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College  | Story  | 3/2/2019

College Notes: March 1

Britt Smith      Mike Rooney     
Photo: Nick Lodolo (TCU Athletics)

Scout Takes: Oregon State | UCLA | Georgia Tech | College Player Database

Player covered: Nick Lodolo (TCU), John Doxakis (Texas A&M), Kasey Kalich (Texas A&M), Jimmy Winston (Baylor), Matt Canterino (Rice), Nicholas Fraze (Texas State), Ethan Small (Mississippi State), Hayden Wesneski (Sam Houston State), Matt Waldron (Nebraska), Erikson Lanning (Texas Tech), Alec Marsh (Arizona State), Mason Erla (Michigan State).




Nick Lodolo, Texas Christian
On the radar for several years now, TCU's Nick Lodolo has been a focal point for evaluators since arriving on campus. He was selected with the 41st overall pick out of high school but spurned pro baseball to head to TCU and he's now viewed as a potential first rounder once again. There have been some inconsistencies throughout his tenure at TCU, and while that is indeed a concern, Lodolo pitched like a top 15 pick on this day. 

Physically, Lodolo looks like a peak projectable lefty, tall and lanky with long limbs, broadness to his shoulders and seemingly plenty of room to continue filling out his frame. The operation is pretty easy, with a clean delivery that gets online to the plate, and Lodolo showed no issues working side-to-side, even if he does land slightly closed off. The arm action is likewise clean and easy with an ever-so-slightly raised back elbow, but he was consistently on time in this start and neither the delivery nor the arm action raise many concerns. 

Lodolo was wholly dominant with his entire arsenal against Houston at the Shriners College Classic in Houston, save for one bad pitch that got hit way out to left field, and it's very fun to think about what the quality of the stuff may look like with some additional strength on his frame. He creates very good angle to the plate and pitched in the 91-94 mph range for the entirety of his outing, including hitting 94 mph on his 90th pitch. The fastball quality is well above average, given that velocity in addition to the angle, life and command of the pitch. 

His secondary stuff was equally impressive with a slider in the 80-84 mph range and a changeup that he went to frequently early on in the 85-86 mph range for the most part. The slider became the go-to pitch from about the second inning on and it's a pitch that could pretty easily be projected as plus. Consistently in the 55 (on the 20-80 scale) range, Lodolo dominated with the pitch getting lefties and righties to swing over the top of it throughout the game. He's adept at landing it for strikes as well as burying it, and when he can backfoot it to righthanded hitters, he's pretty untouchable. The changeup was reserved for righthanded hitters for the most part, and while it's the third pitch of his arsenal, it was pretty consistently an average pitch for him when he threw it. He replicates his fastball arm action well when throwing the changeup and does a good job of selling it, and the pitch features good fading life to the arm side. 

The inconsistencies as mentioned are undoubtedly a concern as to Lodolo's overall profile, and his ultimate draft stock this year, but the fact remains that when he's on top of his game, as he was on this day, there aren't many better amateur pitchers in the country. This start was a high first round type of look, and if he can find consistency and start doing this repeatedly week-to-week, the upside exists for him to be one of the first college pitchers selected this June.


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