Landon Sims

Sims was a power-throwing high school righthander who touched 97 mph and ranked as the No. 198 prospect in the 2019 draft class. Despite his velocity, Sims made it to campus at Mississippi State, where he immediately became one of the most dominant relievers in college baseball. During the 2021 season, Sims posted a 1.44 ERA over 56.1 innings out of the bullpen as a lockdown, multi-inning reliever who struck out 46.9% of the batters he faced. Sims transitioned to a full-time starting role during the 2022 season but made just three starts before he tore his ulnar collateral ligament and had Tommy John surgery that ended his draft year. When healthy, Sims has shown one of the most electric two-pitch mixes in the country. His fastball is routinely in the 93-95 mph range—both as a starter and reliever—and has been up to 98 with exceptional metrics under the hood that make it a truly elite fastball. He gets more than 18 inches of induced vertical break and throws from a lower release height that gives him a flat vertical approach angle—all of which translates into plenty of whiffs and a pitch that both scouts and analysts alike will call an easy plus offering. Hitters don’t get a break with his slider, either. The breaking ball has power in the mid 80s, tons of sweeping movement and high spin rates in the 2,400-2,700 rpm range. It’s a true wipeout offering that generated whiffs more than 40% of the time in his brief stint on the mound in 2022. Scouts have said Sims has a solid changeup as well, but he’s rarely thrown it in games and it’s no surprise given the quality of his fastball and slider. Sims has the pitch mix and aggressive, competitive nature on the mound to profile as an elite, big league reliever but he showed the command and control early in 2022 that should give him a chance to start as well. Sims’ injury and lack of track record as a college starter make him more of a wild card, but his stuff should be more than good enough to fit in the first round.