Texas Rangers Prospect Bratt Starts for Team Canada vs. Team USA

Mitch Bratt, a 19-year-old Texas Rangers prospect, has pitched just one full season of professional baseball.

Texas Rangers pitching prospect Mitch Bratt will start for Team Canada when it faces Team USA in World Baseball Classic pool play on Monday, MLB.com reported.

Canada (1-0) and Team USA (1-1) meet at 9 p.m. CT at Chase Field in Phoenix. The Americans, coming off an embarrassing 11-5 loss to Mexico, are starting Chicago White Sox right-hander Lance Lynn, who played for the Rangers from 2019-20.

Bratt, who is 19 and is the Rangers’ No. 17 overall per MLB.com, was selected to pitch for Team Canada last month. He is one of two Rangers competing in the WBC. The other is Martín Pérez, who started for Team Venezuela on Saturday.

Bratt, a left-hander from Canada, came to the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic to play at Georgia Premier Academy, which allowed him to be seen by MLB scouts.

The Rangers selected Bratt in the fifth round of the 2021 MLB Draft and paid him an $850,000 bonus. He threw just six innings in rookie ball in 2021 and struck out 13 while giving up just one run. He also pitched in instructional league.

Bratt pitched all of 2022 with the Low Class-A Down East Wood Ducks. He went 5-5 with a 2.45 ERA in 19 games (18 starts) and 80 2/3 innings pitched. He gave up 66 hits, 28 runs (22 earned), four home runs and 28 walks. He struck out 99, allowed a .218 opponent batting average and a 1.17 WHIP.

Bratt took some lumps early in his first full professional season. But he won all five of his games after mid-June, shaved his ERA under 2.00 as late as the end of July and never allowed it to creep over 3.00 again. His strikeout-to-walk ratio in June was incredible, fanning 21 and giving up two walks in four starts (19 innings). He gave up four runs in a game twice.

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