Jack Brannigan

Brannigan is a two-way player at Notre Dame, but he’s the club’s everyday third baseman and only sporadically pitched. He wants to hit and he has had much more success as a hitter than pitcher, but scouts have long been intrigued by his exceptional arm strength as a pitcher. Brannigan is an extremely athletic player with loud tools. His best-case outcomes could see him being a Gold Glove third baseman or a fireballing pitcher, but he’s yet to get close to his potential at either spot so far. As a hitter, Brannigan gets caught on his front foot too often, and he can be induced to expand his strike zone. He flashes plus raw power, but he doesn’t consistently drive the ball. He’s a plus-plus runner, although he’s not a savvy base stealer. Defensively, he’s a plus defender at third with a plus-plus arm. There are enough tools here to let Brannigan go out as a hitter, as if he makes some adjustments at the plate, he could be an impact defender at third base with solid power. If he doesn’t make it work as a hitter, he always has a fallback option as a pitcher. Without really working much on his pitching, he’s sitting 96-97 mph and touching 99-100 while flashing a plus slider. His fastball has average life. His control is below average for now, but with his athleticism there are reasons to think it could improve significantly if he focused on pitching—he’s thrown fewer than 25 innings in his three years at Notre Dame.