2014 Toronto Blue Jays Top Prospects: #26 Jake Brentz

Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

The number 26 prospect on our top 30 countdown is the first player from the 2013 draft class to make an appearance on the countdown. Taking that into consideration it’s potential and projectability that we look at in these cases more so than a past body of work.

Name: Jake Brentz
Position: LHP
Date of Birth: 09/14/1994
Acquired: 11th round pick in 2013 Draft ($700,000 signing bonus)
Home Town: Manchester, MO
College: N/A
Height/Weight: 6’2″/190
Bats/Throws: L/:L

Awards 2013 Rawlings 1st Team All-American Central

• 2013 Rawlings 1st Team All-American Central – All Region 1st Team
• Ranked 45th on Keith Law’s Top 100 draft prospects
• Ranked 80th on Baseball America’s Top 500 Draft Prospects

Stats and Analysis

Jake Brentz is a high school left-hander who fell to the 11th round due to concerns that he wasn’t going to sign, so even though Keith Law had him ranked higher than Phil Bickford, who the Jays picked in the first round but failed to sign, he slipped down to the 11th round before being picked up by Toronto. Since he was drafted after the 10th round he had an assigned slot value of $100,000 so the Jays went $600,000 over slot to ink the left-hander.

Brentz got into a very limited amount of action in the GCL and although the numbers don’t look all that great, they should be looked at with a massive grain of salt due to the microscopic small sample size. Brentz will have a steep learning curve as he enters the world of professional baseball. Not only is Brentz new to pro ball but he is relatively new to pitching as he was outfielder until he pitched in a tournament in his junior year and came up with a 96 on the radar gun. Obviously a left-hander that brings that kind of heat doesn’t grow on trees so he switched to pitching at that point.

Delivery Mechanics

Brentz has a relatively delivery from the three-quarter arm angle. While his delivery is currently a little reliant on his arm at the moment and he could make better use of his legs these sort of refinements will come over time for the young lefty. And as you can see from the video below another thing that will come with time is command/consistency, which is currently a work in progress for the southpaw.

Video Credit: Perfect Game USA

Pitch Repertoire

With Brentz right now it’s all about the big fastball, sitting in the mid 90’s and getting up to 96 or 97mph. Coming from a left-hander thats the sort of fastball you can dream on, he is also working on a curve and a change-up but both secondary pitches are still along ways away from being a consistent weapon in his arsenal.

Risk, Outlook and ETA

Brentz is the definition of a high risk high reward draft pick, although some of that “risk was mitigated by him being picked in the 11th round. While the projectable frame and big fastball from the left side are all things an organization dreams of in a pitching prospect there are still a sea of question marks surrounding his trip to the major leagues. With Brentz being only 18 years old and new to being a pitcher his secondary pitches as well as his command, consistency and delivery are all extremely raw at the moment. Putting an ETA on Brentz at this time would be foolish as he still has a load of development ahead of him over the next few years, however if his secondary pitches can be developed he has a ridiculously high ceiling and could be a top of the rotation arm for the Jays way down the line.