The Cincinnati Reds have selected right-handed pitcher Joe Boyle out of Notre Dame. The 6′ 7″ righty was rated as the 101st best prospect in the draft by Baseball America, 165th by MLB Pipeline, and 186th by Fangraphs.
Joe Boyle Scouting Report
Height: 6′ 7″ | Weight: 240
B/T: R/R | DOB: August 14, 1999
Arm strength. Joe Boyle has some of the best velocity in the entire draft. He’s capable of sitting in the upper 90’s and has hit 102 in the past. And the right-hander can reach those velocities without much effort. He also throws an above-average to plus slider.
So why was a guy with a plus-plus fastball and a potential plus slider available in the 5th round? Well, that’s because he’s struggled to throw strikes in a big way. From 2018-2020 with Notre Dame he threw 36.0 innings and he walked 48 batters to go along with 57 strikeouts. The stuff is huge, but he misses the strikezone at rates that simply will never work.
At his size, the hope is that he can come into things a bit further down the road – something that isn’t rare for pitchers this tall. But still, he’d have to cut his walk rate in college in half in order to still be in a range that would be considered terrible. There’s a lot of upside here, but the risk is also enormous given just how poor his strike-throwing ability has been.
College Stats
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Joe Boyle after being drafted by the Reds
“Honestly, it was a really great feeling. Kind of an accumulation of a lot of my hard work and time and effort I put into it. It feels really good to hear my named called on TV,” said Boyle on what it was like being drafted.
“I talked to the (Reds) area scout in the fall. I talked with some others in their scouting department,” said Boyle. I honestly wasn’t too sure which teams were more interested compared to others, so I honestly didn’t know that the Reds were more interested.”
When he was asked about whether he’s been able to maintain throwing with baseball shut down, here’s what he had to say.
“I throw with my brother three times a week. I’ve been throwing, recently just started doing bullpens again at the indoor facility that just opened up by my house. Then I’ve been working out too, I’ve got a full gym in my garage. I’ve been staying in the shape I’ve been in the last three years, perhaps a little bit better. I’ve treated it like an extended offseason, so I have more time to focus on my fitness and nutrition and everything like that.”