Sears spent two years in the Little East Conference with Division III Rhode Island College before transferring to UConn for the 2023 season. He slid into the Huskies rotation but sported a 6.24 ERA, despite striking out 74 in 62 innings. The Tigers still selected him in the 10th round and signed him for roughly slot at $167,800 when he was still only 20 years old. Sears continued to get strikeouts in his first full season at Single-A Lakeland but has become a more complete package in 2025 with High-A West Michigan. That earned him a move to Double-A Erie in early August.
The 6-foot-3 southpaw throws from a funky low three-quarters slot, and his big breakout came around May of this year when he moved to the extreme third-base side of the rubber -- a move that gave him more of the plate to work with from those mechanics. He can work with both a four-seamer and sinker around 93-95 mph, a touch above where he was last year. His 82-85 mph slider can show some nice sweep from that low angle, and he’s gotten more chase on the pitch since the move across the mound. An upper-80s changeup remains an area of focus as he can throw it too high in the zone at times.
Sears’ walk rate was only 8 percent from the start of May to the end of his time with West Michigan, a significant improvement from his time in the Florida State League. There’s still enough deception that he just needs adequate strike-throwing to get by as a starter, as batters could be fooled out of the zone too. Thought to be a potential reliever because of the funk, Sears is looking more and more like a potential back end starter with the right adjustments.
