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College  | Story  | 4/5/2017

College Spotlight: Week 7

Patrick Ebert      Jheremy Brown     
Photo: Houston Athletics/@UHCougarBB
 


Perfect Game College Player Database

Every week during the 2017 college baseball season we will be pulling at least one report, and corresponding video when available, of a player entered into the College Player Database. This week we will share reports on players from the UCLA/Arizona State series as well as one on Houston lefthander Seth Romero and Central Arizona lefthander Ryley Widell. All of the reports entered into the database can be found in one, easy-to-find place as linked above, and can also be accessed off of the individual PG player profile pages.

To access all of the reports you will need a College Baseball Ticket (CBT) subscription. To learn more about the CBT and to sign up today please visit this link.




Seth Romero, LHP, Houston

Using a term such as “rising up draft boards” to describe Houston hurler Seth Romero’s draft stock this spring may not be the best phrase as he entered the spring as one of the nation’s top lefthanders, both in the college and high school ranks. A highly regarded prospect since his high school days where his stuff steadily ticked up, “established” may be a better adjective to describe what the Texas native has done in 2017, as in “he’s ‘established’ himself as one of the top prospects in the entire class,” not just among lefthanders.

With a physical transformation that requires a glance into the program to ensure No. 21 for the Cougars is indeed Romero, the now 6-foot-3, 220-pound athlete has made significant strides with his body, all for the better. The new physique not only points to the type of work ethic Romero instilled this offseason but it also helps scouts feel better about slapping a starters’ tag on him long-term instead of a power-armed reliever who lets it fly for an inning or two at a time.

The work ethic and build, along with previous praise, means nothing without production, an area Romero is certainly not lacking in this spring and serves as a main selling point for Romero moving into the upper tier of draft picks. Now 3-3 on the year with a 3.05 ERA, Houston’s ace is among the nation’s leaders in strikeouts with 76 in just 44 1/3 innings of work. His command can elude him at times as he showed in his most recent outing with seven walks, but on the whole he’s only issued 18 free passes and has an established track record of keeping the total down.

Romero’s velocity has always been a constant during his two-plus years with Head Coach Todd Whitting as he still routinely hits 95-96 mph with nothing more than moderate effort and a fast left arm. And when Romero “settles” with his velocity in the 92-94 mph range, it still matches what other arms will show with their best fastball in any given start. Add in the deception he’s able to generate with his lower, extended slot and it’s easy to see how the strikeouts come in droves.

The fastball isn’t the only pitch in Romero’s arsenal that will flash plus on the 20-80 scale as his slider is a true swing-and-miss, strikeout pitch. A steady low-80s offering that he can manipulate both the shape, velocity and finish of, there’s little hesitation to double up on the pitch which pairs well off of the fastball. The development of his changeup, which should be a solid average third pitch, has been a positive one and one that has helped Romero keep hitters off balance even more this spring.

A projected first round/compensation pick at the beginning of the spring, Romero has done nothing but climb the ranks and has been mentioned on the short list of potential 1-1 picks comes June. 



Griffin Canning, RHP, UCLA

Heading into his Friday night start against Arizona State UCLA's Griffin Canning had been generating quite a bit of buzz amont scouts on the West Coast (as well as nationally) and potentially had as much draft helium as anyone in the class thus far this spring. 

Canning's numbers are very good as well, as he's now 2-1 after a victory over ASU, with a 2.87 ERA in 47 innings of work, striking out 58 hitters along the way while allowing 34 hits and 18 walks. The walks are obviously a touch higher than one would like to see at this juncture.

Canning's arm action is clean and quick, working through to a three-quarters release slot, and he's able to generate good angle to the glove side and plane down in the zone as well. The delivery is uptempo and efficient, though there is some concern about how he lands on his front foot. He'll gate his hip open a bit as he drives forward off of his backside, but rather than landing open (the traditional landing spot when a pitcher gates his front hip), Canning lands with an extremely closed off front toe which in turn can (and did) lead to inconsistencies in getting over that front side on time, which in turn lead to some command struggles, especially with his fastball missing up and to the arm side. This particular mechanical phenomenon was less pronounced on this night than it has been in other starts, and he's a very good athlete who is able to repeat his delivery well regardless, but it does cause some pause when projecting out his command to the next level. 

The stuff speaks for itself, as Canning showed glimpses of three potential plus pitches and flashed very good command at times as well. Coming out of the gate pumping 93-94 mph and touching 95 once on my gun, Canning settled in at 92-94 in the early innings and eventually dipped more into the 90-93 mph range as he worked deeper and deeper into what was eventually a 117-pitch outing. The arm speed is plus, and there's some room remaining on his frame to fill out, so it's certainly plausible to project him to have a plus fastball at full maturity. Both the curveball and slider flashed plus on this night though were not there consistently, and could project out as plus to the next level. 

The curveball is thrown anywhere from 77 to 81-82 mph with 10-to-5 shape and hard, biting break with very good depth, and he particularly liked using it against lefthanded hitters. He would occasionally cast it and lose it to the arm side, but there were several flashes of a plus curveball here that can be a weapon for him. Against righthanded hitters, he preferred the slider, thrown firmer than the curveball (83-85 mph) with very sharp, very tight spin that flashed as a two plane hammer. He also brought out a changeup, thrown in the mid-80s with flashes of fade, but threw it sparingly. 

