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    Nestor Lorant named Midwest League Pitcher of the Week

    Doug Gray 5

    The Midwest League and Minor League Baseball have announced that right-handed starting pitcher Nestor Lorant has been named as the league’s Pitcher of the Week for May 4th through May 10th.

    Lorant only made one start this past week. After celebrating his 24th birthday on Monday he headed out to take the mound on Friday night for the Dayton Dragons in their road game against the West Michigan Whitecaps. In his previous two games he had not allowed a run. He kept that streak alive as he kept the Whitecaps hitters guessing all night long.

    The Venezuelan hurler threw 7.0 shutout innings and gave up just two hits. He walked two batters and he picked up seven strikeouts in the Dragons 8-0 win. That kept the Dayton win streak going at four. They would complete the 6-game series sweep with wins on Saturday and Sunday.

    Lorant won the Pitcher of the Year award in the organization back in 2024 when he was with the Daytona Tortugas for much of the season before a late call up to Dayton that resulted in a 1.68 ERA in 96.1 innings during the year. But in 2025 he struggled in the Midwest League, posting an ERA of 5.79 in 98.0 innings over his 23 starts and one relief appearance.

    This season has been quite a different story for Lorant. He struggled in his second start of the season. Facing Lake County on April 12th he allowed five earned runs in 4.2 innings. He gave up two home runs that day. In the other five starts this season he’s given up two runs in 26.0 innings.

    Opposing hitters are hitting just .177/.248/.292 against him this year. Lorant has walked just 10 of the 125 batters he’s faced and he’s struck out 40 of them. It’s still early, but comparing 2026 to 2025 his strikeout rate is 62% higher than it was last year, jumping from 19.7% to 32.0% this year. His walk rate is down, but only by a small amount and in both years it’s been a low walk rate. You can see the career stats for Nestor Lorant here.

    Here are the Cincinnati Reds players to win a Player of the Week Award in 2026:

    PlayerLeagueTime Frame
    Rece HindsInternational LeagueMarch 31-April 5
    Noelvi MarteInternational LeagueApril 20-26
    Nestor LorantMidwest LeagueMay 4-10

    Doug Gray
    Doug Gray is the owner and operator of this website and has been running it since 2006 in one variation or another.

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    5 Responses

    2. Is his fastball still 89-91? If so, hard to envision him as anything more than solid organizational depth. If he can sit more 92-93 and touch a little higher, there’d be a glimmer of hope he could make something out of that with placement, deception, and his good changeup.

      1. No, he’s been throwing 92-93 this year. I’ve seen a few 94’s. I’ve seen a few 89’s. But mostly 92-93.

        I am hoping to get an in-person look this month but we will have to see how that plays out.

        1. Hmmm, that’s encouraging. Definitely makes him a more interesting follow this year.

    3. You know Duke I would like to see the Reds bring back Wade Miley to work with these guys that don’t throw big heat, to show them the way without it. At some point owners are going to grow tired of having millions of dollars of pitching getting paid for long recovery injuries.

    4. Great to see Nestor breaking through after last year’s struggles. That is what you like to see out of the minor leaguers.

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