Right-hander Carter Stewart was No. 2 on my draft board last spring and went No. 8 overall to the Atlanta Braves in the 2018 draft, but didn't sign with the team after a disagreement over something that arose in his post-draft physical. Stewart never missed any time and decided to attend junior college rather than going to Mississippi State, where he had committed, a move that allows teams to draft him again this year.
I saw Stewart on Wednesday at Eastern Florida State College, right near his home in Melbourne, after hearing very mixed reports on him from his first half-dozen outings. He'd come into the spring in worse condition, although he seems to have worked himself into shape and I thought his body looked fine. He's had outings where scouts said he looked like he was a top-15 pick, and some where he didn't look like a first-rounder. Wednesday's outing was the latter, as Stewart walked five in four-plus innings and didn't show the same stuff he'd shown last year that made him the top prep player on my board.
Stewart was mostly 91-95 mph on Wednesday, hitting 96 exactly once to strike out a batter and end a scoring threat, but with below-average control, especially in his last two-plus innings. His curveball, comfortably a grade-70 pitch last year, was at best a 60 this time, still showing good spin but without the same power or depth as last year. He has mixed in a slider in the low to mid-80s that looks like it has good spin to it with some tilt, and threw more changeups, although that pitch is still a work in progress. When he needed a strike, however, he went back to the curveball consistently, even over the fastball.
Stewart's biggest problem seems to be his delivery, rather than stuff or health. His delivery seems wildly inefficient. He doesn't repeat it well and lands too early, cutting himself off slightly and making it harder for him to command anything, especially to his glove side. But I could see a pro team having a field day with his combination of size and stuff -- if he can sit in the low 90s with all of these mechanical inconsistencies, maybe he could get back to the mid-90s with better command once he gets professional coaching.
• Matt Allan came out of the gate this year as the top prep pitcher in the class, but also struggled with control in his outing this week, Tuesday night at home. Allan was on a tight pitch count and was pulled after four not-very-effective innings that included a home run hit by a left-handed batter on a 91 mph fastball inside. That was Allan's worst velocity, as he was 92-96 the rest of the outing, sitting 93-95 early with a four-seamer that doesn't have much life or movement. He has an easy 60 curveball, 76-79, tight and sharp with good two-plane break, his obvious go-to pitch when he needed a swing-and-miss. He's got a strong build and seems to repeat his delivery well. Scouts in the area told me this was his worst outing of the spring, and that he'd dominated with better command in every appearance before this. I still think he's a first-round arm, but the fastball quality is a concern.
• Allan faced an intriguing prospect for 2020 in Lake Mary outfielder Dylan Crews, a right-handed hitter with a good swing and above-average bat speed who didn't have any trouble getting to Allan's fastball. The LSU commit has caught and played some infield, although his best tool is the hit tool, and he played in front of national scouts when he appeared in last summer's Under Armour All-American Game.
• A few new names have started to pop up around the country, especially from colder states, including Wayne State right-hander Hunter Brown, who's been up to 98, pitching at 94, with a power slider that approaches average. He could be this year's Josiah Gray, another small-school pitcher (Le Moyne) who emerged as the weather warmed last spring and ended up going to the Reds in the second round.