RHP Hunter Barnhart, St. Joseph HS [CA]
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DoB: 2/14/2002. Commitment: Arizona State
There wasn't a lot of time for pop-up prospects to emerge this year, but Hunter Barnhart managed to turn a lot of heads during the short season due to a nice velocity spike. He attended Paso Robles High School in California for three years, then transferred to private school in Santa Maria about an hour to the south for his senior year. Heading into the season, he was seen as a pitchability guy, sitting around 90 with his fastball with good command, but the velocity is up this year and he's much more of a complete prospect, making it look less and less likely he'll make it to Arizona State.
This spring, Barnhart sat in the low 90's, which really rounds out his profile well. The curve has always been his best pitch, with great 12-6 action that can bring it from the top of the zone down to the bottom (see it here), and he adds in a decent changeup. To bring put it all together, Barnhart is an advanced strike thrower with a workhorse 6'3" frame that he reportedly had in much better shape in 2020. He has a nice, loose arm that helped bring about the velocity jump, and it bodes well to even more velocity down the road, where he could get into the mid 90's more often.
There's a lot to like in Barnhart's profile with relatively few weaknesses, and he's worked his way from more of a fifth round projection into a possible day one selection if he's signable. He could go as high as the early second round in that case. The two main downsides to Barnhart's profile are that he's a high school right handed pitcher, traditionally one of the weaker demographics, and that he doesn't possess an advanced changeup. Neither of those are overly concerning, as his command plays some of that risk down and projecting high school changeups is often nothing more than a crapshoot anyways. The ceiling is probably that of a mid-rotation starter, and he could significantly boost his stock with a strong run at Arizona State.
Some curveballs from 2020
Summer action before the velocity spike
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