The Chicago Cubs might be staring at the steal of the first round if a once-top-five arm really does slide to pick No. 17 in the MLB Draft, held July 13-14 in Atlanta as part of MLB’s All-Star Week festivities.
When the 2025 draft cycle kicked off, University of California-Santa Barbara right-hander Tyler Bremner was penciled in near the top of several early mocks. Prospects Live, in its first ranking of potential collegiate draft picks for this year, had Bremner as the top pitcher and No. 3 overall player.
“The best mid-major arm in this class, Bremner has a legitimate shot at being the first arm off the board thanks to fantastic athleticism, starter traits, and exceptionally loud stuff,” their profile stated. “Bremner’s body is uber-projectable with skinny, lanky limbs and the delivery is as easy as it can get, featuring little to no effort and excellent body control down the bump. His case for best arm in the class gets better with the arsenal. … There’s a chance for three above-average or better offerings with above-average command.”
However, Bremner got off to slow start in 2025, his first season as a full-time starter, and he had a 4.24 ERA at the end of March, which seemed to scare off a few teams, as well as the draft prognosticators. Multiple mock drafts now have the 6-foot-2, 190-pounder dropping into the middle of the first round, with MLB.com and Just Baseball both predicting the Cubs to call Bremner’s name on draft day.
But it will be interesting to see if a strong finish to 2025 carries more weight than the early struggles, with Tyler Jennings and Conor Dorney of Just Baseball acknowledging that “Bremner’s late-season resurgence may mean he goes higher than” No. 17.
Tyler Bremner Boasts ‘Exquisite’ Changeup Deemed Tops Among Draft Hopefuls
Bremner took huge steps up the rankings after his sophomore season, as he went 11-1 with a 2.54 ERA in 19 appearances, including nine starts. In 88.2 innings, Bremner posted a 0.88 WHIP with 104 strikeouts.
Named the Friday night starter for the Gauchos in 2025, Bremner went 5-4 in 14 starts with a 3.49 ERA, and despite throwing fewer innings (77.1) than the previous season, he actually finished with more strikeouts (111). Bremner was particularly dominant in the second half of the season, posting a 74:10 strikeout-to-walk ratio over his final seven starts, and he recorded a career-high 13 strikeouts in 7 innings against Cal State Bakersfield on May 16.
For the season, Bremner was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-West Region First Team, and Perfect Game named him to their All-America Second Team.
Bremner boasts a mid-90s fastball that can reach as high as 98 and “has great carry through the zone,” according to Draft Nation, “making it an effective pitch up in the zone, and allows it to miss more bats than some of his peers’ fastballs.” However, it’s Bremner’s changeup that has really caught the attention of teams, with MLB.com rating it as the top changeup in the 2025 draft class.
“It’s a wicked 83-86 mph offering that he sells with heater arm speed before it fades and tumbles at the plate,” Jim Callis of MLB.com wrote. “He has exquisite feel for his changeup, showing the ability to land it for strikes or use it for chases while generating a 48 percent swing-and-miss rate this spring, and it works against both lefties and righties.”
Tyler Bremner May Have Reversed Falling Draft Stock With Strong Finish to 2025
With a slider in his arsenal as well, Bremner has also been praised for his control, and whispers are getting louder that Bremner’s draft stock may not end up dropping as far as some have suggested. Carlos Collazo of Baseball America recently stated that the latest intel indicates Bremner “feels safely in the top 15.”
“His fastball traits should be appealing to most teams, and are comparable to the best college arms in the class,” Collazo wrote.
“Add in Bremner’s control and command foundation that could easily be seen as the best of the bunch, and he fits right in with the top arms in the class.”
For a Cubs franchise short on pitchers among their top prospects, it would be rather fortuitous if Bremner were to drop into their laps.
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