Jack Conlon

Conlon has had a litany of adversity to deal with over the last few years. Coming out of high school, he agreed to a deal with the Orioles as a fourth-round pick, but the Orioles found something in Conlon’s medical report they didn’t like. He was then declared a free agent and came close to signing with the Giants before they also found something in his medical exam. He instead headed to Texas A&M, where he barely pitched as a freshman thanks in part to decreased velocity. He showed a better (91-93 mph) fastball in the Cape Cod League last summer before transferring to San Jacinto (Texas) JC. But after arriving at San Jac, Conlon missed all of fall ball with an illness. He came out this spring trying to regain the weight and strength he lost over the fall. His stuff was below expectations for much of the season. He went 1-2, 6.87 with 20 walks in 18 innings to go with 21 strikeouts. At the very end of the year, his fastball once again touched 95-96 and his slider also improved thanks to better arm speed. It will take a team that liked what they saw from him late to keep him from getting to Rice next year.