Ian
Foggo

Cape Cod- Pumped his heater up to 95 mph from a high slot. He hit two batters with a 73-74 mph curveball that spun in the upper 2300 rpm range. Foggo finished with nine strikeouts in 7.1 IP and a 1.22 ERA.

6/10/2018: The Syracuse Salt Cats used a “staff day” approach against the Sherrill Silversmiths on Saturday afternoon (June 2) and sent six different pitchers to the mound. They gave the starting nod to Foggo and he was solid across his two innings of work. Foggo, who just completed his redshirt-freshman year at the Citadel, stands 6’1 with a solid build at 190 pounds and wide, slightly rounded shoulders. While not overly athletic or fast-twitch, Foggo demonstrated good balance and body control while working exclusively out of the stretch. He uses a high, over the top release point that helps create good downward angle. While the arm action is smooth and easy, Foggo does have a very long takeaway after hand break. His throwing arm stays straight and he exposes the ball to the hitter behind his back as he works down the slope. The fastball ranged from 88-92 and topped at 94 in the 1st. While most FB’s came out straight, there were a few that Foggo tried to work away from a left-handed hitter that flashed good arm-side run but didn’t stay in the strike zone. He paired the FB with an above average CB that worked in the 76-79 mph range and had sharp, late bite with an 11/5 shape. His command of the breaking ball was excellent and he showed feel for using it early in the count or late as a put-away pitch. After going 3 up and 3 down with 1 K in the 1st inning, Foggo experienced some struggles following a 1 out walk in his 2nd inning of work. With runners on, it was more difficult for him to maintain his rhythm and tempo from the stretch. The long arm action was lagging behind the rest of his body and he couldn’t get the arm to be on time with his landing. The FB missed both low and high in the zone and Foggo was reluctant to use the CB once he couldn’t consistently get his FB over for strikes. He eventually worked around 2 BB and an infield 1B in the 2ndinning to finish his outing with a final line of 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 BB and 3 K. Overall, if Foggo can find a way to make his arm action more compact or speed up his hand break from the stretch, that should help alleviate the issues with runners on-base. The pure stuff is presently good enough to get outs, but improving consistency should allow Foggo to get more innings next season.(Dan Jurik)