Hayden Durke is a high upside arm who hasn’t been able to show it off much of late. Suspended for the 2023 season after transferring to Rice following a positive drug test that he unsuccessfully appealed on, in part, the grounds that he was “unknowingly exposed to a substance while (he) was a physical therapy patient,” the high-powered Louisiana-born righty has only been able to show what he can do in the Cape Cod League this summer.
[ninja_tables id=”21487″]FSS Event History: Durke was one of the stars of the 2020 National Tournaments playing for Team Louisiana Sheets, but had previous experience in them before that. It was the latter that earned him an opportunity at International Week in 2019, where he recorded four strikeouts coming out of the bullpen at Fenway Park in the event’s final game.
Current Ranking in Joe Doyle’s FSS Plus Top 600: 226
Joe Doyle on Durke:
Durke has pretty insane pitch data and has worked into the upper-90s at times. While durability and consistently have both come and gone for the young righty, teams know all about the upside and Durke could represent one of the bigger upside relief plays in this class. There’s not a huge track record here, but he can really spin a baseball and has been a high-follow in scouting offices for quite some time. This is the type of name that, while ranked in the day three category, could surprise everyone during the middle of day two.
