Early Scouting Reports For 4 Top MLB Draft College Pitching Prospects

To that point, we’re diving deep into the first two starts of all four of the college pitchers we currently have ranked inside the first round—Florida State’s Jamie Arnold, UC Santa Barbara’s Tyler Bremner, Oklahoma’s Kyson Witherspoon and Stanford’s Matt Scott. 

There are brief notes on each of our other top 100 college arms (plus Louisville’s Patrick Forbes) below, as well. 

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Jamie Arnold, LHP, Florida State

• Draft Rank: 3 
• Season Stats: 2 GS, 11 IP, 0.00 ERA, 16 K, 0 BB, 43.2 K%, 0.0 BB% 

The top-ranked pitcher in the class has cruised through his first two outings of the season. Arnold threw six shutout innings against James Madison in week one, then followed up with five shutout innings against Pennsylvania in week two. He’s been efficient in both outings, issuing no walks and throwing just 75 and 64 pitches, respectively. 

As is typical for Arnold, he’s primarily attacking hitters with his fastball/slider combination. He’s averaged 93.1 mph on his fastball in his first two starts, which is a bit lighter than his 2024 fastball average of 93.8. The slider continues to look the part of a reliable, plus offering with sweeping action from a low release point and sits in the 80-86 mph range. He’s generated 13 whiffs on each pitch, with the fastball running a 28% whiff rate and the slider running a 68% whiff rate so far. The fastball gets whiffs at the top of the zone while the slider has generated whiffs in the middle, at the bottom and off the plate to his glove side on chases.

If Arnold’s 16:0 strikeout-to-walk rate didn’t make it clear, he’s also continued to throw strikes at an impressive clip. His overall 70% strike rate is a strong number, and it’s driven by a 71% fastball strike rate and 74% slider strike rate. He’s attacking the zone with his best two pitches and making hitters work to get on base against him. Unsurprisingly, they’ve struggled. Opposing batters are hitting just .088/.088/.118 against his fastball and slider with two singles and a double.

What has been a bit different for Arnold is his changeup usage. In 2024, he used the pitch just 4% of the time and almost exclusively vs. righties. Because of that limited usage—as well as his strengths in basically every other area—developing a changeup was a key “to-do list” item for Arnold this spring. 

Through his first two starts, Arnold has used the pitch more frequently against righties, with a 15% usage rate in those matchups and a 10% usage rate overall—more than doubling his usage from a year ago. He throws the pitch in the mid 80s, and it features a ton of movement, both fade to his arm side and tumbling action straight to the ground. The movement profile is too extreme for Arnold to control at times, and because of that, his 50% strike rate lags behind his fastball/slider. Still, the pitch has the velocity separation and movement to be an effective secondary as he develops more feel for it. To this point, he’s used it exclusively in neutral or pitcher’s counts.

Arnold’s fastball and slider are more than enough to carve Division I hitters. He proved that in 2024. But scouts are definitely glad to see him flashing this third piece more frequently. 

Tyler Bremner, RHP, UC Santa Barbara

• Draft Rank: 4
• Season Stats: 2 GS, 6 IP, 4.50 ERA, 8 K, 0 BB, 33.3 K%, 0.0 BB%

Bremner, the No. 2 pitcher in the class, has had a slightly rockier start to the 2025 season compared to Arnold. He was pulled as a precaution after three innings in week one after experiencing some tightness related to cold weather but toed the rubber in week two against Seattle. He again threw just three innings but had six strikeouts and no walks while allowing five hits, including a pair of home runs and a double.

From a pure stuff standpoint, Bremner has looked great. He’s sitting in the mid 90s with his fastball, and both his changeup and slider have overwhelmed opposing hitters and have been pitches with which he’s dominated the zone. The changeup and slider have combined for 15 of the 23 whiffs he’s generated this season. No one has gotten a hit off of either, and he’s finished seven of his eight strikeouts with one or the other. 

