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With their final selection in the 2020 MLB Draft, the Angels selected Adam Seminaris, a left-handed pitcher out of Long Beach State. He’s 6’0” and 185 pounds, and turns 22 this October.
In his three seasons with the Dirtbags, Seminaris appeared in 40 games while making 27 starts. He owned a 3.58 ERA, and had 154 strikeouts in 173 2⁄3 innings pitched. Seminaris spent the 2019 summer in the Cape Cod league, where he had a 3.26 ERA in 30 1⁄3 innings. He struck out 21.
Though a small sample, Seminaris was off to a stellar start to his season in 2020. He threw 22 innings and allowed only three runs, good for a 1.23 ERA. He struck out 36 in those 22 innings, and only issued three walks.
Long Beach State has a long history of producing big leaguers, from Evan Longoria to Jered Weaver. Seminaris, who joined the Dirtbags rotation full-time as a sophomore, then pitched well on the Cape last summer and carried that over to the start of the 2020 season, should break that schneid. Seminaris is, in many ways, the prototypical pitchability lefty, one with a four-pitch mix and excellent knowledge of how to use it. While his fastball typically sits 88-90 mph, and tops out at 93 mph, it plays up because he commands it so well and there’s deception in his delivery. He throws two breaking balls, with his mid-70s curve a bit better than his low-80s slider. But his best secondary offering is his plus changeup that misses bats and gets weak contact. Seminaris has always thrown a ton of strikes and was taking a step forward before the season was shut down this spring. He has a limited ceiling, but with his feel for pitching and track record, he’ll be enticing as a potential back-end starting pitcher.