Today we are going to take a look at three Dayton Dragons that I had a chance to see last weekend. Right handed starting pitching Sal Romano, right handed reliever Layne Somsen and outfielder Phillip Ervin.
Sal Romano threw last night in Peoria and pitched quite well with six shutout innings to go along with two strikeouts and a 67% groundball rate for the game. In his first start, the one that is in the video below, he threw another six innings, but allowed four runs in that game. Let’s take a look at the video:
Scouting report
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The big right hander was throwing 91-94 and touching 95 MPH in every inning of the game with the exception of the 4th inning after he sat in the dugout for nearly 25 minutes as the Dragons offense put runs on the board the half inning prior. His fastball shows good sink and runs in on the hands of right handers well. He showed a good curveball in the game several times, though some were certainly better than others. It could be a slightly above-average pitch in the future when it becomes more consistent. He didn’t show the change up too often in the game. The biggest take away was that mechanically he looked better than he did last season. He hasn’t changed anything in terms of how things look, but he was more in sync with things. His arm is more in sync with his legs as he comes forward with the pitch and his arm isn’t trailing his lower half, or at least wasn’t in this start. That can allow for better velocity and better control. So far this season he has just one walk. In 2013 he never went two games without at least two walks and that only happened twice.
Layne Somsen
The Reds drafted Somsen out of South Dakota State in the 2013 draft at the age of 24, so he was already quite old compared to other draft picks. He went out and dominated the Pioneer League, posting a 1.66 ERA in 43.1 innings, so given his age and success, his assignment to Dayton was surprising. So far he has been impressive from a numbers standpoint, striking out four batters in two innings without allowing a run. Here is a quick video:
Scouting Report
The right hander uses an over-top-top delivery that gets some downward plane on the ball despite his 6′ 0″ frame. His fastball worked in the 90-92 range on this night, which is up slightly from the reports I had last season on his fastball velocity. His secondary pitch of choice is his curveball, which was very good on this night and when it is working at its best, is an above-average pitch.
Phillip Ervin
The Reds first round draft pick from 2013 came out hitting the cover off of the ball following the draft and didn’t let up until he hit the disabled list to end his season. The start of 2014 has been the exact opposite. He is hitting .167 with two walks and 11 strikeouts in just 26 plate appearances this season with Dayton. Last year he had eight walks and 10 strikeouts in 51 plate appearances with Dayton. Having watched him in batting practice and in one game in person, from a physical standpoint, he looks healthy. His season ended last year with wrist injury. He did sit out a game with a tight groin muscle, but was back in the lineup the next day and hasn’t missed a game since. His bat speed is still there and he still puts on a power display in batting practice. But one thing is different when watching him early this season versus last season. Plate discipline. Last season my only question with his plate discipline was that he seemed to like the letter high fastball, but he tended to lay off of other pitches out of the zone. This season, at least up to this point, he has been swinging at a lot of pitches out of the zone. Fastballs and offspeed stuff. That simply wasn’t happening last season. I doubt it is a long term problem because we have seen what he has been able to do in this league last season, but for right now, he seems to be trying to just hit everything thrown to the plate.
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