Prep Baseball Illinois Pitcher of the Week: Brandon Shannon
April 15, 2025
McHenry is off to a 10-1-1 start, coming off a dominant 3-0 week with two ranked wins as they now sit at No. 4 in our Power 25. One of their statement wins came over No. 10 at the time Hampshire behind RHP Brandon Shannon (2025; Louisville commit), who fired a no-hitter in the 2-0 victory. Due to his outstanding efforts, Shannon has been named this week’s Pitcher of the Week.
The Warriors faced off with No. 10 Hampshire for a Fox Valley Conference matchup on Tuesday and came away victorious by the score of 2-0. Shannon was lights out in the contest, firing a no-hitter over his six innings of work, walking just one and striking out 14 - firing 53/79 of his pitches for strikes.
The Louisville commit is picking up right where he left off from a season ago, as he earned Second-Team All State honors last spring after he fired 60.1 innings with a 10-0 record, 1.86 ERA and 82 strikeouts. Shannon has quickly become one of the top arms in the state, bursting onto the scene about a year and a half ago at the McHenry Preseason ID. He has since risen to be the No. 6 prospect in Illinois (No. 81 nationally) and has proven to be a top arm in the country, recently having a loud showing at the Super 60 this past February - showing a fastball up to 95 mph with a wipeout breaking ball and splitter to pair. There’s all sorts of upside in his long-levered 6-foot-3 frame, and his best days are still very much ahead of him, whether that be in pro ball or at Louisville this coming fall.
We're thankful for the POTW submissions we received from the coaches across the state. The players who garnered POTW consideration will earn a place within tomorrow's Diamond Notes story, so be on the lookout for that.
Scouting Report
Super 60: It’s been fun to see the meteoric rise of Shannon, going from making his showcase debut at the McHenry Preseason ID last February to pitching in the Super 60 not even a year later. There is obvious upside in Shannon’s lean, high-waited 6-foot-3, 181-pound frame, and it should only continue to trend in the right direction over the coming years. There is still plenty to project on in the way Shannon works down the mound, surely holding more in the tank that should get capitalized on with further development, strength and maturity. He slings it from a ¾ release window, and impressed with a fastball up to 95 mph, cruising around the 92-94 mph range with hard running action to his arm-side, also showing the ability to land it in the zone around 80% of the time per TrackMan. He throws both of his breaking balls with intent in the low/mid-80s, both playing with some slurvy shape and bullet-type action that should continue to get better as he goes throughout his career. His final offering was a splitter that he killed spin on in the 87-89 mph range, profiling as one of his best pitches from a pitch design standpoint with right around 0 IVB, also flashing some late drop. Shannon is a perfect arm for pro scouts to follow given his big upside and rawness, and there will likely be a good amount of teams tracking down the McHenry product this spring.