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Bryce Rainer solves Detroit Tigers' shortstop problem if available in 2024 MLB draft
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- Bryce Rainer solves Detroit Tigers' shortstop problem if available in 2024 MLB draft
The Corey Seager comparison is real.
Bryce Rainer , a 19-year-old from Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles , grew up watching Matt Kemp , but the way he plays reminds coaches, scouts and draft analysts of Seager. He stands at 6 feet, 3 inches with a strong body, swings from the left side of the plate as a left-handed hitter and projects to stick at the premium shortstop position.
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"He's been kid-famous for a long time," said Jared Halpert , Harvard-Westlake's baseball coach. "The metrics that we're evaluating athletes on, he throws it harder, hits it further and runs faster. Five tools. The aesthetics of Bryce, watching him move around a baseball field, you get the sense that he was put here to do this."
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The Detroit Tigers need a shortstop of the future, especially since offense-first shortstop Kevin McGonigle is expected to settle in at second base for his long-term position. Therefore, Rainer would solve the long-standing shortstop problem, but only if he is available Sunday when the Tigers make their selection with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2024 MLB draft.
Rainer, a Texas commit, is one of the top two high school hitters in this year's draft class, along with Konnor Griffin — a shortstop and center fielder who could end up at third base or right field because of his size — from Jackson Prep in Flowood, Mississippi.
Harvard-Westlake High School shortstop Bryce Rainer.
But Rainer isn't just a shortstop.
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He doubles as right-handed pitcher whose fastball has been clocked at 98 mph.
"There's really not much the kid can't do on a baseball field," Halpert said. "I don't think he ever donned the catcher's gear. I'm sure he did at some point in his youth, but at least in front of me, he's never put the gear on, but he can do anything."
When Rainer was a freshman, Halpert and the coaching staff told him to close his eyes and throw five pitches in a bullpen session. The players and coaches were just having fun, but then, Rainer threw three of five pitches over the plate.
That's how Rainer became a famous two-way prospect as a freshman at Harvard-Westlake.
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"I think the consensus is he's going to get a crack at playing shortstop first," Halpert said, "with a pretty awesome backup plan for a club having a 95-98 mph arm with a swing-and-miss slider."
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Rainer pitched full time as a freshman, posting a 1.46 ERA in 55⅔ innings, but he didn't pitch at all as a sophomore to protect his arm for the future. He then pitched 21 innings as a junior and 23 innings as a senior. As a senior, Rainer posted a 1.83 ERA with 14 walks and 35 strikeouts in 15 relief appearances.
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His future is expected to be as a position player.
On offense, Rainer hit .392 as a freshman, .393 as a sophomore, .436 as a junior before a breakthrough senior season, in which he hit .505 with four home runs, 28 walks and 14 strikeouts in 33 games, spanning 127 plate appearances. He projects to develop into more power as he matures.
Rainer showed his ability and his willingness to make a swing change before his senior season.
"The word has been there's a little bit too much swing and miss," Halpert said. "He took that to heart, and in the offseason before senior year, and throughout the fall and winter, he made that a top priority, that he's going to flatten his path out, eliminate some swing and miss and continue to grow as a mindful hitter. This year was wild, just how much improvement he made in such a short period of time."
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Comparing Rainer to Seager, a four-time All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger and two-time World Series MVP, is like comparing Max Clark , whom the Tigers selected No. 3 overall in last year's draft , to reigning National League Rookie of the Year Corbin Carroll .
The comparisons dream on upside.
"Yeah, the Corey Seager comps are pretty legit," said Tyler Jennings , the director of draft content for Prospects Live . "It's the same kind of body, the same kind of build."
"For him, the bat got a lot quicker this year with more bat speed," Jennings continued, evaluating Rainer's game. "The power plays to all fields. I think it probably will be plus at the next level. I think he can play shortstop. He's got the range and the arm strength to make it happen. At the end of the day, with the improvements with the bat, I think he's probably going to be a shortstop long term."
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Rainer is a natural leader, too.
He cares about the future of the Harvard-Westlake baseball program, as exemplified by his relationship with 16-year-old James Tronstein , a Stanford commit who is the next top prospect from the Los Angeles-based program.
"We've got a little superstar coming up in James Tronstein," Halpert said. "He really made sure that James was on the right path, not only as an individual, but what we needed as a team. He's taking someone else and being accountable for them. I can't say I've ever had another athlete do something like that to the degree that he executed at, and with what he had on the line here."
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Meanwhile, Rainer is close friends with Chicago Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong and has thrown bullpens alongside Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty , both graduates of Harvard-Westlake.
Rainer is all but guaranteed to become the fifth player from Harvard-Westlake to be selected in the first round of the MLB draft, joining Flaherty in 2014, Crow-Armstrong in 2020, Atlanta Braves left-hander Max Fried in 2012 and Boston Red Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito in 2012.
"He's a professional," Halpert said. "He really is. He's very well spoken. He comes from a family that's a blue-collar, down-to-earth, wonderful family. I think he's ready to be a professional, that's for sure."
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold .
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Tigers MLB draft 2024: Bryce Rainer solves shortstop problem
