2023 MLB Draft: Brandon Clarke, LHP — State College of Florida

A former Alabama commit who was named to the SEC First-Year Academic Honor Roll, Brandon Clarke has battled injuries to provide a very small sample size of work at the collegiate level, while still being considered a freshman after transferring to the State College of Florida. His stats are largely skewed by two disastrous outings to begin his brief collegiate career; he struck out four and walked just one over his last 2 1/3 innings of work, including a 1-2-3 frame on May 1 against IMG Academy.

Once considered a strong prospect for the 2021 MLB Draft, the 6-foot-4, 225 pound southpaw is somewhat of a lottery ticket this time around given his injury history and that scouts simply haven’t been able to see him much as of late. He is set to continue his collegiate career at Liberty University.

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FSS Event History: Clarke burst onto the scene as a member of the Dirtbags back in 2019 when he was just 16 years old, dazzling development staff with eye-popping secondary stuff at the National Tournaments that ultimately earned him an invite to International Week as one of the youngest players at the event, where he held his own as one of the pitchers on the National Team.

At the time, Clarke was lauded for his loose and quick arm action, as well as a slider that had a chance to emerge as a plus pitch for him.

Current Ranking in Joe Doyle’s FSS Plus Top 600: 583

Joe Doyle on Brandon Clarke:

Clarke was incredibly heralded in the 2021 MLB Draft, but went unselected after injury concerns and a velocity dip killed his helium. Having already undergone TJ in 2020, Clarke is fully healthy now. At his best, Clarke can touch 95 from an athletic southpaw delivery. He’s showcased an above average slider with depth and two-plane tilt with mid-80s velo at times too. He’s also turned over a splitter now and again. Clarke is streaky in terms of throwing strikes and showing his best stuff, so teams will need to buy into the premium stuff if they’re to buy in 2023.

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Mike Ashmore

Mike Ashmore is a veteran baseball writer. Since 2003 he has covered multiple World Series and has worked high-profile events ranging from the MLB All-Star Game to the World Baseball Classic. In addition to his role working for Future Stars Series, the New Jersey native currently serves as the beat writer of the Double-A New York Yankees affiliate, the Somerset Patriots, as well as national hockey writer and New York Jets game day beat reporter for The Trentonian. Ashmore has worked six Super Bowls, ten Stanley Cup Finals, the NBA Playoffs, College Football Playoff National Championship Game, Frozen Four, Daytona 500, major UFC events and much more as he approaches 3,000 games covered in his career.

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