Maddux Bruns

There’s likely not a pitcher in the 2021 class who has as much pure arm talent as Bruns. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound lefthander wowed scouts last summer at Perfect Game’s National Showcase, running his fastball up to 97 mph and flashing two breaking balls that were both plus pitches. At later events it was clear that Bruns’ control and command were well behind his pure stuff, and he struggled not only to hit his spots but to get the ball around the zone. That made him something of an enigma entering the spring, as no one in the industry doubted his pure stuff and upside, but seemingly everyone was scared about his strike-throwing ability and the reliever risk that came with it. Scouts in the South did see better control from Bruns this spring against poor competition, but they still commented he was much more of a control-over-command arm. Bruns is strong and physical, and attacks hitters with a vertical arm slot that creates plane and a crossfire delivery that adds to his deception. While he can run his fastball up to 97-98, he pitches more effectively in the lower 90s. Bruns throws a 12-to-6 curveball in the mid-70s with tremendous depth and also has a hard slider in the low 80s with power and late biting action. On top of that, some scouts have even graded his low-80s changeup as a plus offering, but he’s not used it much to this point. Bruns is committed to Alabama, but a team could easily take a shot on his massive upside somewhere in the top-two rounds.