Landon Sims was one of the most dominant college closers last year for National Champion Mississippi State, striking out nearly HALF the batters he faced on the season. This year, in advance of the 2022 MLB Draft, Sims was moving into the rotation. There, his draft stock could explode if he showed the ability to start.
Sure enough, Sims was dominating as a starter here in the early going. So much so that he was already flying up into 15 pick consideration, and while it was probably unlikely that he get into the top ten (the Cubs pick 7th), it was looking more and more conceivable with every ridiculous outing. That included Friday night, when Sims had struck out an incredible 10 of the first 11 batters he faced.
Unfortunately, that’s when this happened:
https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/1499929024000372741
BOT 4: The trainer is out and Landon Sims is forced to leave the game early after strikeout number 10 on the night.
Final line: 3.2 IP, 10 K, 0 BB, 11 Batters Faced
RHP Brandon Smith on in relief with two outs and nobody on.
Dawgs lead, 6-0, over Tulane.
— Mississippi State Baseball (@HailStateBB) March 5, 2022
The arm shake is usually a UCL thing.
And, I hope/pray I'm wrong.
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 5, 2022
Like Rob says, we’ve seen that arm shake thing a lot before and it always makes you so nervous. You don’t want it to be what you worry it could be. Even if it’s not a serious injury, it’s probably going to leave open questions for the draft in a few months, which really sucks for this guy, especially when he was converting to the rotation and looking so good. This will bear following over the coming weeks if you’re big into the draft. All the best to Sims.
Landon Sims is a force of nature.
8Ks thru 3. pic.twitter.com/dV3be0DnMZ
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) March 5, 2022