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Physical Description: Tall,
athletic frame with some remaining projection. Long limbs, has
room to add muscle.
Mechanics: Throws
from a three-quarters arm slot. Medium-high leg kick. Jerky
delivery. Long swing back and quick arm coming forward.. Repeats
his delivery well. Quick feet and deceptive move to first base.
Fastball: 91-94 mph. Average life. Has some
room for added velocity as he matures. Solid command and control
profile. Potential average offering.
Changeup:
80-83 mph. Best secondary pitch. Advanced feel and confidence.
At its best, shows the ability to pull the string on it and have
it fall down and out of the zone. Throws with deceptive arm
speed and has good separation from his fastball. Learned a new
version of the pitch in spring training 2024. Throws very
frequently to hitters from both sides of the plate. Potential
plus offering.
Slider: 83-86 mph. Short
cut-slider with horizontal break. Solid feel, able to land in
the zone. Potential fringe-average offering.
Sweeper: 79-81 mph. Long, horizontal break. Work in
progress in 2024 and development of the pitch is an area of
focus during the 2024-25 offseason. Thrown primarily to
left-handed hitters. Potential fringe-average offering.
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Curveball: 77-80 mph. 1-to-7, more vertical
shape than horizontal.. Will get over it and snap some good ones
off, but others are loose and roll to the plate. Potential
fringe-average offering.
Career Notes:
Third team All-ACC in 2023. Attended Army for his first two
seasons where his team won back-to-back Patriot League titles.
In 2022, was First Team All-Patriot League and voted Patriot
League Pitcher of the Year. Put on 30 pounds the summer before
transferring to UVA in part due to leaving West Point and
focusing on training for baseball.
Summation:
Potential major league depth starter. Ceiling of a fourth
starter. Durable and has solid pitchability, but present stuff
other than his changeup is fringy. Changeup is a legit,
MLB-quality pitch. Other pitches are all fringy, but if any take
a step forward and/or he gains velocity, his ceiling goes up. As
is, still has a relatively high floor with his feel and ability
to locate all of his pitches and change speeds.
Links
Red Sox select Connelly Early with fifth-round pick (7.10.23)
Spring Training Video (3.13.25) |
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