Like Greg Bird, Brickhouse is a former teammate of a 2010 pick, No. 2 overall selection Jameson Taillon.
Unlike his former rotation-mate, Brickhouse isn’t likely to be a first-round selection. But, that doesn’t mean he isn’t plenty talented. And since he has a commitment to UNC, where they turn high-school studs into finely polished professionals like Matt Harvey and Alex White, it’s a good bet that somebody will try to snatch him up and throw a lot of money at him.
Brickhouse has a solid fastball that sits in the low 90s and skims 94-95 mph. The pitch has some good sink on it and has the makings of a plus offering. He throws two different breaking balls, a curveball and a slider, with the latter being the more effective pitch. He tinkers with a changeup, but doesn’t throw it too much.
Brickhouse is also a very good athlete, who should have no trouble fielding his position.
The biggest question marks on him, and these are the reasons he’ll slide so far in the draft: his velocity, which is good, but not elite, and his tendency to try to throw too hard.
He is from Texas, where they breed fire-ballers a dime a dozen, so that is to be expected. Assuming he can tone down his over-throwing habits and work with what he has (a good fastball with sink), he could be a sweet find.