Despite Bremner’s plus velocity, the fastball has been a pitch that opposing batters have jumped on early this season. Each of the five hits he’s allowed have come against the fastball. In four of those occasions, he’s started the fastball up on the glove side third of the plate (in vs. lefties and out vs. righties) only to see the pitch run back over the heart of the zone where it gets hit hard. This was the case for the first home run Bremner allowed last Friday. The second homer he gave up was a down-and-in fastball in a decent location that Seattle center fielder and righthanded hitter Sam Kane simply put a good swing on. 

The precision of Bremner’s fastball command moving forward will be something to watch, as will his ability to simply overpower Big West hitters in the middle of the zone when he misses. There were times in his second game when Bremner opted to pitch off his changeup, which is a 70-grade pitch because of its tremendous tumble, great velocity separation and his conviction and command of it. He’s confident throwing the changeup in any count and either landing it at the bottom of the zone or below it as a chase pitch.

The slider was a focal point for Bremner entering the spring, and the pitch flashed plus a number of times in his second outing with excellent two-plane finish and bite that makes it a swing-and-miss pitch vs. both lefties and righties when he keeps it down. There are times when he’ll leave the pitch up and to his glove side, where it backs up and flattens out, but it’s easy to look at Bremner and see three above-average or better pitches when he’s right. 

Now it’s simply a matter of extending his outings and turning over a lineup a few times. 

Kyson Witherspoon, RHP, Oklahoma

• Draft Rank: 23
• Season Stats: 2 GS, 12 IP, 2.25 ERA, 21 K, 2 BB, 47.7%, 4.5 BB%

Witherspoon is among the nation’s strikeout leaders after his first two starts of the season. He struck out nine in five innings against Lehigh in week one and then last weekend struck out 12 in seven innings against Minnesota.

Missing barrels hasn’t been much of a question mark for him, historically. Throwing more strikes has. Witherspoon walked 11.2% of batters in 2024, and through two starts in 2025, he’s walked just two—good for a 4.5% walk rate. His overall strike rate is up from 61% in 2024 to 68%. That’s a significant improvement in control and will bolster his draft stock if he can maintain it over the course of the spring. 

Witherspoon’s main offering is still his mid-90s fastball. He’s averaged 96.1 mph over two starts and touched 99 already. However, he has dialed back his fastball usage dramatically in his first two starts compared to 2024. A year ago, he threw his fastball 58% of the time. So far, that’s down to 44% in 2025. 

There’s a bit of noise in how Synergy is categorizing Witherspoon’s breaking balls, but he’s using a slider, cutter and curveball more than half the time so far this season. The mid-80s slider is his main secondary. It varies in power and shape in the 83-90 mph range and has consistently flashed plus for scouts. It will blend into more of a true cutter at the 88-90 mph range and look a bit slurvier at times in the low 80s.

Witherspoon spoke about his work on a changeup over the offseason. He flashed a solid changeup in 2024 that generated a 47% miss rate on 7% usage, but he has used the changeup even less frequently in his first two starts this season. The pitch has impressive armside running life at around 90 mph and looks like a swing-and-miss offering to lefties, but he has struggled to command it consistently so far.

Witherspoon did throw a few true curveballs with 12-to-6 shape in his first game against Lehigh, but he struggled to get on top of the pitch, and it looked quite a bit behind his slider/cutter. 

In general, Witherspoon has heavily attacked his glove side with all of his pitch types. So while his early-season control is good to see, something to watch for the rest of the spring will be how well he’s able to attack to his arm side—particularly with the fastball in right-on-right matchups. 

Matt Scott, RHP, Stanford

• Draft Rank: 24
• Season Stats: 2 GS, 11.1 IP, 0.79 ERA, 14 K, 3 BB, 31.3 K%, 6.7 BB%

After teasing big-time stuff but having up-and-down performance in his first two seasons with Stanford, Scott’s first two outings in 2025 have been rock solid. He struck out four and walked two in 5.1 innings against Cal State Fullerton opening weekend. Then in week two, he threw six shutout innings against Washington with 10 strikeouts and one walk.

