This was a staple of things last year and it’s going to return this season with a weekly spot every Wednesday. For the newcomers to the site for this season, while there will usually be a weekly scouting article on an individual player, this will have some scouting notes from several players and may not always be a full on report. Today we are going to look at two starting pitchers: RHP Michael Lorenzen and RHP Mark Armstrong.
Michael Lorenzen
In his first start of the season Lorenzen shined for the Louisville Bats, tossing 7.0 shutout innings with just three hits allowed while walking two and striking out three. The right hander showed off all of his pitches in the game, using his fastball, slider, curveball and change up effectively throughout the game.
[private_subscriber]
The right hander was bringing the heat in his first start, throwing in the 92-95 MPH range with his fastball and he topped out at 97. For the most part, he controlled the fastball well. He mixed in the two breaking balls and some change ups. The slider is still the best of the bunch, but the curveball looked good and he kept all of his pitches down at the bottom of the zone.
Mark Armstrong
After making his 2015 debut out of the bullpen with the Dragons being short handed in the opening series, Armstrong made his first start of the year on Tuesday night against the South Bend Cubs. He allowed two runs over 5.0 innings with a walk and a strikeout.
Armstrong sat in the 90-92 MPH range with his fastball during the game. In the early innings he showed good fastball command, but as the game went on the pitch became a more inconsistent in terms of his ability to control it. The right handed went to his curveball often as his secondary pitch. The first few that he threw weren’t sharp and hung a little bit, but several after that were much better offerings. It’s a 12-6 curveball with solid breaking action. It’s inconsistent right now, but it’s a pitch that could turn into a weapon down the road with more consistency.
[/private_subscriber]