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Dwight Lanphier
Starting Pitcher | Retired or Inactive Players
Pitching God, who doesn't love a knuckler? I saw a slow-motion version of one of his pitches on TV, it's no wonder they're unhittable! Lanphier likes to get hitters looking down and away, then ties them up by coming inside with hard stuff, getting a lot of groundball outs. He's a good late inning man, which is when being a pitcher really counts. His fastball gets into the high 80s, but it's the sink that makes the pitch effective. The Retired or Inactive Players hope he can work on his control a little bit. Every once and a while one slips away from him and either ends up at the backstop or in the right field bleachers. Sometimes I wish he'd just give up on throwing the changeup, it's like a BP ball! He attacks lefties and righties with similar success.
Defense & Hitting Though he lacks a good pickoff move, he checks the running game with a compact stretch delivery. He tends to fall off slightly to the first-base side of the mound, making him vulnerable to bunts toward third base. He makes up for that minor flaw by being aggressive in fielding his position. Lanphier is a surpisingly good hitting pitcher. And I'm not sure you can say this about a pitcher, but Lanphier has some pop in his swing. Interesting sidenote, The Retired or Inactive Players have been known to use Lanphier as a pinch-runner on occasion.
-- Ska Nyman, A-Ball Scout
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