A Successful Professional Debut for Blue Jays 2022 1st Round Pick: Brandon Barriera

Selected in the 1st round, 23rd overall, left-handed pitcher Brandon Barriera made his professional debut on May 3rd. He pounded the strike zone with 30 of his 49 pitches going for strikes. Barriera indued 4 ground ball outs and one flyball out.

Baseball America ranks Barriera as the Blue Jays 3rd best prospect in the system with a BA grade of 55 with extreme risk.

Barriera is an athletic lefthander with a prototypical pitcher’s build, whippy arm speed and lots of physical projection remaining. He mixes four pitches but primarily works off of his fastball and slider. His plus fastball sits 92-95 mph and touches 98-99 with cut and explosive late life. His nearly plus-plus slider is his most dominant pitch as a low-80s sweeper with late bite that elicits ugly swings. Barriera flashes a mid-70s curveball and mid-80s changeup which project to be average pitches, but his fastball and slider combination account for a majority of his usage. The development of Barriera’s changeup in the coming years could dictate his ultimate role. It flashed above-average as an amateur, leading many to believe it can develop into a consistent weapon. He throws everything for strikes with average control. (link)

BA considers his ceiling is as a mid-rotation starter but could be higher if everything ‘clicks’.

Pitch Mix

Brandon threw 28 fastballs, 17 sliders, and 4 change-ups.

The lefty threw his change between 88.8 and 86.7, averaging 88.1mph. His fastball ranged from 91.1 to 95.8mph, averaging 93.5mph. Barriera threw his slider between 79.5 and 85.8, averaging 83.2mph.

Strike Zone Command

Brandon Barriera threw 14 of his fastballs in the strike zone, throwing 7 sliders in the strike zone, and one change. Batters swung at 21 of his pitches, swinging at 9 fastballs, and two fastballs outside of the strike zone. Batters swung at 9 sliders, swinging at 4 sliders outside of the strike zone.

8 of Brandon’s 30 strikes were called strikes and 9 were swinging strikes. Batters made contact on 13 of his pitches, hitting 8 pitches foul and 5 hits for outs. Batters only hit one ball hard.

Brandon Barriera finished with 4 shutout innings, walking one batter, striking out 6, and a 0.25WHIP.