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.