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The 2015 season began for John Lamb in Triple-A Omaha, pitching in the Kansas City Royals organization. It was a return to Omaha, his third stint and it turned out to be the best one of them all. He missed the first two weeks of the season and would debut on April 23rd. He was solid in his first game out, allowing two earned in 4.2 innings with a walk and five strikeouts. His final outing of the month was against Colorado Springs. The left hander allowed two runs in 5.2 innings with two walks and six strikeouts.
May began with a one run outing over 6.0 innings with three walks and three strikeouts. He followed that up with 6.0 shutout frames with a walk and eight strikeouts against Oklahoma. The next two outings would be a bit of a struggle as he allowed four runs in each start, spanning just 10.2 innings with seven walks and 13 strikeouts. He would finish out the month by allowing one earned in 5.0 innings. For the month he would post a 3.25 ERA in 27.2 innings to go with 12 walks and 30 strikeouts.
Things would get out to a nice start in June as Lamb tossed 8.0 innings with only an unearned run on the 1st. The next game was a bit of a struggle as he would be charged with three earned runs, and four more unearned runs in 5.0 innings. He rebounded with 4.0 shutout frames the next time out, but struggled with his control some as he walked three batters. He would allow three runs over 6.0 innings against Nashville on the 18th. On the 23rd he would strike out 10 batters over 7.0 innings while allowing just two runs. The month would be capped off with 5.0 shutout innings. In 35.0 innings he’d post a 2.06 ERA with 10 walks and 29 strikeouts.
Continuing along with his good stretch Lamb allowed just one run over 6.0 innings in his first start of July. In the second start of the month the left hander would strike out 10 batters with two earned runs. On the 18th he would allow two runs over 4.1 innings with a walk and seven strikeouts against Nashville. In what would be his final start for the Royals organization he would allow a run in 6.0 innings on the 23rd. A few days later he would be traded to the Cincinnati Reds as a part of a package for Johnny Cueto. He’d made one start with the Bats to end the month of July. He allowed three runs in 5.0 innings with three walks and eight strikeouts. In 26.1 innings on the month he would post a 3.08 ERA with just seven walks, no home runs allowed and he had 34 strikeouts.
Lamb would make two more starts in the minor leagues to begin August. Both went 6.0 innings and he allowed just one run in each game, walking four and striking out 13 batters in total. He would be called up to the big leagues after that and would finish the season out there. In four starts to finish out August he had a 5.24 ERA in 22.1 innings with just five walks and 29 strikeouts.
In September things got a bit rougher as he would be quite hit-or-miss. In two outings, on the 10th and the 21st, he would not allow a run over 11.0 combined innings. In the other four starts though he’d allow 19 runs over 16.1 innings. He had some struggles with control in several outings and would walk 14 batters in 27.1 innings to finish out the season.
His time in the minor leagues reestablished his prospect status after struggling for a few years after having Tommy John surgery, but he struggled at times in his big league debut. He showed a good ability to miss bats, striking out 58 batters in 49.2 innings. He had some struggles with the long ball, allowing eight of them, but in his 10 big league starts he seemed to pitch better than his 5.80 ERA would suggest.
| Team | ERA | IP | H | HR | BB | K | WHIP |
| Omaha | 2.67 | 94.1 | 80 | 7 | 29 | 96 | 1.16 |
| Louisville | 2.95 | 17.0 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 21 | 1.24 |
| Cincinnati | 5.80 | 49.2 | 58 | 8 | 19 | 58 | 1.55 |
Scouting Report
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Fastball | The pitch works in the 90-93 MPH range and can touch 95 at times. He usually throws a 4-seamer, but also has a 2-seamer that he mixes in every so often. He’s got above-average velocity for a lefty, but big leaguers handled it well.
Cutter | His second most used pitch, he throws it in the mid-to-upper 80’s. An above-average offering that moves enough to keep hitters off-balance.
Change Up | The pitch comes in in the 79-83 MPH range. It’s got a little bit of additional armside run and sink to it than the fastball, but it’s an average pitch when it’s at its best.
Curveball | Lamb throws a big looping slow curve, coming in around 70 MPH. He had solid results with it in his first go-around in the big leagues, but scouts wonder how well it will continue to play at the level once hitters get a second and third look at the pitch.
Lamb is an interesting arm. All four of his pitches got plenty of swings and misses in the big leagues, but outside of his cutter, were also quite hittable at times too. His strikeout rate was very strong in his rookie season and if he can continue with anything near the same rate, he should have some success. He’s a flyball pitcher, which doesn’t generally bode well in Cincinnati, so he may continue to have some home run issues moving forward if he can’t find a way to generate a few more grounders along the way. In his time on the mound he was among the better pitchers in the league at inducing weak contact, ranking 10th best among 288 pitchers. Despite that he was among the highest batting average on balls in play against pitchers in the game. While he profiles more as a back-end starter when it comes to his scouting reports, his ability to miss bats and induce weak contact gives him some intriguing upside if he can put things together.
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