Braden Nett’s path to prospect prominence was anything but ordinary. Not only was he working at a Home Depot when he signed with the Padres in 2022 as a non-drafted free agent, but he also had barely played in college. What he lacked in conventional experience, he made up for with a promising arm. San Diego saw him pitching in the MLB Draft League, gave him a chance, and what’s transpired since is bordering on storybook. Initially from Troy, Missouri — with a short stop as a St. Charles Community College Cougar — the 23-year-old right-hander has progressed to the point where he is now ranked seventh on our newly released Athletics Top Prospects list, with a 45 FV.
His change of address came at last summer’s trade deadline. Intrigued by his promising-but-unpolished toolbox, the Athletics acquired Nett as part of the six-player deal centered around Mason Miller and Leo De Vries. On the season, Nett notched 116 strikeouts while logging a 3.75 ERA and a 3.77 FIP over 105 2/3 innings between a pair of Double-A outposts.
Currently sidelined with a rotator cuff issue — he’s on roster of the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators, but has yet to appear in a game — Nett has a mid-to-upper-90s fastball when healthy. As I learned talking to him during spring training, he also has a wide-ranging arsenal.
“As of now, I’m throwing seven pitches,” said Nett, whose repertoire comprises two- and four-seam fastballs, a cutter, a slider, a sweeper, a curveball, and a kick change. “We’ve dialed back on a couple of them usage-wise, though, prioritizing some pitches over others. But I do still have all seven.
“The sinker is one thing we’re dialing back on,” he added. “Last year, I was throwing quite a bit of them, and we noticed that they kind of fell into some barrels, so we’re focusing on four-seams a little more. My curveball has been really good, so the usage of that to lefties will maybe skyrocket a little bit.”
Asked what he considers to be his best pitch, Nett chose his sweeper, which he described as being “less depth-y and more sweep-y” with 17-18 inches of horizontal movement. He feels that his next-best offering is either the curveball or four-seamer. And while he professes to have limited knowledge of his metrics, he does know the particulars on some of his pitch characteristics. Ditto his delivery.
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“One thing we’ve looked at is release height,” added Nett. “With my fastball, it is around 5’6”, and on my sweeper, it is around 5’4”. There has been some conversation about whether the two inches is something that hitters can recognize, but we don’t think so. It hasn’t been an issue so far.”
High velocity and spin are among his attributes. When I asked Eric Longenhagen for a snapshot of the young righty, our lead prospect analyst told me that Nett has sat 96-97 [mph] and touched 100, adding that all three of his breaking pitches possess plus or better raw spin, with his nastiest pitches being his best curveballs. Eric went on to say, “Nett’s terrific arm speed allows us to project that his changeup will continue to improve with reps.”
According to Nett, better familiarity is part of that equation.
“The changeup has been kind of off and on,” he explained. “It’s the only pitch I’ve kind of fiddled with. I’ve messed with some grips, and I’m on a kick change right now. I think I’m going to stick with that.”
Nett explained that he began “playing with” a kick change during spring training of last year, and while admittedly still a work in progress, particularly in terms of command, he is pleased with how it’s been coming along. He couldn’t tell me how much depth he’s getting — “I’m not too big on analytics” — but he’s pretty certain that it is negative vert.
Eric cited Nett’s improving, yet still less-than-stellar, strike-throwing ability [a 10.3% walk rate last season] in his write-up of the right-hander. To Nett’s credit, he recognizes that a pitcher needs to know where the ball is going in order to be successful.
“For me, it’s not how nasty my stuff is, it’s how effective I can be in-zone, command-wise,” he said. “I feel like that’s less talked about in the world of data that we live in now. Everyone is chasing movement and velocity. I think command is way more important.”
As for how he ended up falling below nearly every team’s radar — entering pro ball as a non-drafted free agent is obviously a big part of his story — his answer was simple and straightforward.
“I didn’t get into the right spots to get seen,” Nett reasoned. “I went to a JUCO for a semester and didn’t really play, so I didn’t really have eyes on me. Then, in the summer-ball circuit, I did kind of have some eyes on me. It went from there.”
Which isn’t to say that scouts started banging down his door. However many eyes were on him, there wasn’t any direct communication… until there was.
“I never did talk to a team until I got the phone call that I was getting signed,” Nett told me. “Now, here I am.”