4 under the radar LA Angels prospects who are killing it in 2022

No. 3 under the radar LA Angels prospect in 2022 – Brett Kerry

Next up is 23-year-old starting pitcher Brett Kerry. One of the 20 pitchers the LA Angels drafted in 2021, Kerry was taken in the fifth round from the University of South Carolina and just barely cracks the team's top-30 prospects list (according to MLB Pipeline) at #30. He's also apparently so under the radar that we don't even have a photo of him on this site.

After an impressive pro debut in 2021 that saw him put up a 1.26 ERA in five starts between Tri-City and Rocket City, Kerry has continued to impress in 2022, having been the Opening Day starter for the Trash Pandas and winning the Southern League’s first Pitcher of the Week honors of 2022.

Owning a 2.52 ERA, 2.30 FIP and 0.920 WHIP through his first five starts is great on its own, but what's really turning heads are Kerry’s eyepopping strikeout and walk numbers.

Utilizing his pinpoint command over all his pitches, through 25 innings of work he’s already struck out 38 batters while only walking four. That’s good for a ridiculous 13.7 K/9 and 40.4% K rate versus a 1.4 BB/9 and 4.3% walk rate. 12 of those strikeouts came on Opening Day when he faced 17 batters over five innings and allowed only two to reach base.

Among all qualified pitchers in Double-A, Kerry is first in strikeouts and top 10 in K/9, K rate and K/BB (9.50), BB/9, walk rate, and FIP.

For someone who has been criticized by scouts over his lack of truly good stuff, he’s sure managing just fine against the competition so far. If he can keep this up, look for Kerry to be a dark horse candidate for a late season call up. Who knows, we may even have a photo of him by then.