MLB Draft Combine notes: Bryce Rainer not feeling the pressure, Jack Findlay returns (2024)

PHOENIX — The spotlight has burned brightly on Bryce Rainer ever since he was a freshman. That year, he helped lead Harvard-Westlake High School to a CIF-Southern District Section Division I title, throwing a complete game in the semifinal of the tournament. The title was the second in school history, a history that includes future MLB stars Jack Flaherty, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Max Fried and Lucas Giolito, among others.

Scouts have flocked to watch Rainer play for the past four years, but rather than wither under the scrutiny, he has thrived. He starred at the National High School Invitational earlier this spring and hit a career-best .505 during his senior season, while leading Harvard-Westlake to the CIF-SS final game. Though the stakes have continued to rise every year as he’s moved closer to being draft-eligible, Rainer has never let the pressure bother him.

“I really tried not to think about it too much,” he said Wednesday at the MLB Draft Combine. “At the end of the day, it’s just a ranking. It doesn’t really mean much. You can rise and fall as easily as anyone else. I just think about it as playing the sport that I love, and if rankings come with that, with success, then that’s awesome.”

Rainer entered this season as one of the most highly regarded high school talents in the 2024 class, and he was the top high school player listed in Keith Law’s most recent top-100 prospects rating, coming in at No. 8. Law has Rainer going with the No. 7 pick to the St. Louis Cardinals in his latest mock draft.

His confidence in his abilities allowed Rainer to make a surprising decision after his freshman season. Rather than continue to play a two-way role for Harvard-Westlake, Rainer elected to focus on being a position player. He didn’t pitch at all his sophom*ore season and then threw only a handful of innings his junior and senior seasons. Though Rainer intrigued plenty of scouts with his 96 mph fastball, his prospect status only grew as he established himself as a smooth fielding shortstop with an above-average arm, a feel to hit and power potential from the left side.

But has he ruled out pitching altogether? Rainer has left that door open.

“It’s definitely something I would reconsider,” he says of the decision to stop pitching full-time. “I threw a little bit this year, but we just felt there wasn’t really a need to go out and throw a bunch of innings early on in high school.”

Regardless of whether he pitches again at any point, Rainer figures to go out to professional baseball (or to college if he elects to honor his commitment to Texas) as a shortstop. Growing up a Los Angeles Dodgers fan, the 6-foot-3 Rainer got plenty of looks at another tall, left-handed swinging shortstop —former Dodgers and current Rangers star Corey Seager. Rainer points to Seager and Milwaukee Brewers outfielder (and SoCal native) Christian Yelich as players he’s tried to emulate over the years.

Rainer is an excellent athlete, but while he played a little basketball when he was younger, baseball has always been his No. 1 love.

“I remember watching a game on TV as a kid, and I was like, I want to play that sport,” he said. “I haven’t looked back since.”

Rainer has had opportunities to hit in a few major-league ballparks now, but as he looked out at Chase Field on Wednesday, he admitted it’s still surreal to him to be on a major-league field.

“It’s a dream-coming-true type deal,” he said with a smile.

Notre Dame lefty Jack Findlay returns to the mound

Left-hander Jack Findlay got an opportunity to pitch in front of scouts on Wednesday, roughly 14 months removed from the Tommy John surgery that cost him half of his 2023 season and all of this year. The Notre Dame redshirt sophom*ore was one of the Fighting Irish’s top arms in 2022 as a freshman, helping to lead the team to the College World Series. He had a 2.17 ERA in 49 2/3 innings in 2022, making eight starts and 12 relief appearances. He continued that hybrid role in 2023 and had a 3.79 ERA in 40 1/3 innings at the time of his injury. In 90 career innings at Notre Dame, he has a 108:27 K:BB.

Findlay still has two years of eligibility remaining but will turn 22 on Aug. 18. The New Jersey native threw four different pitch types in his 14-pitch bullpen session — a four-seam fastball, a slider, a curveball and a changeup. His fastball topped out at 92.3 mph.

