Mason Black

Coming into the year, Black looked like a candidate to go in the top-two rounds of the draft. He shortened his arm action and his stuff flattened out, with his stock falling by the end of the regular season. He finished the season giving up five runs (two earned) in four innings against Navy on May 15, then surrendered eight runs (five earned) in 3.2 innings in a May 26 loss to Army to close the year. Even in those clunkers at the end of the season, Black was running his fastball up to 97 mph, sitting at 91-94 mph. At his best, he threw a low-80s slider that was a solid-average pitch flashing plus with good bite and two-plane depth, showing the ability to get swings and misses against both righties and lefties. His changeup flashed as an average to a tick above-average pitch with good tailing life and separation off his fastball when it was on, though it was inconsistent. More often this spring, though, Black didn’t show the high-end quality of his secondary stuff. Loose command also plagued Black, who walked 3.9 batters per nine innings. Some scouts are down on Black, but a team that saw him at his best and believes it can iron out what went wrong could view him as a buy-low candidate.