Dan Langfield

Langfield impresses scouts for his story and his stuff. A 6-foot righthander, he was one of New England's top arms three seasons ago out of high school. He also was thick-bodied and still had some baby fat. He headed to Memphis, trimmed up his body and improved the quality of his stuff while maintaining the toughness of a cold-weather Northeast pitcher. He has three strikeout pitches, though he delivers them with some effort. Langfield's fastball tends to be true but has plenty of power, touching as high as 97 mph and sitting in the 92-94 range. Some scouts prefer his hard slider, which has depth and cutter velocity at 85-87 mph. Most prefer his downer curveball, also thrown with power. He was leading Conference USA and ranked fifth in Division I in strikeouts with 99 in 79 innings. His control can be spotty, but he lowered his walk rate from 5.2 per nine innings last season to 3.9 so far in 2012. Langfield has a high slot that tends to cause his fastball to straighten out, and most scouts believe he'll wind up in the bullpen down the line. But his three-pitch repertoire will at least give him a chance to start.