Braden Nett’s path to prospect prominence was something however unusual. Not solely was he working at a House Depot when he signed with the Padres in 2022 as a non-drafted free agent, however he additionally had barely performed in faculty. What he lacked in standard expertise, he made up for with a promising arm. San Diego noticed him pitching within the MLB Draft League, gave him an opportunity, and what’s transpired since is bordering on storybook. Initially from Troy, Missouri — with a brief cease as a St. Charles Neighborhood Faculty Cougar — the 23-year-old right-hander has progressed to the purpose the place he’s now ranked seventh on our newly launched Athletics Prime Prospects record, with a forty five FV.
His change of deal with got here eventually summer season’s commerce deadline. Intrigued by his promising-but-unpolished toolbox, the Athletics acquired Nett as a part of the six-player deal centered round Mason Miller and Leo De Vries. On the season, Nett notched 116 strikeouts whereas logging a 3.75 ERA and a 3.77 FIP over 105 2/3 innings between a pair of Double-A outposts.
At present sidelined with a rotator cuff difficulty — he’s on roster of the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators, however has but to seem in a recreation — Nett has a mid-to-upper-90s fastball when wholesome. As I discovered speaking to him throughout spring coaching, he additionally has a wide-ranging arsenal.
“As of now, I’m throwing seven pitches,” mentioned Nett, whose repertoire contains two- and four-seam fastballs, a cutter, a slider, a sweeper, a curveball, and a kick change. “We’ve dialed again on a few them usage-wise, although, prioritizing some pitches over others. However I do nonetheless have all seven.
“The sinker is one factor we’re dialing again on,” he added. “Final 12 months, I used to be throwing fairly a little bit of them, and we seen that they type of fell into some barrels, so we’re specializing in four-seams just a little extra. My curveball has been actually good, so the utilization of that to lefties will perhaps skyrocket just a little bit.”
Requested what he considers to be his greatest pitch, Nett selected his sweeper, which he described as being “much less depth-y and extra sweep-y” with 17-18 inches of horizontal motion. He feels that his next-best providing is both the curveball or four-seamer. And whereas he professes to have restricted data of his metrics, he does know the particulars on a few of his pitch traits. Ditto his supply.
You Aren’t a FanGraphs Member
It seems such as you aren’t but a FanGraphs Member (or aren’t logged in). We aren’t mad, simply disenchanted.
We get it. You need to learn this text. However earlier than we allow you to get again to it, we would prefer to level out a couple of of the nice the explanation why you must grow to be a Member.
1. Advert Free viewing! We can’t bug you with this advert, or every other.
2. Limitless articles! Non-Members solely get to learn 10 free articles a month. Members by no means get lower off.
3. Darkish mode and Traditional mode!
4. Customized participant web page dashboards! Select the participant playing cards you need, within the order you need them.
5. One-click knowledge exports! Export our projections and leaderboards in your private initiatives.
6. Take away the pictures on the house web page! (Actually, this does not sound so nice to us, however some folks needed it, and we like to provide our Members what they need.)
7. Much more Steamer projections! We’ve handedness, percentile, and context impartial projections obtainable for Members solely.
8. Get FanGraphs Stroll-Off, a custom-made 12 months finish evaluate! Discover out precisely the way you used FanGraphs this 12 months, and the way that compares to different Members. Do not be a sufferer of FOMO.
9. A weekly mailbag column, solely for Members.
10. Assist assist FanGraphs and our whole workers! Our Members present us with essential assets to enhance the location and ship new options!
We hope you may take into account a Membership immediately, for your self or as a present! And we understand this has been an awfully lengthy gross sales pitch, so we have additionally eliminated all the opposite advertisements on this article. We did not need to overdo it.
“One factor we’ve checked out is launch peak,” added Nett. “With my fastball, it’s round 5’6”, and on my sweeper, it’s round 5’4”. There was some dialog about whether or not the 2 inches is one thing that hitters can acknowledge, however we don’t suppose so. It hasn’t been a problem thus far.”
Excessive velocity and spin are amongst his attributes. After I requested Eric Longenhagen for a snapshot of the younger righty, our lead prospect analyst informed me that Nett has sat 96-97 [mph] and touched 100, including that every one three of his breaking pitches possess plus or higher uncooked spin, along with his nastiest pitches being his greatest curveballs. Eric went on to say, “Nett’s terrific arm pace permits us to mission that his changeup will proceed to enhance with reps.”
Based on Nett, higher familiarity is a part of that equation.
“The changeup has been type of on and off,” he defined. “It’s the one pitch I’ve type of fiddled with. I’ve messed with some grips, and I’m on a kick change proper now. I believe I’m going to stay with that.”
Nett defined that he started “enjoying with” a kick change throughout spring coaching of final 12 months, and whereas admittedly nonetheless a piece in progress, notably when it comes to command, he’s happy with the way it’s been coming alongside. He couldn’t inform me how a lot depth he’s getting — “I’m not too huge on analytics” — however he’s fairly sure that it’s detrimental vert.
Eric cited Nett’s bettering, but nonetheless less-than-stellar, strike-throwing capacity [a 10.3% walk rate last season] in his write-up of the right-hander. To Nett’s credit score, he acknowledges {that a} pitcher must know the place the ball goes in an effort to achieve success.
“For me, it’s not how nasty my stuff is, it’s how efficient I might be in-zone, command-wise,” he mentioned. “I really feel like that’s much less talked about on the planet of knowledge that we stay in now. Everyone seems to be chasing motion and velocity. I believe command is far more essential.”
As for a way he ended up falling beneath almost each crew’s radar — getting into professional ball as a non-drafted free agent is clearly a giant a part of his story — his reply was easy and simple.
“I didn’t get into the fitting spots to get seen,” Nett reasoned. “I went to a JUCO for a semester and didn’t actually play, so I didn’t actually have eyes on me. Then, within the summer-ball circuit, I did type of have some eyes on me. It went from there.”
Which isn’t to say that scouts began banging down his door. Nonetheless many eyes have been on him, there wasn’t any direct communication… till there was.
“I by no means did discuss to a crew till I obtained the cellphone name that I used to be getting signed,” Nett informed me. “Now, right here I’m.”