and 23.1% (84 of 364) respectively. You can count the numbers of D-I pitchers with similar rates on their secondaries on your fingers. Nobody flukes into so many whiffs.

So how does he pull it off? Stuff-wise, his individual pitches don’t stand out, but it’s how they interact that’s crucial. For example, there’s about 17 inches of separation between Grady’s fastball and changeup in terms of vertical break, and it’s a similar story with the slider. Meanwhile, there’s about 17 inches of separation between his changeup and slider in terms of horizontal break. They also have near-identical velocities, so good luck.

Grady struggled to find the strike zone in previous years, which might have eroded his draft stock. But 2021 was his cleanest season yet, as he walked a career-low 19 batters in a career-high 73.1 innings and struck out 99. The term ‘pitchability’ can have a negative connotation, but Grady embodies it in the best of ways. 

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/author/ericandjustincobyline/

[lovetoaster]

Just now, SteveA said:

Thanks for all the hard work, lovetoaster.

You're very welcome. I'm happy to help, and it distracts me from real work for a bit.

[bobmc]

Conor Grady with the off speed offerings.