Brad Furnish
| IP | 388 |
|---|---|
| ERA | 4.848 |
| WHIP | 1.443 |
| BB/9 | 4.291 |
| SO/9 | 6.448 |
- Full name Thomas Brad Furnish
- Born 01/19/1985 in Wichita Falls, TX
- Profile Ht.: 6'1" / Wt.: 185 / Bats: S / Throws: L
- School Texas Christian
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Drafted in the 2nd round (54th overall) by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006 (signed for $600,000).
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Texas Christian's trio of weekend starters has the chance to pull off the rare feat of each topping 100 strikeouts, and pro teams can't wait to get their hands on any of them. But Jake Arrietta and Sam Demel are sophomores, leaving Furnish as the rotation's lone draft pick in June, a likely third- to sixth-rounder. Furnish, who spun a seven-inning no-hitter with 13 strikeouts against Texas-Pan American in February, leads the Horned Frogs with 112 strikeouts in 90 innings. He began his college career at Nebraska before transferring after the 2004 season, and has pitched well in the Cape Cod League the last two summers. He's a lefty with two solid pitches, an 88-92 mph fastball and a solid overhand curveball. Furnish likes to change hitters' eye levels by throwing high fastballs to set up his curveball. He probably will have to pitch more down in the zone with his fastball as a pro, and refining a changeup would improve his chances against righthanders.
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With more quality starters than they had starts at Quad Cities, the Cardinals opted to go with a tandem system in which pairs of pitchers alternated between starting and relieving. Furnish prospered in the piggyback rotation, and he earned a promotion to high Class A after going 3-0, 2.06 with a save in his final 10 appearances. Furnish has solid stuff, beginning with an 88-92 mph fastball and a classic overhand curveball with a waterfall break. His changeup is still rudimentary, and he remains a flyball pitcher in a groundball organization, so getting comfortable with the lower reaches of the strike zone is a must. As he worked to improve his approach in high Class A, his control short-circuited. Furnish has the ingredients to make it as a starter, but he'll have to re-establish the assertiveness he showed in the piggyback rotation during a second turn in high Class A. -
Furnish began his college career at Nebraska, then transferred to Texas Christian and helped the Horned Frogs to a pair of regional appearances. A polished lefthander, Furnish has shown flashes of dominance as an amateur despite average stuff. He had a seven-inning no-hitter with 13 strikeouts against Texas-Pan American in February 2006 and pitched his way into second round. His fastball sat in the 88-92 mph range in college, and he liked to work up and out of the strike zone with it after setting hitters up with his overhand curveball, a solid average offering. Furnish gets good extension in his delivery and has good control of both pitches, which helps them both play up. His approach makes Furnish a flyball pitcher and leaves him susceptible to home runs when he isn't precise. His velocity was down a tick after signing, natural after throwing 100 innings at TCU (with four of his 20 appearances coming in relief) and another 75 for State College. A fresh Furnish could skip a level and start his first full season at Palm Beach. He profiles as a back-of-the-rotation southpaw.