Stuff wise, Scott looks similar so far in 2025 compared to 2024. He’s still throwing his fastball in the 92-95 mph range and complementing it with a hard, slider/cutter in the upper 80s. However, he’s dialed back his fastball usage significantly in his first two starts. 

In these two starts, Scott has essentially inverted his fastball/breaking ball usage from 2024. A year ago, he threw his heater more than 60% of the time and his breaking ball about a third of the time. His usage right now is 31% fastballs and 62% breaking balls—with the final bit made up of right-on-left changeups.

Scouts noted in the offseason that Scott’s fastball got hit around at times, but their preferred solution was for him to try attacking the top of the zone more frequently this spring after seemingly going after the bottom of the zone in his first two seasons. His fastball strike rate is up, and his fastball location does appear to be closer to the top of the zone, but the extreme usage shift seems more notable thus far.

While Scott’s breaking ball usage is way up, he’s attacking lefties with a solid blend of his entire mix, including a 34% changeup usage. The low-80s changeup has been solid, if unspectacular, with soft fading life and a 10-mph velocity gap to his fastball. Scott’s arm speed will lag a bit at times, but he has shown a solid ability to throw the pitch for strikes in the early going. 

Quick Hits On More Top 100 Arms

• Liam Doyle, LHP, Tennessee (No. 52) — Doyle has been dominant in his first two starts. He leads the country with 25 strikeouts and a ridiculous 75.8% strikeout rate. He struck out 11 batters vs. Hofstra in five innings week one and then 14 batters vs. Samford week two. He’s averaging 95.1 mph on his fastball—nearly three ticks better than in 2024—and has generated a colossal 40.9% swinging strike rate with the pitch on 76% usage.
• Patrick Forbes, RHP, Louisville (No. 178) — Forbes was one of the buzziest draft prospects after a week one showing in Texas, and he followed that up with a nine-strikeout, five-inning shutout effort vs. Western Michigan in week two. He owns a 1.80 ERA with a 20:1 strikeout-to-walk rate in his first two outings.  
• Gabe Davis, RHP, Oklahoma (No. 53) — Davis was the night one starter vs. Clemson in week one and then pitched out of the bullpen in week two when Oklahoma State had just a single weekend game. Overall, he owns a 5.06 ERA over 5.1 innings with seven strikeouts and three walks. He’s averaged 95.1 mph on his fastball.
• Riley Quick, RHP, Alabama (No. 56) — Quick delivered on his offseason hype with a brief week one outing and followed it up with four shutout innings against NC State last Saturday. He’s averaging 97.1 mph with his fastball in those two short outings and showed better fastball control in his second start. Overall, he has eight strikeouts and one walk in seven innings. 
• Landon Beidelschies, LHP, Arkansas (No. 57) — Beidelschies has one start and one relief appearance under his belt this season. He has seven strikeouts and two walks in 7.2 innings and is averaging 91.7 mph with his fastball—about a tick lighter than his 2024 velocity.
• JD Thompson, LHP, Vanderbilt (No. 59) — Thompson’s peripherals are solid with an 11:3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his first two starts, but he has been hit around a bit. He allowed three hits in 4.2 shutout innings against Grand Canyon, then allowed seven hits in four innings against Saint Mary’s last Friday. Six of the seven hits he allowed against Saint Mary’s came from righthanded hitters, though a number of them were relatively weakly hit balls that snuck through the infield.
• AJ Russell, RHP, Tennessee (No. 61) — Russell made his 2025 season debut Tuesday night in a brief, one-inning start against North Alabama. He struck out all three batters he faced and threw just 17 pitches in the abbreviated outing. A preseason first-team All-American, Russell had surgery to repair a torn UCL last June, and his timeline prior to Tuesday was uncertain.