Jack Findlay, who helped Notre Dame reach Omaha as a freshman in 2022 but had Tommy John surgery midway through the 2023 season, is back on the mound at the Combine: pic.twitter.com/KaDT95I9eF

— Melissa Lockard (@melissalockard) June 19, 2024

Pitching performances: Dennis Colleran leads a hard-throwing group

• Northeastern right-handed reliever Dennis Colleran had an unsightly 7.97 ERA in 40 2/3 innings this season in his return from Tommy John surgery, but he did strike out 46 while walking 18, dropping his BB/9 from 9.0 in 2022 to 4.0 this season. Home runs hurt Colleran, as he allowed nine.

On Wednesday, he topped the leaderboards in fastball velocity, throwing a four-seamer at 99.2. He also threw a sinker at 98.6. He mixed in several other high-90s four-seamers and sinkers and threw a cutter that ranged from 91.4-90.7 and a changeup at 88.

• Lefty Brandon Clarke began his collegiate career at Alabama, but after being redshirted in 2022, he transferred to two-year State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota. Clarke threw only 3 2/3 innings in his first season but made 14 starts this year, posting a 4.36 ERA and a 107:35 K:BB in 74 1/3 innings. At 6-4, 220, he cut an imposing figure on the mound on Wednesday and showed a power arsenal, with a four-seam fastball that topped out at 98, a high-80s changeup and a high-70s curveball.

• Grant Knipp spent most of his collegiate career at Campbell behind the plate, but he appeared in four games as a pitcher this season and showed impressive velocity on the mound on Wednesday. He threw eight fastballs and five were between 97.2 and 97, and the other two came in at 96.6 and 95.5. He also threw three changeups, two sliders and a curveball. The 22-year-old could be an interesting senior sign selection late in Day 2 for a team that believes in the arm strength.

• Brock Moore transferred from two-year Menlo College to Oregon this year, and the 6-6 righty had a 5.81 ERA in 31 innings with a 52:20 K:BB for UO. He threw a mix of sinkers and four-seamers on Wednesday, the majority of which were thrown 96 or higher. He topped out at 98.1 mph. Moore also featured a cut-fastball, a changeup and a slider.

Hitting highlights: Samuel Richardson builds off solid HS Showcase performance

• Samuel Richardson, a third baseman from Lewisburg High School in Mississippi, hit the two hardest balls during the High School Series Showcase game on Tuesday night, with 109 mph exit velocities. He had a solid performance in batting practice on Wednesday, producing three exit velocities over 100 (108.3, 103.7 and 102.5). One of his blasts traveled 354 feet. Richardson is committed to Texas.

• Two-way player Tague Davis registered exit velocities above 100 on 10 of his 11 hits during BP, topping out at 112.3. He hit one majestic blast 109.3 mph and it traveled 400 feet, with a projected distance of 426 feet and a launch angle of 28 degrees. Davis threw a bullpen later in the day, and the 6-3 left-hander/first baseman topped out at 91.2 mph. Davis is the son of former big leaguer and current Phillies broadcaster Ben Davis. The Malvern Prep (Penn.) alum is committed to Louisville.

• South Alabama outfielder Joseph Sullivan led all batters with four balls hit harder than 110 mph. Mississippi State first baseman Hunter Hines was the distance leader, hitting one blast 440 feet (107.6 exit velocity/31-degree launch angle) and another 424 feet (110.1 exit velocity/30-degree launch angle).

• UC-Irvine outfielder Myles Smith hit a career-high 10 home runs for the Anteaters this season. On Wednesday, he hit one ball 352 feet directly into the swimming pool in right center.

(Photo of Rainer at the NHSI this spring: Tracy Proffitt / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)

Melissa Lockard is a senior editor and writer for The Athletic. She edits MLB content and focuses her writing on MLB prospects and draft coverage, with a particular focus on the Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants. Before joining The Athletic, she covered baseball for a variety of outlets, including Scout.com, 2080baseball.com and FoxSports. She is the founder of OaklandClubhouse.com. Follow Melissa on Twitter @melissalockard