Drafted in the lost year of 2020, the now 22-year-old Ian Seymour only has 2021 numbers for us to look at. How’s he doing? Hint: He’s a Rays prospect…
- Born: December 13, 1998
- B/T: Left/Left
- 6’0″, 210-lbs
- Drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2020 MLB June Amateur Draft from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
The Numbers
His raw numbers are listed above courtesy of baseball-reference.com. Let’s aggregate by year then focus on the important numbers for minor leaguers:
We only have this year to look at, and it’s all looking pretty spiffy except for that so-so walk rate. What’s up with that? Let’s dig a bit deeper:
Ah, that’s the stuff! He started his season only in July, and after waiting such a long time to get back into competitive play, he was rusty. In July he was giving up the walks. From August onward it was as if he said, enough of that, I’m better than that. Indeed, he is better than that.
When you see a K%-BB% north of 40%, you stand at attention, private!
Oh, don’t freak out by that “A/A+/AAA” designation. He was asked to make a spot start for the Durham Bulls to cover an injured pitcher. Seymour is not knocking on MLB’s door. Still, he’s clearly too good for the low minors, so I expect him to start at AA in 2022, and if he does well there too, the majors aren’t far off.
Lefties in High-A Bowling Green are the only group of batters who managed to break the 1.000 WHIP mark against Seymour. If 1.070 is the best you can do against a pitcher, hit the showers, son.
The Scouts
- Rotowire: #140 on their Top 400.
- Baseball Prospectus: #374 Not on their Top 100.
- SmadaPlaysFantasy: #272 on his Top 500.
- Fantasy Six Pack: on their dynasty list.
- Imaginary Brick Wall: #363 on the Top 472.
- Fantrax: #281 on the Top 400.
Warnings
Although we’ve seen only one AAA start (5.0 IP, 6 K, 1 BB, 1 Hit, 0 ER, thank you very much), he hasn’t faced AA yet.
Scouts have put a relief risk here because of his delivery which has some effort. Of course that was before he laid waste to the low minors, so maybe they are singing a different tune. On the other hand, every Rays pitcher in the organization has some relief risk because Rays. You’ve been warned.
Conclusion
He finally saw competitive play in 2021 and it was no competition so far. Time to face Double-A batters and see, once and for all, if his mid-90s FB (as a leftie, that’s terrific), a plus mid-80s changeup, and a mid-80s slider, can be enough to stay as a starter.
A-ball batters would like to nominate Ian Seymour to the upper levels, please.
Scouts are beginning to sniff around. Better grab Seymour while you still can, and before your league mates catch on.
Oh, and he scores a 73.1 on the PARS list! What’s the PARS list, you ask? Oooh, time to follow @PARSlist on Twitter like all the cool kids.