LHP Kyle Harrison, De La Salle HS [CA]
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DoB: 8/12/2001. Commitment: UCLA.
De La Salle High School in the Oakland suburb of Concord, California is most well known for the movie When the Game Stands Tall, which depicted its football team's 151 game winning streak from 1992-2004. This year, their baseball team boasts one of the best high school lefthanders in the country in a relatively shallow draft for that demographic. Dax Fulton, who is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery, is probably the best prospect in the group when healthy, though Harrison is right behind him and is ready to go right now. That could lead to him being the first high school lefty selected this June.
Unlike some of the power arms in this class, Harrison is one where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. His fastball sits in the low 90's and touches 94 occasionally, not overwhelming velocity but definitely enough given the rest of his skill set. His best secondary pitch is his frisbee slider, a big bender with excellent shape but which can soften up at times. Lastly, he throws a decent changeup that isn't much of a weapon yet, but he has shown good feel for pitching and that should help him develop it in the future.
Everything in Harrison's arsenal plays up for a couple of reasons. One is his command, which is above average, especially for a high schooler. Once he adds some power to his slider, the two pitches could tunnel really well off each other. The other is his delivery, which enables him to hide the ball extremely well, something that goes a long way against more advanced hitters. He stands 6'2" and while he's not the most projectable pitcher in the class, there is the potential for him to get stronger as he gets older, which bodes well for both his fastball velocity and that slider.
Harrison is slightly old for the class, turning 19 in August, but he's already pretty advanced so that shouldn't be much of a factor. Nothing stands out in his profile, but he has a little of everything going for him and he could be an impact starting pitcher in time. He's probably a second or third round talent, but he could go earlier if a team that likes his combination of youth and handedness (not many can match that in this draft) or later if his asking price away from UCLA gets too high.
Pitching over the summer
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