{"id":2909,"date":"2011-02-12T12:49:33","date_gmt":"2011-02-12T18:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=2909"},"modified":"2011-02-12T12:51:04","modified_gmt":"2011-02-12T18:51:04","slug":"the-golden-sombreros-top-50-prospects-21-john-lamb-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2909","title":{"rendered":"The Golden Sombrero’s Top 50 Prospects: #21 – John Lamb (Video)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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#21 John Lamb<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 Kansas City Royals<\/p>\n

LHP<\/p>\n

DOB: 7-10-90<\/p>\n

ETA: 2012<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

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You may be wondering how we could possibly rank a pitcher in the Royals system ahead of Mike Montgomery<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 Well, here\u2019s how.\u00a0 Lamb, like Montgomery, is a lefty with experience in an advanced league (Double-A Texas League), a terrific frame (6\u20193\u201d and 195 lb.), and outstanding numbers to go along with ace potential.\u00a0 At three stops in 2010 as a 19 and 20-year old, Lamb posted a 2.38 ERA in 147.2 innings, striking out 159 hitters and only walking 45.<\/p>\n

Lamb\u2019s fastball sits in the 91-92 mph range, but has reached the mid-90\u2019s and probably has a tick or two left to grow.\u00a0 It\u2019s already plus and has an honest chance at more.\u00a0 His changeup comes in about 12-14 mph softer with excellent arm-side and downward action, and Lamb commands it very well.\u00a0 It is the finest changeup in the Royals system today and is easily a plus offering and could end up being double plus.<\/p>\n

His curveball is his weakest pitch and is not average yet.\u00a0 It lacks tilt and the rotations to generate much sharpness.\u00a0 However, Lamb is 20, and has time to gain some feel for the pitch.\u00a0 He also has toyed with a cutter, and many scouts think it has enough potential to be a legitimate fourth pitch for the young southpaw.\u00a0 Basically the sky is the limit for Lamb, and he has a chance to be the ace at Kauffman for a long time.<\/p>\n

Now that we are finished ranking Royals pitchers, let\u2019s imagine the rotation in Kansas City in 2015.\u00a0 Lamb, Montgomery, Jake Odorizzi<\/a><\/strong>, Chris Dwyer<\/a><\/strong>, and Danny Duffy<\/a><\/strong> (easily one of the top 100 prospects in the game) with Aaron Crow<\/a><\/strong> pushing to get in as well.\u00a0 Wow.\u00a0 Fun fact for our friend Sollo, the Royals have three young mashers who we rank ahead of any pitcher in the Royals system.<\/p>\n

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#21 John Lamb \u2013 Kansas City Royals LHP DOB: 7-10-90 ETA: 2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,1300,6,11,13,10,14,1616,775],"tags":[1816,1594,1815,1534,1814,302,1535],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2909"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2909"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2915,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2909\/revisions\/2915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}