30 Players in 30 Days: Brad Meyers

The Nationals organization has made it their priority to stock pile young, talented pitchers and it is starting to pay off in Washington. The franchise’s 2009 Minor League Pitcher of the Year could be one of the next young guns in the Nation’s Capital. Brad Meyers was drafted in the 14th round of the 2004 First-Year Player Draft by the Mets but decided to attend Loyola Marymount (CA) University. He was drafted in the fifth round by the Nats in 2007.

He has the prototypical projectable pitcher’s body at 6-foot-6 with a fastball in the low to mid 90s. He went 9-7 with a 4.79 ERA with the Suns in 2008. He made a few adjustments during the 2009 season and was brilliant. He started using his legs and throwing all his pitches for strikes–it worked. He went a combined 11-3 with a 1.72 ERA in 24 games (23 starts) with Double-A Harrisburg and Single-A Potomac. Meyers led all full-season Minor League pitchers with a microscopic 1.72 ERA and allowed two earned runs or less in 20 of 23 starts (87%) this season.

The 24-year-old went 5-1 with a 2.25 ERA (12 ER/48.0 IP) and a 3.9/1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (43 K/11 BB) in nine starts with Harrisburg.

“Walking batters is kind of a pet peeve of mine,” Meyers said. “I don’t like to walk people. I try to force contact and make hitters put it into play. Usually things go good when I’m doing that.”

Prior to his July 7 promotion to Harrisburg, Meyers dominated the Carolina League, going 6-2 with a league-best 1.43 ERA (14 ER/88.1 IP) in 15 games (14 starts) with Potomac. He was selected as a midseason Carolina League All-Star and was a two time MiLB.com Carolina League Pitcher of the Week honoree (May 4-10 and June 29-July 5).