Brody Colvin is the most inexperienced of my top-20 prospects, pitching only 2 professional innings after being drafted by the Phillies in the 7th r0und of the 2009 draft. So this ranking is based purely on potential.
Colvin was a first-round talent, but a strong commitment to LSU made teams hesitant to draft him. The Phillies took a chance on him, and then lured him away with a $900,000 signing bonus, about what a supplemental 1st round pick would receive.
Basic Info
Age: 19
Height/Weight: 6’4”, 195 lbs
Hometown: Lafayette, LA
How Acquired: 7th Round of 2009 Draft
Stats
This is normally where I would put the full year’s minor leagues stats for the prospect and analyse them, but Colvin signed late and only made one appearance this year. It was a good appearance (2 IP, 0 HR, 1 BB, 2 K), but nothing we can really look into.
High School stats are relatively useless, because I have no idea what level of competition he was facing, but his senior year stats were as follows: 7-2, 2.29 ERA, 55 IP, 18 H, 24 BB, 76 K. Those come from Baseball America, who had him rated as the 43rd best prospect in the draft.
Scouting Report
So what kind of pitcher is Colvin? He has a power arm and currently throws in the low 90′s and can reach 94mph. However, at 19, he has not fully grown into his frame and he might develop more power as time goes on. His fastball is said to have a lot of life as well and all told, is an above average pitch.
His second pitch right now is a curve ball in the upper 70′s that he needs to work on. It has a chance to be an above average pitch if he can hide it better and improve his control. The majority of his work in the minor leagues will be developing and improving on his breaking pitches. This part is a work in progress and may result in some inconsistent numbers at the start of his minor league career.
Colvin is also a very good athlete and a solid hitter.
Everything I wrote above sounds a lot like our current top pitching prospect, Kyle Drabek, only a little less so. Colvin appears to have more work to do that Drabek did, but he could very well shoot up this list with a productive first season.
Path to the Majors
As I said in the scouting report, Colvin has a long way to go, but plenty of time to get there. He will likely start the season out in Low-A, or even Short-Season later in the summer. Best case scenario would be that he spends a year at each level and is ready to pitch for the Phillies by 2013, when he’s 23.
For prospects 11-20, and all other Phillies’ prospects posts, visit the Top Prospects page.
Number 10 prospect in the organization… drafted this year in the 7th round.
You don’t hear that everyday.
tk76-
Not sure how familiar you are with the MLB draft, but this isn’t that uncommon. Players who are committed to college don’t always go high, because they might not sign with the team. Colvin was a first round talent who fell into that category and the Phils gave him enough to make it work.
Nice report and I do think that Colvin will be an elite prospect. Could be at Trevor May’s level in a year. By the way Colvin just got arrested. 19yr old with $900,000 having a little too much fun I guess.
In reference to the draft slot, it is true. Dom Brown went in the 20th round because they thought he was gonna go to Miami for football. Signability is significant in the MLB draft.