LHP Seth Lonsway, Ohio State
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DoB: 10/7/1998.
2020 Stats: 1-2, 3.00 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 42/18 K/BB in 18 IP.
Seth Lonsway was a potential top five round pick out of high school in the small town of Celina, Ohio in 2017, but headed down U.S. 33 to Columbus to join the Buckeyes instead. There, he has pitched to some very interesting results. As a redshirt freshman in 2019, he put up a 3.70 ERA and a 126/56 strikeout to walk ratio across 92.1 innings, but then he walked twelve in as many innings in the elite Cape Cod League over the summer. He started off the 2020 season extremely well; over his first three starts, he put up a 1.13 ERA while striking out an incredible 37 of the 67 batters he faced (55.2%) in 16 innings. However, he walked eight batters in two innings against Stetson in his final start of the season, leaving his status a bit up in the air for the draft. On one hand, he struck out 42 of the 83 batters he faced overall (50.6%), but on the other, he has now walked 30 batters over 30 innings between the Cape and the 2020 season combined.
If anything, it's tough to hit against Lonsway. The ball absolutely explodes out of his hand, with his fastball sitting in the low to mid 90's but playing up because it seems to come out faster than his arm is moving. He also uses a very high arm slot, putting a lot of downhill angle on the ball, but it's clean arm action. After the fastball, he throws a power 12-6 curve that misses a ton of bats, a hard slider with more lateral break, and a decent changeup. The stuff is extremely difficult to square up, with Lonsway having allowed just three home runs over 110.1 innings throughout his college career, and he's struck out 168 in that span. From the left side, that's deadly.
The big problem with Lonsway, of course, is command. For every bit of explosiveness that baseball carries coming out if his hand, it is just as unpredictable. He struggles to repeat both his arm slot and his release point, which can send the baseball in any number of directions. Some scouts have noticed that he is actually pretty decent at landing his breaking balls in the zone, but the fastball just never seems to come out straight. It will take serious improvements in his command for Lonsway to find success in the majors.
With a strong 6'3" build and a clean, if inconsistent, delivery, Lonsway has what it takes to start. If a team can clean up his command and even get it to average, he could be a #2 or #3 starting pitcher. The risk is serious here, and the command has a good chance of pushing him to the bullpen. Because teams undoubtedly will like the stuff, a team that believes in his ability to get his command together could pop him as early as the second round.
2020 start vs Stetson (the one where he walked eight)
On the Cape over the summer
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