Bryan Augenstein - Prospect Profile

I'm guessing that most people probably haven't heard of 21 year old RHP Bryan Augenstein , a 7th round pick in the 2007 draft out of the University of Florida. You won't find him on the top ten prospect lists from Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, or even in the honorable mentions portion of John Sickels' top 20 list. On his own team, he's over shadowed by 19 year old Jarrod Parker, even though he's been arguably  the best pitcher for the South Bend Silver Hawks this year.

In his last ten games he's gone 5-1 with eight quality starts, posting an ERA of 1.94, 53:3 K:BB in 69,2 IP. On the season he's 5-1 in 13 starts with an era of 2.16, with 69 strikeouts to just 9 walks, and has only given up 2 HRs in 87.1 innings pitched. Also worth noting is his 1.91 GB/FB ratio.

Before writing this, I did my homework on Augenstein. He's a big, strong guy, listed at 6'5 and weighing 225 LBS.  He was well known among scouts coming out of high school, having set a single season K record(123K) and a sparkling 1.26 ERA iin his senior year. He lead the Florida Gators' pitching staff in innings pitched and strike outs his sophomore(111.1 IP w/ 98 Ks) and junior year(112 IP w/ 105 Ks).

However, Baseball America, in their 2007 draft recap for AZ , said that his  stuff  "lacks life" and his secondary stuff is  "fringe-average". that  "if he can rediscover the life on his high-80s fastball and improve his breaking ball, he could have value as a middle reliever." 

Personally I don't think that they got this one right. Maybe his performance is a a  fluke. TINSTAAPP and all of that. And, yes the Midwest league is known as a good pitching environment. And he is in A ball after all.  I would like to see him face more advanced competition. He definitely should see a promotion to High-A Visalia very soon, which is in the hitter friendly California League, which should challenge him a bit more.

In summary, Bryan Augenstein is a prospect that Diamondback fans should keep an eye on. Through out his amateur and professional career, he's put up a lot of innings and gotten a ton of strike outs, all while facing tougher and tougher competition. He may not pan out, but then again, that disclaimer comes with every prospect in the minor leagues, especially pitchers.