Don’t freak out, Nick Lodolo is healthy. But the Cincinnati Reds 1st round pick has been shut down for the rest of the season and will not pitch again. The Reds were watching his innings very carefully after the draft. The left-handed pitcher threw 103.0 innings for TCU during the college season. After being drafted, Cincinnati had him make eight starts between Billings and Dayton, but he threw all of 18.1 innings in that time as he threw between 11-50 pitches in each outing.
When Nick Lodolo was on the mound as a professional, he was rather dominant. He posted a 2.45 ERA between his two stops. He allowed one home run, didn’t walk anyone, and the lefty struck out 30 of the 74 batters he faced. The Reds are very happy with how 2019 played out for Nick Lodolo on the mound. Their focus now is for the 2020 season for the left-handed starting pitcher.
In his final start on Tuesday night, he allowed three hits over 4.0 innings with one earned run, no walks, and he struck out four batters. During the outing he mixed in his fastball, that worked 93-95, and touched 96 more than a few times. But it was his slider that was the most impressive.
“He went after them and mixing in his slider. It’s pretty good. That slider is going to play well,” said Dayton manager Luis Bolivar following the game.
The change up is also showing up in games now, too. There were several thrown on Tuesday. They were in the 88-89 MPH range – maybe a little closer in velocity to his fastball than you would normally like to see. But it’s a pitch he’s been working on both in the bullpen sessions and more recently in games.
“It’s definitely coming around,” said Lodolo. “In college I threw it a little bit, but it’s something I haven’t thrown, so being comfortable with it is not necessarily there yet. The last two weeks though have been a step in a positive direction. I’m getting it to go in the direction I want now consistently. It’s just a matter of mixing it in and when to do that. I’ve been working on it in bullpens, but you’ve got to get game reps with it and work it in there.”
Here’s a final look at the stats this season for Nick Lodolo, including his time in college:
| Team | W | L | ERA | IP | H | HR | BB | K | WHIP |
| TCU | 6 | 6 | 2.36 | 103.0 | 76 | 8 | 25 | 131 | 0.98 |
| Dayton | 0 | 0 | 2.57 | 7.0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0.86 |
| Billings | 0 | 1 | 2.38 | 11.1 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 1.06 |
| Pro Totals | 0 | 1 | 2.45 | 18.1 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 0.98 |