It has been rare in the Theo Epstein era for the Cubs to select a pitcher and draw overwhelming praise for that selection. Such was the case this year when the Cubs took lefty Burl Carraway out of Dallas Baptist in the second round of the 2020 MLB draft. Most talent evaluators said that Caraway would probably be the first player from this year’s class to make the majors.
Height – 6’
Weight – 173
Throws – Left
Age – 21
ETA – Very soon
The first thing you notice about Carraway is that he’s basically a 2-pitch pitcher. The mid fastball usually sits 95 to 96 and he can get it up there a little higher occasionally. Then Carraway can come back with a devastating curveball in the upper 70s to low 80s. But it wasn’t always that way.
Coming out of high school, Carraway was not highly recruited. He had played outfield and pitched some but was throwing in the mid-80s, nothing overwhelming. By the end of his freshman year, he d only gotten into 2 games as a pitcher for Dallas Baptist and had an ERA of 99.00. But the coaches could see that the talent was there; he was just extremely raw.
In the summer of 2018, he went to High Point, North Carolina where he played in the Coastal Plain League. It was there that he began to control, somewhat, his 2-pitch repertoire. In 12 games, he worked 25.1 innings with an ERA of 3.20. He struck out an amazing 45 guys while walking 14.
When Carraway returned to Dallas Baptist in the spring of 2019, he was still the same guy, but he was not the same pitcher. In 28 games, Carraway posted a 2.81 ERA and got in 41.2 innings of work. He also struck out 72 guys. Carraway’s dominance would earn him a spot last summer on the USA National Collegiate team. He only pitched in five games for Team USA as he threw 4.1 innings and struck out seven while only walking two and he did not give up an earned run. As well, he only gave up three hits.
In the spring of 2020, Carraway struck out out 17, hitters hit just .172 off of him, he posted a 0.96 ERA, all in just 9.1 innings of work.
https://twitter.com/HonestOpns/status/1270766466053230600
The great thing about Carraway is there’s no shortage of video on him. And being that he only has two pitches, you get a pretty good idea of what he can do fairly quickly. It’s easy to see why he had the highest ranked fastball in the draft by Baseball America and you can also see why his curve was also near the top.
If there had been baseball this year, Carraway probably would’ve signed and gone straight to Myrtle Beach for a little bit and then to Tennessee and maybe Iowa, if he just completely dominated. Let’s take a look at why Jim Callis thinks he’s going to be the first player from this draft in the majors.
As for his future, I could see him in the bullpen next year in Chicago. Whether that’s in April or June, it doesn’t really matter. Carraway can press the issue with his performance. Here is what a couple of other mags said of his talent and future.
Prospects Live – “Everything about Carraway’s movements on the mound are quick. His arm is like a slingshot and he uses his lower half well to create velocity. His fastball gets up to 97 mph and curveball is a great offering too. In terms of pure stuff, it’s been said on more than one occasion, that he could be plugged into a big league bullpen right now.”
Unfortunately for Carraway, pure stuff isn’t the only measure that counts. His command needs improvement. He’s walked 31 batters in 51 innings of work in college, including 6 walks in 9 innings before the 2020 season came to a close.
Carraway is a pretty exciting pick. Someone with that type of repertoire does not need to spend a lot of time in the minors.
Cubs Central 
[…] Cubs signed top pick Ed Howard earlier in the week, but they added Burl Carraway, Koen Moreno, and Luke Little to the fold today. That leaves OF/DH Jordan Nwogu as the last pick to […]
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[…] I profiled Burl Carraway last month, I speculated that he would not be long for the minors. Word leaked this afternoon […]
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