The Seedlings To Stars 2012 Top 100 Prospects, #63: Archie Bradley
By Aaron Somers
Name: Archie Bradley
DOB: 8/10/92
Organization: Diamondbacks
Position: Pitcher
Notable 2011 Stats: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K with Missoula (Rookie)
Why He’s This High: Bradley, the seventh overall pick in the 2011 draft, is an impressive young righthander with a good two-pitch mix. He pairs a good low-90’s fastball with a big curveball, and he throws both pitches from a clean delivery that he gets good extension on. A big pitcher at 6’4″ 225, he gets great plane on both offerings.
For somebody this young, Bradley’s starting with a great toolset.
Why He’s This Low: Obviously, he’s proven absolutely nothing in pro ball, so Bradley will need to show that he’s polished enough to get professional hitters out before he can really be considered one of the game’s top pitching prospects.
He still has many refinements to make that are typical of high school pitchers. He needs a third pitch, and he has a lot of work to do with his fastball command. He’ll also have to prove that he can hold up over big workloads, although his frame does look to be durable and he has no mechanical red flags.
Conclusions: Bradley has a lot of potential, and his upside isn’t all that far behind the top three arms in the 2011 draft. As with all recent draftees, however, he’s a completely unproven commodity who is obviously quite far from the majors. He has a lot of improvements he’ll need to make to realize his considerable upside; for now, he’s just one of several top pitching prospects in the Arizona system.
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