Kyle Funkhouser

Righthanders Mark Appel and Luke Hochevar turned down millions as first-round picks as juniors, returned to school and became the No. 1 overall pick. That will not happen for Funkhouser as he's struggled with consistency, command and stuff in an inconsistent senior season after turning down the Dodgers as the 35th pick in the 2015 draft. After a particularly poor outing against Virginia he was bumped from being Louisville's Friday starter to pitching on Sundays. Funkhouser's stuff did pick up as the season wore on. His 88-92 mph fastball started touching 93-95 on a more regular basis. But even then his lack of consistency vexed evaluators. Funkhouser struggles to locate his plus fastball at the top registers of his velocity. His breaking ball--he's shifted more to a curve late in the season, shelving his slider--flashes above-average, but this year it's much more regularly been a fringe average offeringwith little bite. His changeup also earns fringy grades. Funkhouser's sum of his parts is often less than the pieces, as he struggles to maintain consistent stuff and command over the length of his starts. His control troubles are especially notable against lefthanded hitters-he's walked eight batters per nine innings in matchups versus lefties. Funkhouser still should be at least a useful power reliever, where he could simplify his pitch selection and his control troubles would be lessened. Industry sources are more skeptical of his chances of sticking as a starter than there were a year ago.