Since being drafted in the 11th round of the 2021 draft by the Yankees, nobody has dominated Minor League Baseball quite like Jack Neely has. The 6'8", 245lb Right-Hander has put up a 2.57 ERA, and a 39.6% K rate in 129.2 Innings in his pro career.
Neely wasn’t a big time prospect at Ohio State, where he put up a 6.10 ERA in 41.1 Innings. He went into the 2021 draft unranked by MLB Pipeline on their top 250 draft prospects list.
In Neely’s first professional season in 2022, he established himself as one of the top Strikeout arms in the Minors, as he finished 4th in K/9 among MiLB pitchers with 50+ IP that year at an absurd mark of 15.56. Coming into 2023, the biggest blemish on him was his Walk rate, which sat at 11.9% in 2022.
2023 is the year that Neely started to get on radars as he dropped his Walk rate to 7.7% while maintaining his elite K rate and putting up an ERA of 2.17 in 66.1 Innings. Among pitchers with 60 IP, he led MiLB in K-BB%, was 13th in ERA, 2nd in xFIP, 11th in BAA, and 4th in WHIP. Just a dominant season in every way.
So what makes him so good? How does an 11th round pick have the best K-BB% since the start of 2021? Firstly, being 6'8" definitely doesn’t hurt. He’s able to get 6.8 Feet of Extension, placing him firmly in the 75th Percentile. His gyro Slider sits at 84–86 MPH and is the pitch he’s used to Strikeout nearly 40% of hitters every year. The pitch just falls off the table, dropping about 37 Inches on it’s way to the plate, causing batters to swing over it.
The Slider graded out well in Spring Training in terms of Stuff+, sitting at a respectable 114.6. The rest of his arsenal isn’t anything to write home about. His fastball is fine, sitting at 94–96 MPH and getting around 16" of Induced Vertical Break. He also mixes in a Cutter that tunnels well with his Slider.
So far in 2024, Neely has thrown 11 Innings, giving up just 1 Earned Run, and Striking out 17. Steamer projects Neely at a respectable 4.11 ERA in MLB. The Yankees bullpen has already dealt with a plethora of injuries so far. If Neely is able to continue pitching well, it’s not unreasonable to say he could be in the Majors this year.