Riley Ferrell

Teams have stopped drafting college relievers in the first round. Nick Burdi (picked 46th) and Jacob Lindgren (picked 55th) were the top two relievers taken last year and Corey Knebel (picked 39th) was the only college reliever taken in the top two rounds in 2013. That trend will likely continue this year. College relievers can deliver a quick payoff, though, and none may pay off quicker than Ferrell. Pro teams will be able to take a gloves-off approach this season with Ferrell because he's been so lightly used this spring. TCU's starting pitchers have been so effective that Ferrell had just 25 innings of work as the Big 12 tournament neared. Ferrell has shown that his stuff holds up very well in the very infrequent times he's been used on back-to-back nights, He's averaging only 16 pitches per outing and has topped 30 pitches only once all year. He's posted sub 1.00 ERAs both as a sophomore and junior. Ferrell's 92-96 mph plus fastball has touched 98 mph at times, and he pairs it with a plus mid-80s slider that has depth more than tilt. Ferrell also has a changeup with potential that he doesn't really use in games as a reliever but could become much more important if a team decides to see if he can start. While his up-tempo delivery has some effort, his arm stroke is clean. There are teams who view him as a potential three-pitch starter but more likely he's an effective power reliever with a chance to close.