Brannon Jordan

Jordan had some interest as a top-five-round pick in the shortened 2020 draft, but he wound up going undrafted and made it back to South Carolina for his second season with the program after transferring in from Cowley County (Kan.) JC in 2019. Jordan was lights out for the Gamecocks in 2020, posting a 1.71 ERA over four starts, but his control backed up this spring and he managed just a 4.58 ERA over 15 starts and 72.2 innings. He still struck out batters at a decent clip (12.1 K/9), but his walk rate jumped from 3.9 BB/9 to 5.9 BB/9. Jordan has a four-pitch mix but primarily works off of his low-90s fastball and low-80s slider. The fastball has touched 95 mph at its peak and scouts like how it plays in the zone, while his slider flashes plus potential, but he doesn’t consistently hit on the pitch. When he throws a good one, it shows hard tilt in the 83-85 mph range and creates ugly swings from opposing batters from either side of the plate. Jordan also throws a slower curveball with more 12-to-6 shape and a seldomly used mid-80s changeup. The changeup has shown interesting tumbling life at times, but it’s tough for scouts to fully evaluate it with how often he’s thrown the pitch. Jordan was less consistent from start to start this season than scouts expected and there are starter/reliever questions given his strike throwing this year.