First off, I think in 15 years of draft previews that’s the first time I’ve ever typed C/SS. It’s an odd positional combo, but is a sign of some unusual athleticism for the guy squatting behind the plate. Brick was not on my radar to review, but Kiley McDaniel of ESPN mocked him to the Phillies last week. Since all my previews feel like they’ve been of Catchers and Shortstops, why not go for the combo here?
Brick is a 6’2″, 195 lbs 18 year old who reclassified from the 2027 Draft last Fall. He currently
attends Christian Brothers High School in Memphis, TN. As noted above he’s played both Catcher and Shortstop at a high level, but is expected to be able to stick behind the dish. He has a College commitment to Mississippi State and is currently Baseball America’s 62nd ranked prospect. He’s a right handed batter and while you should never draft for need, the system is short on RHB and potential future starting Catchers. If you think a group of players are roughly equal, it’s fine to use need as a tie-breaker and perhaps that could be the case here.
To talk some skills, Brick has a double plus arm and consistently puts up sub 1.9 second pop times (he’s even thrown runners out at 2nd from his knees). His lateral agility is excellent and he shows a lot of promise being able to block pitches in the dirt and get to off target throws (he’s a bit of a, ahem, Brick wall, one might say). He’s a prep Catcher, so the receiving isn’t perfect and will need some work, but the tools are all there and he’s already very advanced for his age. His speed is below average, but better than you may expect from a Catcher. He won’t be stealing many bases, but he’s not slow enough to clog the basepaths either (this could change as he adds muscle and grows fully into his frame, but it’s still a better starting point).
Hitting is a mixed bag for Will. He makes a lot of contact and seems to have a good feel for a prep bat, though spin can be an issue. His swing is a good starting point, but I expect changes will be made. He shows good, above average power potential in batting practice sessions, but in game his approach is more line drive gap power oriented. His bat has not impressed as hoped this spring. He can have a passive approach at the plate and some in zone swing and miss. Additionally he hasn’t shown any growth in over the fence power. These have dropped his stock from a possible late first round pick to more of a mid-second rounder. As you can see in the below video he has a small leg kick and stride with decent balance. I could see a team asking for a bigger kick and more lift in the swing. That said he tops a lot of balls in this BP clip, it may help if his stance was less upright as he currently has his eye level a bit all over the place throughout the swing. Some of the better power he shows in the clip are on higher pitches where he keeps his eyes more level.
In game hitting video was really tough to come by. so I apologize for the below video which is a lot of skippable content. You’re looking at #2 in white/purple. The first few minutes you can watch him catching. To see him hit you have to jump to 2:18 (bloop single), 6:10 (a gap bloop he managed to stretch into a Triple, rather inadvisably probably), and the 10:05 mark when he moonshots one over the Left Field wall, thus accounting for pretty much the entirety of his team’s scoring. It’s not the best angle to analyze a swing from, but his stride seems much shorter with just a toe tap instead of a kick, except on the Homer where he gets more of a leg kick in. It’s also the lone high pitch in the video he sees.
I’d be thrilled with Brick as a Second or Third Round pick, but the rawness of the bat would make me a bit nervous, though not upset, if he was the pick at 36. There is a potentially special ceiling here, but the risks feel commensurate with a later pick.
Partially off topic, this week is the draft combine, so next week I may do a bit of an update summary on how the players I’ve profiled so far performed and if it changes anything I wrote. Also, if you watch any of the coverage and somebody really gets your radar buzzing, feel free to comment on it and I’ll add them to my list of possible write-ups.
