Friday recap: USC tops TCU
LSU
vs. Baylor
It's
very difficult to look at Alex Lange on the mound and see him as a
freshman. Freshman don't typically come with his bulldog demeanor and
big situation fortitude. He operates like an advanced, polished
upperclassman, and he has the high octane stuff to go with it. Lange
was more impressive on Saturday in ways that go beyond his raw stuff,
however, as he seemed to save his nastiest pitches for the biggest
situations.
Lange
came out in the first inning spitting wire, touching 94 mph and
living consistently at 92-93 mph. He attacks with an excellent
downhill plane and very repeatable mechanics. He also appears more
athletic, lean, and physically advanced since last we saw him in the
high school ranks. You'd expect a freshman to perhaps have some
issues carrying velocity deep into games, but no such issues came up
for Lange. He settled in at 91-93 and never dipped below 90 mph in
his seven shutout innings of work.
Although
Lange made a point to establish his changeup early on, he turned to
his sharp breaking ball time and time again in big spots in the
outing. Thrown at 80-83 mph, Lange’s curveball is a true downer
that rarely varied into 11-to-5 territory later in the outing. It’s
a pitch he proved willing to throw to both sides of the plate and to
both lefties and righties. This is also going to be the difference
making pitch for him as scouts evaluate him for the next level. True
hammer curveballs are a rarity, and Lange has one.
There
was a key moment, however, that spoke to Lange’s advanced pitching
aptitude. Baylor’s Darryn Sheppard had one of the few good swings
of the day off Lange, and when he came up again after that at-bat, it
was clear Lange had made a mental note. Lange did something we hadn’t
seen him do all night - he went back to his changeup (which he threw
very sparsely after the first inning) in a right on right situation.
He executed the changeup beautifully on the outside corner at 83 mph
with spill back type action. This just speaks to the fact that
although he spent the night mostly working off his fastball-curveball
combination, Lange does have three pitches he’s fully confident in.
The
command of the fastball and curveball rarely wavered for Lange. Even
in difficult situations, he never shied away from challenging
hitters. His curveball was up at times, and as the competition
elevates, he’ll have to be more careful about his location with it.
But, when it’s down in the zone it’s a swing and miss, 55 or
better offering on the 20-80 scouting scale. When he threw it more
frequently earlier in the outing, his changeup mostly lived at 83-85
mph, and he threw one at 87 mph.
As
just a freshman, Lange shows he is a full fledged three pitch
pitcher, and has the look of a pitcher who is already battle tested.
This is an ace in the making LSU has on their hands, and a pitcher
that will have scouts flocking for the next three years.
•
Opposing Lange for
Baylor was sophomore lefty, Daniel Castano, who despite battling his
command throughout, turned in a tremendous effort against the vaunted
and red hot LSU offense. It was a struggle at times, but it was clear
in the way Castano operated that he was aware of how careful he had
to be against this lineup.
Coming
out of the gate in the first, the 6-foot-4 lefty worked steadily at
89-91 mph with good sinking action. He also quickly established his
above average, late fading changeup at 78-81 mph, a pitch that would
end up being the equalizer against all the dangerous righty hitters
LSU stacked against him. Castano also occasionally mixed in a 72-76
mph curveball with 1-to-7 rotation, but it was mostly a
fastball-changeup approach throughout the game.
Castano
had innings where he cruised and induced quick, efficient groundouts.
There were other innings when he labored, but still managed to keep
the LSU sluggers guessing. He lived on the edge or off the outside
corner, and as the game moved along, LSU hitters began to creep on
the plate and look for the changeup away. But, although his fastball
velocity dipped by the middle innings, he still had enough juiced at
87-90 mph to keep them honest.
It
was a grind, but Castano deserves enormous credit for holding such a
dynamic offense down for eight innings and allowing just one run. The
effort speaks to just how good his changeup is, and with improved
command, he’ll keep scouts very intrigued as they look ahead to the
2016 draft class.
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