Florida’s Friday night starter, right-hander [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag], is trading in the Orange and Blue for… another pair of orange and blue.
No, the Gators aren’t getting Sproat back for another year. The New York Mets once again drafted the flamethrowing righty and are likely to sign him this time around. Those who follow closely will remember that Sproat turned down a third-round deal from the Mets after last year’s draft to chase a national championship in the Swamp.
While Sproat ultimately came up short of that national title quest, he did elevate his draft stock and earned himself a decent chunk of change. The slot value for the 56th overall pick this year is just under $1.5 million, while the 90th overall pick in last year’s draft was slotted to receive $691,300. That’s an increase of almost $800,000.
The stuff has always been there for Sproat. His fastball can touch triple digits and his changeup really turned into a devastating offspeed option this season. Establishing his breaking stuff should be easy if he can get those other two pitches down consistently. Scouts say they want to see that ride-and-run action on the fastball a bit more often than they did in 2023.
If Sproat can figure things out, he’ll move up the system rather quickly. A year or two in Double-A is reasonable if all goes well. Look for him to make the majors around late 2025 or early 2026 in that scenario.
Sproat leaves Florida with a career 4.27 ERA over 223 2/3 innings. He struck out 242 batters while giving up 114 runs (106 earned) on 202 hits and 99 walks.
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