Griffin Herring has garnered interest from talent evaluators dating back to the months leading up to his freshman year of high school. The left-handed pitcher has developed into one of the top prep pitchers in the 2022 class over his first three years at Southlake Carroll (Texas) High.
This spring will be an important year for the senior pitcher. Herring is a Louisiana State University commit. He also is an intriguing prospect for the 2022 MLB draft. Herring’s spring season will be a critical time for scouts to evaluate him in anticipation of the draft. His performance during his senior year also will play a role in what direction Herring heads after high school.
“It’s been pretty cool,” said Herring on meeting with scouts. “I don’t know how to describe it. You dream as a little kid of playing in the major leagues. To see different teams reach out to you is cool for me.”
Herring is a 6-foot-2, 205-pound left-handed pitcher that throws a fastball, changeup and slider from a high three-quarters arm slot and deceptive delivery.
His fastball is his best offering and features some horizontal movement. It has sat in the high-80s to low-90s in previous years. Herring hopes that working on his mechanics and adding 25 pounds to his frame over the last eight months will lead to an increase in velocity this spring, he said.
Herring’s changeup is his second-best offering. He has a feel for his changeup and is confident throwing it in any situation. He likes throwing the pitch to right-handed hitters as it fades down and inside to them.
His slider also is a respectable pitch. It is a hard-breaking pitch that he prefers to throw against lefties. His slider has short, late-breaking movement, and it plays well off his changeup.
Herring is a polished pitcher who fills up the strike zone and still has plenty of projection remaining.
“My overall pitchability is my biggest strength,” Herring said. “I am a strike-thrower who goes deep into games. I pitched complete games six, seven times in the high school season. Also, my overall competitiveness on the mound. I don’t like to lose. My favorite games are pitchers’ duals where I can get after it for seven innings.”
Herring hopes to show improved control and command of his pitches this spring. He also wants to be more aggressive and challenge hitters with his three pitches in the strike zone.
“I just want to work on getting ahead in counts,” Herring said. “One thing I would do last year that would get me in trouble with pitch counts is nipping corners and trying to squeeze one past the umpires. This year, I want to go after guys and see if they can hit my fastball before I dive into my off-speed pitches.”
Besides his status as a draft prospect, Herring is a LSU commit. Herring committed to LSU as a freshman in high school in October 2018.
LSU coach Paul Mainieri and his staff recruited Herring. Mainieri retired after the 2021 season, but that didn’t change Herring’s thoughts on LSU. Herring likes the newly hired staff, led by coach Jay Johnson, who was previously at the University of Arizona.
LSU is one of the top programs in college baseball, ranking seventh all-time with 18 College World Series appearances and second all-time with six national titles.
“I love the atmosphere at LSU,” Herring said. “I love the fans and want to pitch in front of big crowds. You feed off that energy with the number of fans they get. Any time you go into Alex Box Stadium, you can tell it is a special place.”
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Dan Zielinski III has covered the MLB draft for seven years. He has interviewed 356 of the top draft prospects in that period, including four No. 1 overall picks. Multiple publications, including Baseball America, USA Today, MLB.com and The Arizona Republic, have quoted his work, while he has appeared on radio stations as a “MLB draft expert.” Follow him on Twitter @DanZielinski3.
