The Boston Red Sox have been on a tear in recent MLB Drafts, and 2024 was no exception. Their farm system has been a hot topic of conversation around MLB, and a fifth-round pick has recently captured reporters' attention.
Brandon Clarke debuted for the Red Sox organization on April 10, his 22nd birthday, and is already garnering plenty of hype. He pitched four perfect innings with five strikeouts in his first outing and followed that with a one-run performance on April 16. He's posted a 1.42 ERA with 11 strikeouts and a walk in 6.1 innings so far for the Single-A Salem Red Sox.
Being a fifth-round pick, Clarke didn't have many eyes on him before his professional debut, but Baseball America has recently rained praise on the young lefty.
Baseball America hypes up unheralded Red Sox 2024 fifth-round pick Brandon Clarke
"If you just saw him in that first start, and he was good in his second start too, but I watched that first start and you would've thought he was a first-round pick," Ben Badler said on the "Future Projection" podcast.
"I mean, six-foot-four, athletic-moving lefty, every fastball out of his hand was 95-99 miles an hour in that first start. . . The slider was a wipeout pitch. It was upper 80s, so he's throwing it with power, it had a ton of movement on it, too. . . that looks like it's going to continue to be a big time swing and miss pitch for him."
The podcast hosts cited some improvements they've noticed Clarke has made since his junior college days at State College of Florida, namely, his command of the strike zone. Clarke let up 35 walks over 74.1 innings in 2024, but he also clocked 107 strikeouts for a staggering rate of 12.96 strikeouts per nine innings. They also noted that he's added a "hellish-looking" slider to his arsenal, with which he's been able to generate plenty of swing-and-miss early in the season.
Clarke is still just in Single-A and has only pitched 6.1 innings in his professional career so far, but the changes he's made after just a few months in the Red Sox's system are encouraging. SoxProspects.com projects he'll end up a multi-innings reliever and has a ceiling as a mid-rotation starter. Clarke is ranked No. 30 in Boston's top 30 prospects, and fans should keep an eye on him to see how he rises through the ranks throughout the year.