Roman
Kimball

Cape Cod: Kimball got his feet wet at Notre Dame as a freshman this spring, posting a 5.76 ERA in 25 innings and flashing exciting potential. After the coaching change in South Bend, Kimball opted to transfer to South Carolina, where he has a chance to be a serious impact arm over the next two years. Athletic and wiry at 5-foot-11, 175 pounds, Kimball has some effort in his delivery with a pronounced head whack, but his fast arm works. In our five-inning look this summer, he attacked at 90-92 and bumped 93 from an over-the-top slot, mixing in three quality secondary pitches. His changeup ranged from 81-85 with solid fade, grading as an average pitch. His 12-to-6 curveball has good power at 76-81 and tight spin in the 2500s-2600s. But his best was a short, late slider at 84-86 that he throws with serious intent. It's a quality four-pitch package, and he showed the ability to rack up strikeouts with his entire repertoire.

Physical: 5-foot-11, 160-pounds. Long limbs, lean, athletic build. 
Pitching Delivery: Builds momentum with high leg lift and slight turn before striding in line, generates advanced torque with lower half while keeping front shoulder in line before accelerating through a repeatable release and follow through.
Arm Action: Long, electric arm action to a 3/4 release.
FB: T91, 88-91 MPH. Arm side run with life through the zone.
CB: 74-76 MPH. Commands with 11-5 sharp break.
CH: 80-83 MPH. Good arm speed with arm side run.

Kimball stands a lean, wiry 5-foot-11, 165-pounds with size and strength gains expected. Fluid tempo within the delivery, balanced, has a clean quick arm-swing with a high 3/4 release point. He generates a ton of front-side hand-speed, evidenced by his 88-91 mph FB and upper 70's power slider. FB has late action with natural arm-side run. The Notre Dame commitment is the No. 9 ranked player in NY's deep 2021 class, and 313 in the country respectively.  All signs point north for the greater Utica, NY righty. 

Currently stands at 5-foot-10, 155 pounds on a lean, athletic frame. Really quick arm and works up-tempo, looking to make opposing batters uncomfortable in the box by jumping on them with first pitch strikes. Fastball mostly sat in the 81-83 mph range with run, but looked harder and showed a good command of the zone. Kept a strong Orlando Scorpions lineup off balance and pitched with confidence by throwing a high percentage of first pitch strikes. Look for Kimball to see a couple more jumps in velocity as he continues to mature.

Lean, athletic build with projection. 5-foot-9, 135-pounds. Ran a 7.65 60 yard dash. Offensively – Narrow, upright stance, slightly open to the pitcher. Gets squared up after making a controlled, forward move on the ball. Hands consistently work inside of the ball and produce line drive contact. Flashed some lift to his pull-side. Remains balanced thru his finish. Low effort, fluid hitting actions. Exit velocity was 72 MPH. Defensively – Light on his feet with athletic fielding actions. Stays balanced while moving laterally. Fields with a soft glove hand. Quickly funnels ball into throwing motion. Showed the ability to manipulate throwing slot with clean arm action. Arm strength was 82 MPH. Pitching – Simple, repeatable delivery. Adjusted tempo in game to disrupt timing. Stays balanced with consistent body control. Smooth, compact arm action. High ¾ release point. Aggressive finish with extension over his front leg. Generates exceptional hip/shoulder separation. FB topped at 82 MPH and sat 77-81 MPH with riding life thru the zone. Also flashed a CB at 61-64 MPH. CH sat 73 MPH. SL was consistently 75 MPH with late, horizontal bite. Overall, highly projectable arm with an advanced repertoire.

Hit rope line drives on multiple occasions, got unlucky hitting them right to outfielders. Consistent barrel on compact, strong swing at plate. Impressive arm at third, especially going to backhand side. Came on in relief, throwing 76-77 with late life. Appeared to be high spin rate, lots of swings and misses. Incorporated a hesitation leg kick at times, where he’d pause an extra half second, didn’t disrupt his excellent control.