Boston Red Sox select Florida RHP Brandon Neely in 2024 MLB Draft

Brandon Neely has come off the board in the 2024 MLB Draft. The Boston Red Sox have selected Neely, a right-handed pitcher out of Florida, with the No. 86 overall pick.

Neely has appeared on the mound for the Gators over the last three seasons. In that time, he has pitched in 83 games with 16 starts in just more than 200 innings. That resulted in an overall record of his at 8-10. He also accounted for 19 saves.

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Over his collegiate career, Neely has posted a 4.24 ERA. Of the 871 batters that he has faced, he struck out 254 of them with them swinging for a batting average of .225. With that, he earned some honors such as First Team All-SEC in 2023.

In 2024, Neely went 3-4 with five saves in 79 innings across 28 appearances with six of those being starts. He did put up his highest ERA of 5.13 while also allowing more runs and hits than he did in his first two seasons, albeit with it being the most that he has played while in Gainesville. However, he did throw the most strikeouts of any of the trio with 108.

Neely was part of three teams at Florida that went a combined 132-71. That included a pair of appearances in the College World Series. The program made the final from Omaha in 2023 and then a run to the semifinals in 2024.

Neely went undrafted out of Spruce Creek in the 2021 MLB Draft.

Per the prospect rankings at MLB.com, Neely is the 193rd overall prospect in this draft. In their evaluation of him, they see him as bullpen depth for the rotation with potential starting upside. That led to a projection of a selection at some time during the proceeding’s second day.

“While most of his collegiate work has come out of the bullpen, many scouts think his best chance at the next level might be as a back-end starter,” they wrote. “His bulldog mentality and toughness on the mound stand out more than any of his individual offerings, but he could have a complete starter’s repertoire.”

“Some teams may decide to send him out as a starter and see if something clicks, though he’s lacked the consistency to be seen as a sure-fire future rotation member,” they continued. “He doesn’t necessarily have the kind of plus-out pitch teams like to see coming out of the pen. He does tend to step up in bigger moments, something teams considering him on Day 2 of the Draft might be banking on regardless of what role he has.”