What Happened to Justin Hooper? #1 LHP in 2015!

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6’8 238 lbs in Upper 90s fast ball that could make even National level prospects look helpless at the plate the number one left-handed pitcher in the nation and projected lottery pick back in 2015 now has vanished from baseball what happened to Justin Hooper hey guys this is Brett with baseball Prospect analysis and it’s great to finally back making content again I’m excited to cover the upcoming 2024 draft as well as continue making what happened videos going into the near future with that said let’s get right into it Justin Hooper was a 6’8 238 lb

Left-handed pitcher out of San ran California who had attended D sale high school he was verbally committed to UCLA and was the number one ranked Lefty in the 2015 class for good reason physically he checks all boxes for a picture of his height boasting long levers and a high waist was still room

To fill out mechanically he shown to be very repeatable with excellent balance and he used his length well to get downhill this was all very impressive considering he had only used medium effort to reach premium velocity with his compact arm slot fastball wise he was at the top of the class routinely

Sitting in the upper 90s with excellent deception this was clearly his meal ticket as he’d been able to get National level hitters to chase consistently when it was out of the Zone his breaking ball Choice was a sharp near 126 curveball with the late break sitting in the upper

70s the pitch got a good amount of Chasers but a hard slider would have most likely fit his Arsenal better finally his change up was still fairly raw but was thrown in the low 80s with good arm speed like most high school prospects it was a pitch that needed to

Be developed over time to complement his already dominant fastball overall Justin Hooper was one of the top lefties available in the 2015 draft his lack of command at times LED some to believe he had reliever risk but even when he struggled commanding he’ been able to get all the national level prospects to

Chase Justin’s ceiling was extremely high with the potential to develop into an MLB Ace that featured triple digit fast balls with plus movement and above average 126 Hammer his floor was more Up For Debate he could stick as a starter and struggle to command his Dynamic Arsenal leading to a low-end minor

League starter or he could transition into a mid- tier two pitch reliever that primarily livt off his fast ball think of like a lower-end Josh hater the good news was his mechanics were fairly repeatable which led Scouts to believe his command issues would be pretty easy to overcome in the near future

Approaching the 2015 ml draft Justin struggled somewhat on the summer circuit this was mostly due to his recent struggle to find a consistent release point his former top 10 pick projection had dropped a late first round potential second round odds due to his drop in draft stock and his hard commitment to

UCLA Hooper tweeted out in June that he would be opting out at the 2015 MLB draft to some this would be looked at as quite a confusing move however signing bonus wise it made some sense the first overall pick in 2015 Dansby Swanson was signed for $6.5 million where the late

First round and early second round picks mostly signed for less than a third of that if Justin could prove himself at UCLA over the next couple years he’d be lack kned in as a lottery pick his junior year despite Hooper opting out of the draft the Brewers took a shot in the

Dark by drafting him in the 25th round to still give him the option of course Justin still declined to sign and prepared for his move to Los Angeles the transition to college ball would unfortunately be problematic for Justin his freshman year he clearly struggled with control of his whole arsenal

Appearing 14 times with one start posting an 18 erra in eight Innings pitched he gave up a total of 19 free bases and struck out nine the one silver lining was that he only gave up six hits though not incredibly impressive there’s still an argument to be made that if he

Could keep his walks to a minimum his pure stuff could still play at the next level heading into the 2017 season the UCLA coaching staff and Justin decided to make a change in his approach on the mound in order to improve his command they insisted he stay within himself

More and tone down the velocity this resulted in Justin sitting in the upper 80s low 90s with his fast ball and dropped his off speed a few ticks as well the concept proved to be fairly effective he’d finished a 2017 season with a one-on-one record with a 3.69 ra

Over 46 Innings pitched his strikeout rate remained healthy posting a strong 52 but once again it was coupled with 41 free bases this was disappointing as the one’s upper 90s left he had dropped nearly 10 mph on his fast ball to get these results fortunately Justin proved

His case that summer by becoming an All-Star in the Cape Cod league in 23 Innings he managed to strike out 21 and only hand out nine free bases his summer league manager Mike Roberts claimed that this is mostly due to his change in arm action and mechanics Hooper who previous