• Chase Shores, RHP, LSU (No. 68) — A pick to click for many scouts this spring, Shores has been great to start the season. He struck out seven in five innings against Purdue Fort Wayne in week one, then struck out six in five shutout innings against Omaha in week two. He owns a 0.90 ERA, 35.1% strikeout rate and 5.4% walk rate and has averaged 95.9 mph with his fastball. 
• Kade Anderson, LHP, LSU (No. 97) — Anderson earned the Friday night job for LSU to start the season and has pitched well in his first two games. He owns a 1.74 ERA over 10.1 innings with 16 strikeouts and three walks. His 91.8 mph fastball has missed a ton of barrels at the top of the zone. 
• Zach Root, LHP, Arkansas (No. 76) — Root will have to wait a few weeks to get his first taste of SEC competition, but his first two starts in an Arkansas uniform have gone nicely: five one-run innings vs. Washington State and five one-run innings vs. TCU. His 18:3 strikeout-to-walk rate is strong, he’s averaged 92.9 mph on his fastball and he’s thrown his entire four-pitch mix for strikes at a strong clip. 
• Anthony Eyanson, RHP, LSU (No. 83) — Eyanson has assumed the Saturday starter role for LSU to start the season and, like both his rotation mates, he has pitched well so far. He’s averaging 92 mph on his fastball, is landing his curve for strikes at a loud clip and owns a 0.82 ERA in 11 innings with 13 strikeouts and two walks.  
• Zane Adams, LHP, Alabama (No. 84) — Adams had a four-inning, three-run game against Bradley with no strikeouts to start the year. In week two, he struck out six and walked three vs. Coastal Carolina. Overall, he has a 4.32 ERA in 8.1 innings with six strikeouts and five walks. He’s averaged 90.8 mph with his high-usage fastball but has struggled to throw his changeup and curveball for strikes. 
• Braden Osbolt, RHP, Kennesaw State (No. 89) — Osbolt is one of the few pitchers outside of the Power 4 conferences that falls in the top 100 of our current rankings. Scouts raved about him in the fall. He’s pounded the strike zone early with a fastball/slider/changeup combination and owns a 2.70 ERA over 10 innings with 10 strikeouts and just one walk. 
• Justin Lamkin, LHP, Texas A&M (No. 90) — Lamkin has pitched around a lot of traffic in his first two starts. He allowed six hits and two walks in four innings vs. Elon in week one, then walked three and allowed a pair of hits in six innings vs. Cal Poly in week two. Despite that, he owns a 2.70 ERA in 10 innings, with 13 strikeouts and five walks. 
• Nate Snead, RHP, Tennessee (No. 98) — Snead threw three innings against Hofstra in a starting role during week one, then pitched 4.1 innings as a piggyback reliever behind Marcus Phillips against Samford in week two. He averaged 96.2 mph on his fastball as a multi-inning reliever in 2024. So far in 2025, he’s averaged 94.2 mph in his more-extended pitching role. 
• James Ellwanger, RHP, Dallas Baptist (No. 99) — Ellwanger has been used conservatively early this season after throwing just 17.2 innings last spring. He hasn’t gone beyond three innings or 49 pitches in either of his first two starts. Ellwanger has a 10:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio, a 1.50 ERA and is averaging 95.3 mph with his fastball while flashing a plus slider in the mid 80s. 
• Ryan Prager, LHP, Texas A&M (No. 100) — It seems difficult to imagine Prager topping his sensational 2024 season, but through two starts and 10 innings he’s not allowed a run—earned or not. He has 10 strikeouts and four walks in that time. More importantly for scouts, his fastball velocity is down a few ticks at 87.5 mph compared to 89.7 mph in 2024. He doesn’t have much margin to give away any more velocity. Through his first two starts in 2024, he averaged 91 mph. He’ll need to add more power to replicate—or exceed—his third-round draft status from a year ago.