Bryce Elder

A polished college righthander with a 6-foot-2, 220-pound frame, Elder doesn’t have the loudest stuff, but he does have a solid three-pitch mix, an advanced feel for pitching and a solid track record of starting at Texas. After an iffy freshman season out of the Longhorns bullpen, Elder shined in a starting role as a sophomore and had the same success through four starts in an abbreviated 2020 season. Elder throws a sinking fastball in the 88-93 mph range that induces plenty of groundouts, a potentially above-average slider that is his current out pitch and a changeup that improved last fall. His sinker/slider combination is his bread and butter at the moment, but Elder is smart on the mound and has a good idea of what to throw in different situations. Elder is the type of player whose track record is heavily beneficial for his draft stock, so another strong season as a starter would have helped his cause, but teams already feel relatively safe with his history of strike-throwing and quality three-pitch mix.