Hello and welcome. It feels like forever since we did our first ever Top 100 list this winter. We’ll be updating our lists throughout the year to include new prospects, but we’ll vote on a new top 100 twice a year. One mid-season, one in the offseason. In case you missed our last top 100 segment, here is a link to every write up we did this winter.

This season, our top 100 we’ll consist of an aggregate of four of our writers’ individual lists. We average the lists out to give you a consensus top 100.

Check out the rest of our list here:

100-91
90-81
80-71
70-61
60-51
50-41
40-31
30-26
25-21
20-16
15-11
10-6
5

4. Brady Singer, RHP

DOB: 8/4/1996
B/T: R/R
Ht/Wt: 6’5″ 210 lbs
Levels Played, 2018: N/A
Acquired: 2018 MLB Draft, 1st Round
ETA: 2020
2018 Stats: N/A

A guy that I did not foresee being drafted by the Royals at all pre-draft, Brady Singer found his way to pick 18 with an unexpected turn of script on draft night and big financial demands. There were other guys I would have liked with that pick (Nolan Gorman, Trevor Larnach, and at the time Cole Wilcox) and I wasn’t really prepared to have a draft opinion on Singer at 18, due to the my unexpectedness of him falling there. All in all though, it’s hard to be mad about landing a consensus top 10 guy in that situation.

I’m more on the bullish side of things with Singer. I think he’s neck-and-neck with Jackson Kowar for the title of top pitching prospect in the organization. I even think it wouldn’t be crazy to say he’s the best prospect in the system, due to his incredibly high-floor for a pitcher. The ETA on him is very interesting. Best case scenario, he’s in the bigs sometime next year. Barring injury or big humps developmentally, it’s hard to picture him making his debut post-2020, which would fit this questionable quick-rebuild approach by the Royals. But with that said, he could easily be the first guy from this draft to make his debut.

Much of the work is already done with Singer. He was probably the most advanced arm available for picking. Compared to the other pitchers drafted before him and right after him, his upside is somewhat limited. A guy that struck out exactly nine per nine in college doesn’t really ring dominance, but nonetheless he did put up good numbers his sophomore and junior seasons against SEC competition. From the few starts I watched of him this year, he kept the hard-contact to a minimum, inducing weak contact on the ground with a mid-90s fastball that seemed to have plenty of cross movement. Both plus on the command and control.

Along with the mid-90s vertical fastball he adds in a fairly decent changeup with strong fade away from the arm. The curveball isn’t anything special, but it’s a slurvy type breaking ball with some potential. He definitely has the looks of holding three solid, yet non-eye-popping pitches at the big league level. If anything will hurt him, it’s the fact that he doesn’t possess a truly dominant pitch.

Here’s a fastball with some wicked run.

And a beautiful breaking ball.

A lean figure and enticing presence on the mound, Singer works at a strong downhill angle, while adding in a messy, quick, and overall unique arm slot, which is at least a little concerning with for his long-term arm health. There’s a lot of movement on the lower-half with the front leg, showing a high leg raise with a quick kick before he lands.

For an organization that’s struggled with early draft talent and pitching development, Singer seems like playing the safe card. At worst, the messy arm angle will hurt his durability and send him to the bullpen down the road, where he could have a high-ceiling as a reliever. Or he just ends up as a back-end rotation guy. Ceiling is probably along the lines of a #3, something the Royals don’t have a lot of.

Photo Credits: Peter Aiken—Getty Images