2022 Mets Draft profile: Dylan Tebrake

A native of Cold Spring, Minnesota, Dylan Tebrake attended Rocori High School, a school in Cold Spring named after the three local towns it served: Rockville, Cold Spring, and Richmond. He was a three-year letterwinner during his time there and attended Creighton University after going undrafted in the 2018 MLB Draft.

In his first season there, Tebrake posted a 3.90 ERA in 30.0 innings, allowing 26 hits, walking 6, and striking out 16. That summer, he pitched for the Madison Mallards of the Northwoods League, posting a 8.79 ERA in 14.1 innings with 24 hits allowed, 7 walks, and 8 strikeouts. The right-hander returned to Creighton for his sophomore year and was named the Bluejays’ fright night starter by coach Ed Servais. The move paid off, as Tebrake was excellent in the limited innings he threw prior to the NCAA cancelling the rest of the season due to COVID-19. In 26.1 innings, the right-hander made 5 starts and posted a 2.05 ERA with 18 hits allowed, 5 walks, and 24 strikeouts.

When the 2021 season finally began, Tebrake picked up right where he left off. The right-hander posted a 2.72 ERA in 72.2 innings, allowing 59 hits, walking 24, and striking out 75. He was named to the All-Big East First-Team and was named Big East Pitcher of the Year. He played for the Frederick Keys of the newly formed MLB Draft League that summer and posted a 0.82 ERA in 11.0 innings, allowing 5 hits, walking 5, and striking out 12. Despite the excellent numbers with Creighton and with the Keys that season, he went undrafted in the 2021 MLB Draft, and returned to school for his senior season.

The reigning Big East Pitcher of the Year didn’t miss a beat, posting a 2.71 ERA in 93.0 innings, allowing 73 hits, walking 33, and striking out 115. The right-hander won his second-consecutive Big East Pitcher of the Year honors, the first pitcher since Aaron Heilman in 2000 and 2001 to win the award in back-to-back years and the first since Chris Lambert in 2002 and 2004 to be given the honors twice.

In June, the 23-year-old announced that he had entered the NCAA transfer portal and was transferring to LSU as a graduate student.

The 6’3”, 225-pound right-hander has a solid frame for pitching and has already demonstrated he can log innings, pitching roughly 85 and 95 in 2021 and 2022. He throws from a three-quarters arm slot and is able to command all of his pitches. Earlier in the season, in the colder weather, his fastball was backing up and sitting in the high-80s-to-low-90s, but as the weather got warmer, Tebrake’s fastball settled into its more customary low-90s, touching as high as 95 MPH. He complements his fastball with a slider, a curveball, and a changeup, giving him a full four-pitch mix. His slider is the best of his secondary pitches, sitting in the low-80s and flashing average. His curveball, generally considered a below-average pitch, sits in the mid-70s and features lollypop break. His changeup, also considered below-average, sits in the low-80s, which is roughly 10 MPH of velocity separation as compared to his fastball.

None of Tebrake’s pitches are much better than average on the scouting scale, but he commands everything well, has a high pitching IQ, and is able to maximize his stuff by being more than just the sum of his individual parts.