Riley
Thompson

3/14/18 - 6’4/210, Red-shirt sophomore. Impressive outing in his Sunday start. Vastly underrated in our pre-season rankings. Boasts a three-pitch, power arsenal. Fastball ranged from 92-97 mph. Second pitch of the game was 96, then touched 97 a couple of times in the second inning. It wasn’t only velocity, the fastball also had plus life. One 96 mph pitch in particular showed late, explosive sink to strikeout a right-handed hitter who swung a foot over the top of it in self-defense as it bore into him. Also, held his velocity deep into the game. Touched 96 a couple times in the fifth. His 95th overall pitch in the seventh inning was 94 mph. Also flashed a plus curveball at 78-81 mph and nearly every curveball he threw on the day was at least average and consistently landed in in the zone.�Mixed in a harder curveball to the hitter's back foot at 84-86 and showed good hand speed on an occasional 86-87 mph changeup. He’s just not a thrower with a good arm, he also flashed the ability to sequence pitches. In the 6th inning with an 0-1 fastball he went inside to a left-handed hitter for a ball, backing him off the plate. Next was a changeup down and middle away for a swinging strike. He finished the hitter on the next pitch with an above average backdoor curveball for the strikeout looking. He does have some cleanup to do for more consistency in his delivery, especially with his hip load and leg swing. Based on this look, he is a Day 1 draft pick and a potential front- to middle-of-the-rotation arm. If he does not develop greater consistency with his delivery and become more efficient with his pitch count, he has the stuff for the back end of the bullpen as either an elite setup guy or potential closer. There is some risk to the overall package as he had Tommy John surgery as a high school senior.