Atlanta Braves Top 100 Prospect – #13 John Gant Scouting Report
Atlanta Braves Right Hander John Gant
Who Is He?
Gant was a 21st round selection in the 2011 draft out of high school in Florida by the New York Mets. The Mets put him in their Gulf Coast League team that summer, and the 18 year-old showed his inexperience, posting a 6.48 ERA and 1.32 WHIP over 4 appearances, 1 of them a start, totaling 8 1/3 innings. He posted 3 walks and 5 strikeouts in his time that season.
The Mets sent Gant to the Appalachian League to start 2012, and he pitched fairly well, earning a late season promotion to Savannah in the South Atlantic League. All told on the season, he made 12 starts, throwing 59 2/3 innings, totaling a 4.98 ERA and 1.53 WHIP while posting a 19/52 BB/K ratio.
Gant spent all of 2013 with Brooklyn in the low-A New York Penn League, and he posted very solid numbers there over 13 starts and 71 2/3 innings. He had a 2.89 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and a 28/81 BB/K on the season.
Gant continued his one-step-at-a-time advance through the Mets system in 2014, spending the season at full-season A-ball with Savannah in the South Atlantic League, going 11-5 over 21 starts and 123 innings. He totaled a 2.56 ERA and 1.20 WHIP with a 40/114 BB/K ratio.
Next: Gant's scouting report
Gant started 2015 in high-A St. Lucie of the Florida State League, and he was simply dominating, sporting a 1.79 ERA over 6 starts before being promoted to AA Binghamton of the Eastern League, where he had some struggles before the Mets traded him to the Braves in the July deal involving Juan Uribe and Kelly Johnson. Gant caught fire with AA Mississippi with the Braves, sporting a 1.99 ERA over 7 starts for the Braves AA affiliate. His 2015 total line among the three stops was 24 starts, 140 1/3 innings, 3.08 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and 50/134 BB/K. His final Mississippi line was 7 starts, 40 2/3 innings, 1.99 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, and 14/43 BB/K.
John Gant Scouting Report
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I reviewed four of Gant’s six starts once he was acquired by the Braves, his first two and last two. In those four starts, he went 3-0 with a 1.85 ERA and 0.86 WHIP over 24 1/3 innings while posting a 7/27 BB/K ratio.
Gant is 6’5″ and 205 lbs. That’s likely accurate, which leaves him long and lean on the mound, but he is built long in the torso, so he doesn’t give the impression of 6’5″ until you see him next to another guy who you know is also a similar height. His delivery has him staying tall through the delivery, and he has an almost-toe-tap just before pushing forward that throws off the hitter’s timing. His motion has some stops and starts as he steps back, then forward, then moves up into his motion and delivery from the windup. From the stretch, he has a basic slide step, though he does still have his near toe tap as he goes toward the plate. He finishes with a 3/4 release.
Gant primarily works with a three-pitch mix, a fastball that sits between 90-93 and touches 95, a change-up with a split-finger fastball effect, and a curve ball. The fastball ticked up from touching 90-91 last season to sitting there this year, and while he was struggling to control that new-found velocity early in the season in the Mets system, by the time he got to Mississippi, he was spotting his fastball wherever he wanted, and he played off his fastball well with the change that has a perfectly similar look.
Gant’s biggest thing of worry is that he has struggled at times with his location. He had a recent growth spurt as evidenced by adding 2″ in height at age 21, followed by the 3-5 MPH uptick in velocity, and he’s still struggling at times with muscle memory in his new frame, especially out of the stretch. That has led to some struggles with his location, specifically of the fastball.
Next: 2016 outlook
The pitch that will likely determine Gant’s upside is the curve ball. While the slider has a great low break that gets batters swinging over the top of it, the curve ball seems to be at its most effective for Gant when he’s locating it on either side of the plate just above the belly button. It has a loop that gets the batter swinging underneath it, assuming it will drop even further, but it seems to curve and then sit on a level, which is just impressive movement. The issue is when he lets that pitch get over the middle of the plate. Then it gets driven pretty hard sitting in the middle of the zone.
John Gant 2016 Outlook
Gant is right in the middle of the glut of pitchers who would work well starting at Gwinnett in 2016. He may end up starting in Mississippi simply due to the lack of open rotation spots in Gwinnett. He’ll likely be behind Tyrell Jenkins, Aaron Blair, and Casey Kelly for sure among Braves prospects, but he’s also right among guys like Chris Ellis, Sean Newcomb, and Lucas Sims as guys who have experience in AA, but not yet a full season, so it will be interesting to see where he gets placed to begin 2016.
Next: Braves Top 100 Prospects Updated
Wherever he starts, Gant has been a revelation for the Braves so far since his acquisition from the Mets. His ability to continue his consistency he displayed at Mississippi with the fastball and work to improve his consistency with his curve ball will determine if Gant is a future inning-eater #3-4 starter or a potential front-line sort of guy. While Dan Farnsworth at Fangraphs got a lot of heat for ranking Gant #2 overall among prospects in the Braves system when he did his write up, it’s not hard to see how Farnsworth could end up having the last laugh by watching some of Gant’s starts in Mississippi. That version of Gant is a pitcher that ended up moving significantly up my top 100 that I updated recently, and I think it could go down as a major coup to have gotten him and Robert Whalen for rental bench pieces like Uribe and Johnson.