CAR
Nick Lodolo, P
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Scouting report
Drafted and unsigned by the Pirates as a 2016 first rounder, Lodolo took a bit of a circuitous route to the top of the 2019 class. He had iffy freshman and sophomore seasons but flashed a tantalizing blend of stuff and feel at times, keeping him in the first round mix despite inconsistent performance. As a junior, everything clicked for him during a heavily-scouted, early-season college tournament in Houston, where Lodolo worked in the mid-90s with a plus breaking ball and changeup and struck out 13 Houston Cougars in seven innings. He'd end up posting career-best numbers across the board and was drafted seventh overall in 2019. After the draft, Lodolo pitched a total of 18 innings between Billings and Dayton, his fastball resting in the 92-94 range. Lodolo threw in one pre-shutdown spring training game and in one summer camp tuneup, and neither went well. He showed up to summer camp looking kind of soft and with diminished velocity, and he paid for it early on in a scrimmage against the Tigers during which he surrendered back to back to back homers and couldn't make it out of the second inning. Lodolo slowly began rebuilding arm strength throughout the summer and was back into his usual range by the end of his run at the alt site. His arm slot is abnormally low for a starter but when he's throwing well, he has great east/west command of his fastball and can back door his curveball for strikes on the arm-side corner of the plate. He still needs to more consistently bury that curveball in the dirt for swings and misses; to my eye it looks like it should present tough angle for righty hitters when it's located to their back foot. While Lodolo would sometimes go entire outings without throwing many changeups as an amateur, there were stretches when it was his best pitch, and the cambio was a developmental focus at the alt site. The entire package reads like a suitable fourth starter. When Lodolo is in shape, his frame is ideal, his delivery elegant and repeatable. The stuff isn't dominant, but some teams are still projecting on it because of how big and lean Lodolo's frame is, which makes them think it might be eventually. (Alternate site)