Previously used the tall and fall method had evolved into using what some describe as drop and drive or triple extension this method involves a primary emphasis on the transfer energy from the lower half to the arm throughout the motion generally this means that athlete is putting less stress in the arm and

Should lower risk of injury Roberts made sure to mention that during his interview with the cape cot times explaining that larger pitches using the tall and fall method are at a higher risk of getting Tommy John surgery unfortunately for Hooper Robert’s claim turned out to be somewhat of a logical

Fallacy heading into the 2018 season the ruins were prepping for the College World Series run behind the newly polished Lefty Justin Hooper however these expectations would be sidelined due to a very sad announcement despite Justin cleaning up his mechanics and dialing down his velocity he still managed to tear his UCL and required

Tommy John surgery this removed him fully from the 2018 season and resulted in the Bruins falling to the Minnesota golfers in the CWS regionals now the pressure for Jus was at an all-time high the former projected first round pick was now recovering from what many considered to be a career altering

Surgery and still had a lot to prove to MLB Scouts though his efficiency in the mound had become much better in 2017 Scouts were still missing that velocity there was no way a team would waste a first second or even third round selection on a low 90s Lefty with

Average efficiency who now had injury risk attached to his profile to make things even worse Justin’s recovery time spanned well over a year he would not take the mountain again till May 14th of 2019 in his first and last appearance as a bruin in two-thirds of an inning he

Would retire two batters and give up three free base before getting pulled though there’s not much info on what led to this one appearance decision I would have to speculate that Justin made the coaching staff aware of his intention to clear for the draft early in the season

And he decided to give him an inning for exposure before resting for the remainder of the season this was likely due to his lack of efficiency as they would make it all the way to the Super Regional where they would eventually fall to Michigan in three games moving

Forward to the 2019 MLB draft Justin Hooper was on practically no one’s first day list his ceiling was now viewed as a potential mid to high-end reliever the ability to pump upper 990s heat from the left side sure a team could spend some years developing him into a true starter

But almost 23 years old that seemed somewhat unlikely there was of course a lot of risk with him as well in regards to its injury history and below average command these risks led to him falling all the way down to the 14th round where he was selected as the 409th overall

Pick by the Kansas City Royals he would end up inking $125,000 signing bonus with them and would shift his Focus to climbing the minor lead ranks over the next couple of years but but then tragedy struck on July 2nd of 2020 the MLB announced it would be canceling the 2020 Minor League

Season to make matters even worse word got out that many teams were trimming their minor league rosters down due to clubs losing their affiliation with major league Orcs Hooper would end up being one of those victims as he was released by the Royals on October 20th

Of 2020 over the next few years he’d be listed as a free agent but was never signed or given the chance to throw one pitch in a professional baseball game with little to no information on him after his release I’d have to assume he called it a career

And hung up the cleats which is a bit disappointing to say the least so now we’re at the point in the video where I give my perspective on things first I’d like to point out that it’s extremely easy for us to say he should have declared for the draft right out of high

School as he would have been at least a high second round selection but we have foresight and that is simply not fair with that said my general recommendation for anyone selected in the first or second round is always to take the money college is guaranteed you can always go

Back to college you aren’t guaranteed $1 million throw a baseball every year the only exception would be someone like Jack lighter where the money really wouldn’t be lifechanging secondly I believe the strategy to make him drop velocity to gain control was detrimental when you have a meal ticket you don’t

Devalue it to improve your other assets you need to work with that meal ticket to make it work in other words he should have aimed to touch triple digits on the mound and develop his secondary pitches to be more reliable first pitch strikes sure it would have been considered

Pitching backwards but it would have made him more valuable in the draft and potentially a high-end closer or aever in college it’s sad to say this but there are a lot of lefties in college Joo and even high school that can sit 90 to 92 with average command by limiting

His natural high vlo they tanked his draft stock before his injury at a UCLA then of course the 2020 season was canceled by no fault adjustin and just happened to be the final nail in the coffin ver his career it’s unfortunate that there’s no info out there about his

Life after baseball but I truly hope he’s doing well with whatever business he’s pursuing in life well that’s about it for today guys I hope all of you are enjoying your 2024 so far and as always leave a comment on the next Prospect you

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