Mariners Draft Profile: Coastal Carolina SS Eric Brown
Coastal Carolina shortstop Eric Brown is an interesting option for the Mariners with pick No. 21 in the first round of next week's draft.
As a 21-year old, Brown should move quickly through the minor leagues, especially with his polish. In many ways, Brown is similar to Campbell shortstop Zach Neto; both tore up their mid-major conferences while also displaying above-average all-around skills in the Cape Cod League.
In the Cape, Brown slashed.282/.375/.436 with five home runs and three doubles. This year at Coastal Carolina, he slashed .330/.460/.544 with seven home runs, two triples and 19 doubles. He has displayed versatility all around the infield, but projects to stick at shortstop long-term because he is a great athlete and already above-average defensively. He has great instincts and reacts well.
Although Brown is an average runner, he is aggressive and has shown an ability to steal bases. In the Cape, he went 13 out of 15 on stolen base attempts, but for his career, he has averaged a much more modest 75 percent stolen base success rate.
Brown is special because he barely chases and he barely whiffs. The bat-to-ball skills are among the best in the class. He had a 28:39 strikeout to walk ratio this year. Even against Power-5 conferences this year, he had a chase rate of nine percent, a whiff rate of 6 percent and a 61 percent hard-hit rate. He literally had more extra-base hits than swings and misses this past season, and also has plus raw power with a recorded 113.7 max exit velocity and great bat speed.
Combined some prep and college data to end up a simple graphic that shows chase and whiff rates for top draft prospects.
— 🎯 (@mason_mcrae) July 1, 2022
Eric Brown stands out on the college side, and Green might be able to overcome the whiffs because of the decisions/impact. pic.twitter.com/lKw1UYueLg
The knock on Brown is that he has a really weird setup pre-pitch. While he has not given any indication this is going to be an issue long-term, some scouts and outlets are turned off by its unorthodox nature. Some may also question Brown's mid-major track record and view the Cape sample as insufficient. He is also undersized at 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds, but it does not seem to detract from his raw power potential. It remains to be seen if his plus raw power will translate into plus game power.
Here’s the Sweeney of this years draft; Coastal’s Eric Brown. The set-up is weird, but who cares because he performs.
— 🎯 (@mason_mcrae) March 18, 2022
The swing decisions are legit and he has really good bat-to-ball. He’s pretty much good at every quantifiable skillset. pic.twitter.com/CrpUkFMZcs
Brown's profile and upside are some of the best in the class: a long-term, up-the-middle athlete with above-average range and arm strength to pair with plus raw power and potentially the best contact and plate discipline skills in the draft.
Potentially, Brown could be signed for under slot value since he is a college player. There is a very good chance he will be available when Seattle picks, though he is moving up boards fast and reportedly has a lot of interest later in the first round.
MLB Draft Profiles
Spencer Jones | Zach Neto | Jett Williams | Cooper Hjerpe | Chase DeLauter
