Kevin Mannell is a right-handed pitcher at Cloud County CC in Concordia, KS. This is Mannell’s third year in college after redshirting at K-State in 2022 and not appearing in a game with KSU in 2023. Mannell took his talents to Cloud CC in order to get more innings and raise his stock, which he’s already done in his brief time in the JUCO ranks as he’s committed to Mississippi State following this year, but he’s going to get plenty of looks from MLB scouts this spring.
Frame: | Long, lean, with plenty of room for added strength/weight in future years. |
Delivery: | Rhythmic SWU, high leg lift, ¼ turn. Level shoulders, slight crossfire stride, stride foot lands at 45-degrees. Below avg hip/shoulder separation, inconsistent timing and repeat ability. Upright finish, spins off to 1B side. Medium effort, average overall body control. |
Arm Axn: | SA slot- Medium arm circle with very slight stab behind. No major hinderances or red flags present. |
Deception: | Has some funk to go along with his SA slot which creates deception in itself. Arm path hides ball for extended period of time. Plus deception overall. |
Mannell’s pitch-mix consists of a sinker, four-seam, slider, and changeup but primarily leans on his sinker/slider offerings. The four-seamer comes into play when he elevates in the zone and I only saw one changeup out of him in game action. It was Mannell’s first outing of the spring and he only went two frames, but he flashed serious stuff in his second inning of work, notably the last few sliders he threw.
Pitch: | Remarks: |
Sinker | (91-93/T94) Primary FB- Shows tailing and sinking action. Large majority had average movement and flashed above avg a handful of times. Future: 50 |
Four-Seam | (91-93/T94) Used to elevate in the zone- average carry through the zone with minimal running action. Future: 45 |
Overall FB Command | Control far ahead of command at present. Inability to consistently repeat delivery hinders precision ability. Consistently kept his sinker down in the zone. Future: 40 |
Slider | (84-85) Best ones had two-plane break that flashed above-avg teeth. Offering occasionally gets wide and sweepy on him but still maintained quality tightness. Future: 55 |
Changeup | Threw one in game action that sailed on him to the arm side. The ones he threw in his pregame bullpen had minimal action, flashing fade on a couple. Well below average feel for the CH at present. Future: 30 |
Below are videos of Mannell’s primary offerings, his sinker and slider:
Mannell having an uber-projectable frame and already showing existing stuff definitely puts him high on my target list for the rest of the spring. While I still have question marks, mainly his fastball command and useability of his changeup, I believe Mannell will be a name thrown around more in Draft discussions if he stays healthy.