2022 5th Round Pick (#137): Trace Bright - P - (Jr) Auburn University

[Tony-OH]

2022 5th Round Pick (#137): Trace Bright - P - (Jr) Auburn University 

https://www.si.com/college/auburn/baseball/trace-bright-scouting-report-mlb-draft-projection-auburn-baseball#gid=ci02a5869cd001247d&pid=mlb-scouting-report

Stats

Baseball America - Sounds like a good arm.   Maybe similar to Tavera last year but bigger.

Bright was a projection arm out of Alabama in high school, when he ranked as the No. 353 prospect in the 2019 draft class. At the time, he was touching 92-93 mph but three years later he’s now sitting with that velocity—and a strong trio of secondaries to complement it. This spring he started 17 games and posted a 5.13 ERA over 80.2 innings, with 94 strikeouts (26.4 K%) and 38 walks (10.7 BB%). He pitches off a fastball that has been up to 96-97 mph this spring, and regularly works in a mid-80s slider, upper-70s curveball and mid-80s changeup. Bright looks the part of a starter with a still-projectable 6-foot-4, 199-pound frame, but he’ll need to refine his control to make the most of what is a legitimate and deep arsenal of solid stuff. He gets hit around at times and has posted a career walk rate of 10.2% in his three seasons with Auburn, with a 6.01 career ERA to go with it.

Initial Take: This seems like a nice 5th round pick. A projectable arm that was inconsistent a bit in college, but if he puts it togeter, the Orioles could have something on their hands. Command and making mistakes in the middle of the plate are part of his problems that the Orioles developmental staff will try to fix.

[waroriole]

War Eagle Trace. Take your 10k and save the Orioles some money. 

[Whammer]

OK. Hope to see this guy in Delmarva in a couple weeks.

[Moose Milligan]

https://auburntigers.com/sports/baseball/roster/trace-bright/17823

[Sydnor]

 

[forphase1]

94ks in 80.2 innings, only 38 walks.  High ERA and a higher WHIP than I'd like to see.  But I'm sure the pitch track numbers tell more of the story.

[7Mo]

Coached at Auburn by Tim Hudson.

[waroriole]

Is he a Senior or Junior? The Auburn website lists his Junior year as 2022. 

[Yossarian]

1 minute ago, forphase1 said:

94ks in 80.2 innings, only 38 walks.  High ERA and a higher WHIP than I'd like to see.  But I'm sure the pitch track numbers tell more of the story.

That tells me there isn't much bend in those breaking balls.  Hopefully the Os staff can work with him. 

[waroriole]

 

[bpilktree]

Looks like we may be putting some money aside for someone with last two picks.  Don’t be surprised if you don’t see the name Triston Smith with a pick for us at some point.  He is DL Hall comp in the south.  

[Sydnor]

3 minutes ago, waroriole said:

War Eagle Trace. Take your 10k and save the Orioles some money. 

I thought Bright was a Junior and unlikely to be a $10k signing.

[RZNJ]

Baseball America - Sounds like a good arm.   Maybe similar to Tavera last year but bigger.

Bright was a projection arm out of Alabama in high school, when he ranked as the No. 353 prospect in the 2019 draft class. At the time, he was touching 92-93 mph but three years later he’s now sitting with that velocity—and a strong trio of secondaries to complement it. This spring he started 17 games and posted a 5.13 ERA over 80.2 innings, with 94 strikeouts (26.4 K%) and 38 walks (10.7 BB%). He pitches off a fastball that has been up to 96-97 mph this spring, and regularly works in a mid-80s slider, upper-70s curveball and mid-80s changeup. Bright looks the part of a starter with a still-projectable 6-foot-4, 199-pound frame, but he’ll need to refine his control to make the most of what is a legitimate and deep arsenal of solid stuff. He gets hit around at times and has posted a career walk rate of 10.2% in his three seasons with Auburn, with a 6.01 career ERA to go with it.

[Moose Milligan]

6.01 ERA in his college career across three seasons.  Awesome!

[waroriole]

Just now, Sydnor said:

I thought Bright was a Junior and unlikely to be a $10k signing.

Yeah looks like he’s a Junior. Definitely not a 10k signing.