Wake Forest freshman lefty Ryan Brennecke flashes swing-and-miss upside, but command is still the big fixer
In the 2026 season, Ryan Brennecke showed a small but intriguing sample for Wake Forest: he worked 4.1 innings with 7 strikeouts and 8 walks, and the early read is a classic high-upside, high-variance arm[1][5]. The selling point is the left-handed deception and strikeout ability—he even opened his Wake Forest career with 1.2 hitless relief innings and his first strikeout in the opener[10]. The concern is obvious: the walk rate and overall 2026 ERA (14.54) say the command needs polish before he becomes a trust-it-in-big-moments piece[1][5].
