Burl Carraway

Organization Prospect Rankings

• 
  Ranked Chicago Cubs #14 prospect in 2021
  TRACK RECORD: Carraway cemented himself as the top reliever in the 2020 draft class when he made five appearances for USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team and didn't allow a run. He followed with a dominant showing as Dallas Baptist's closer as a junior before the season shut down. The Cubs drafted him in the second round, No. 51 overall, and signed him for $1.05 million.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Carraway brings high-octane stuff from the left side. His fastball sits 96-98 mph and explodes out of his hand, getting on batters even quicker than they expect. He complements his fastball with a sharp, knee-buckling curveball in the mid 70s with 1-to-7 shape that is another plus pitch at its best. Carraway is a pure reliever with a slight frame and a high-effort delivery, which leads to inconsistent control. His wildness sometimes helps him by making batters uncomfortable in the box, but other times he sprays his fastball around and struggles to land his breaking ball.
  
  THE FUTURE: Carraway has the stuff to move quickly to the Cubs bullpen. He has a chance to pitch in high-leverage relief if he can throw strikes more consistently.

Draft Prospects

• Ranked #72 prospect in 2020 draft
  The top college reliever in the class, Carraway has explosive stuff from the left side and, depending on the day, looks like he could be a late-inning reliever for an MLB club right now. A wiry athlete standing at 6-foot, 173 pounds, Carraway explodes off the rubber and uses his lower half extremely well, with a fast arm and crossfiring action in his delivery that adds to his deception. He pairs a fastball that’s regularly in the 96-98 mph range with spotty control, which makes it easy to see why hitters are always uncomfortable in the box against him. That’s especially for lefties, who struck out in 33 of 64 (52.5 percent) plate appearances against Carraway in 2019. Carraway’s fastball has 70-grade potential if he can improve his control, which is below-average. He also has a knee-buckling curveball in the mid-70s with 1-to-7 shape and sharp biting action, which he also struggles to land consistently. Carraway gets away with below-average control now because he generates so many whiffs outside of the zone, but more advanced hitters will be able to stand in the box and take those pitches more easily. His career walk rate over 42 innings with DBU is 5.36, and while the bar is lower for reliever control, he’ll have to improve that for an MLB club to trust him in any sort of high-leverage role. The timing of his release point is inconsistent, and the violence and effort of his delivery likely don’t help in that regard, so perhaps teams could try and calm that down a tick at the next level to help him stay in the strike zone more frequently. Carraway comes with plenty of risk thanks to his control and the poor track record of college relievers, but he could be a quick mover to a big league pen with a step forward in his strike-throwing.

• March, 2021 Scouting Report
  TRACK RECORD: Carraway cemented himself as the top reliever in the 2020 draft class when he made five appearances for USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team and didn't allow a run. He followed with a dominant showing as Dallas Baptist's closer as a junior before the season shut down. The Cubs drafted him in the second round, No. 51 overall, and signed him for $1.05 million.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Carraway brings high-octane stuff from the left side. His fastball sits 96-98 mph and explodes out of his hand, getting on batters even quicker than they expect. He complements his fastball with a sharp, knee-buckling curveball in the mid 70s with 1-to-7 shape that is another plus pitch at its best. Carraway is a pure reliever with a slight frame and a high-effort delivery, which leads to inconsistent control. His wildness sometimes helps him by making batters uncomfortable in the box, but other times he sprays his fastball around and struggles to land his breaking ball.
  
  THE FUTURE: Carraway has the stuff to move quickly to the Cubs bullpen. He has a chance to pitch in high-leverage relief if he can throw strikes more consistently.
• December, 2020 Scouting Report
  TRACK RECORD: Carraway cemented himself as the top reliever in the 2020 draft class when he made five appearances for USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team and didn't allow a run. He followed with a dominant showing as Dallas Baptist's closer as a junior before the season shut down. The Cubs drafted him in the second round, No. 51 overall, and signed him for $1.05 million.
  
  SCOUTING REPORT: Carraway brings high-octane stuff from the left side. His fastball sits 96-98 mph and explodes out of his hand, getting on batters even quicker than they expect. He complements his fastball with a sharp, knee-buckling curveball in the mid 70s with 1-to-7 shape that is another plus pitch at its best. Carraway is a pure reliever with a slight frame and a high-effort delivery, which leads to inconsistent control. His wildness sometimes helps him by making batters uncomfortable in the box, but other times he sprays his fastball around and struggles to land his breaking ball.
  
  THE FUTURE: Carraway has the stuff to move quickly to the Cubs bullpen. He has a chance to pitch in high-leverage relief if he can throw strikes more consistently.
• July, 2020 Scouting Report
  The top college reliever in the class, Carraway has explosive stuff from the left side and, depending on the day, looks like he could be a late-inning reliever for an MLB club right now. A wiry athlete standing at 6-foot, 173 pounds, Carraway explodes off the rubber and uses his lower half extremely well, with a fast arm and crossfiring action in his delivery that adds to his deception. He pairs a fastball that’s regularly in the 96-98 mph range with spotty control, which makes it easy to see why hitters are always uncomfortable in the box against him. That’s especially true for lefties, who struck out in 33 of 64 (52.5 percent) plate appearances against Carraway in 2019. Carraway’s fastball has 70-grade potential if he can improve his control, which is below-average. He also has a knee-buckling curveball in the mid-70s with 1-to-7 shape and sharp biting action, which he also struggles to land consistently. Carraway gets away with below-average control now because he generates so many whiffs outside of the zone, but more advanced hitters will be able to stand in the box and take those pitches more easily. His career walk rate over 42 innings with DBU is 5.36, and while the bar is lower for reliever control, he’ll have to improve that for an MLB club to trust him in any sort of high-leverage role. The timing of his release point is inconsistent, and the violence and effort of his delivery likely don’t help in that regard, so perhaps teams could try and calm that down a tick at the next level to help him stay in the strike zone more frequently. Carraway comes with plenty of risk thanks to his control and the poor track record of college relievers, but he could be a quick mover to a big league pen with a step forward in his strike-throwing.