He has an advanced understanding of pitchability and sequencing, unafraid to double or even triple up on his off-speed pitches and with great success. He lost his command for stretches on this night which in turn drove up his pitch count, but with minor mechanical refinements and continued development one could project out average command overall for Canning. 

On the whole, there exists potential for a trio of above average to plus pitches here with average command from a collegiate starter who has a very good track record of success. There are some concerns, in terms of his delivery and subsequently just how good the command can get, and he is undersized by righthanded starting pitcher standards. However, in this draft class Canning is pretty easily a first rounder in my view, potentially as high as top 15.

Other UCLA players added to College Player Database:

• Jake Bird
• Chase Strumpf




Eli Lingos, LHP, Arizona State

Arizona State's Friday night starter, junior lefthander Eli Lingos owns one of the more unique deliveries in college baseball, which we'll get into shortly. Thus far in 2017 (including his numbers against UCLA), Lingos has been a very steady, very solid starting pitcher. With a 3-2 record and 3.07 ERA across 44 innings, with 36 strikeouts and 13 walks allowed in those frames. 

His delivery, and to be more specific how he starts his delivery, is extremely unique. He gets the sign from his catcher then turns his back to the hitter, resets on the rubber, and then takes a medium-sized leg lift and does a much greater than 90 degree hip rotation to get back online with the plate, before getting downhill and releasing from a high three-quarters arm slot. It certainly helps to control the running game, as Lingos is able to make pickoff throws with more deception than a normal lefthander would from that starting position, and it surely aids in his deception to the hitter as well, who does not pick up the ball very quickly thanks to this delivery. He's also adept at going to more of a slide step move with runners on base, and while he's not super quick to the plate, it aids him in holding runners. 

Lingos' stuff was solid, if unspectacular, and he ran into some command issues which drove his pitch count up early on. The fastball sat 85-88 mph for the majority of his start, aided tremendously in effectiveness by his ability to hide the ball until as late as possible, and he showed the ability to work down in the zone to both sides of the plate. He also worked in a curveball in the low- to mid-70s with 1-to-7 shape and good depth, an average pitch on the professional grading scale. He also worked in a changeup that has average potential as well, thrown in the 76-79 mph range with good arm speed and moderate fading life; it's a deceptive pitch that he flashed quality command of at times. 

As with most non-flamethrowing lefthanders, Lingos displayed very good pitchability and feel for sequencing, showing all three of his pitches almost immediately in the first inning and pitching backwards at times, unafraid to double up on off-speed stuff when he felt that was the right move. His defense didn't help him out much and his command wavered in the middle innings, but for the most part he was in control and the swings taken by UCLA were not of the comfortable variety. 

On the whole, Lingos looks like a very good senior sign candidate for the 2018 MLB Draft who could be in line for a big senior season in Tempe if he opts to return.

Other Arizona State players added to College Player Database:

• Jake Godfrey
• Taylor Lane
• Tyler Williams




Ryley Widell, LHP, Central Arizona College

Generating a good deal of draft hype as far back as last fall, Ryley Widell has been on the Perfect Game JuCo radar for quite some time. He's currently ranked as the No. 5 prospect on the PG JuCo Top 150 Draft Prospects list, so it was with good reason that I headed about an hour south of Phoenix to catch his start vs. Phoenix College on Saturday afternoon. 

The first thing that stands out about Widell is his almost picturesque pitcher's build, with broad shoulders tapering down to a narrow waist, and the projection remaining on his body in terms of future size and strength is excellent. His delivery is very good as well, gathering himself well on his backside and driving downhill to the plate efficiently. He lands every so slightly closed off and creates a modicum of crossfire as a result, but has no trouble repeating the delivery and really extending well out front. The arm action is quick, though he does create a scapular load and a high back elbow as a result, which rolls into a bit of a flatter elbow position at foot strike, but on the whole he is free of violence and does an excellent job getting to a clean three-quarters release slot. 

The stuff was excellent, holding 88-91 mph consistently with his fastball for the entirety of his 6 2/3 innings on the mound, allowing a pair of runs on five hits and two walks to go with 12 strikeouts. The fastball, at times, featured excellent arm-side run and quality sink down in the zone and he showed the ability to work it to both sides as well as up in the strike zone. 

Early on in the game, his go-to off-speed pitch was the changeup, thrown with extreme conviction and trust in the 82-83 mph range, and flashing plus in the first inning. It has excellent fading action out of the hand with no discernible difference in arm speed from his fastball, and was a weapon pitch against righthanded hitters. He went away from the changeup in the middle innings in favor of his breaking ball, which showed two different looks though looked to be two variations of one pitch rather than two different pitches. Thrown anywhere from 72 to 78 mph, in the lower velocity it was more of a true curveball with 1-to-7 shape and excellent depth while the firmer variety had more of a slider 2-to-8 shape with some sweep but also sharp bite. He was able to mix and match both varieties to hitters of either handedness with great success. 

The command was, for the most part, average on the professional scouting scale, and the secondary offerings ranged anywhere from 40-60 (on the 20-80 scale). It's realistic to project his fastball velocity bumping up a bit, and the secondary stuff finding more consistency and settling in above average, all to go along with a quality command profile and starter-capable delivery. Right now he profiles nicely in the 4-7 round range for the MLB Draft come June.
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