Atlanta Braves Scouting Report on RHP Lucas Sims

Lucas Sims may have had the largest split in the Atlanta Braves system between his high end and low end of 2016. Can he be more consistent in 2017?

Player Profile

The Atlanta Braves drafted Sims 21st overall out of high school in Georgia in 2012.

He opened his 2012 season with the Gulf Coast League affiliate of the Braves, but it didn’t take long to show he was ready for the next level, which earned him a promotion to advanced rookie Danville in the Appalachian League.

Combined between the two leagues in 2012, he made 11 appearances, throwing 34 innings with a 3.71 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 8.84% walk rate, and a 26.53% strikeout rate.

Sims spent the entire 2013 season with low-A Rome in the South Atlantic League. He posted one of the best seasons in the league that season, making 28 appearances (18 of them starts), throwing 116 2/3 innings with a 2.62 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 9.56% walk rate, and a 27.86% strikeout rate.

His excellent performance drew notice from major prospect lists as well. Baseball America ranked him as the #57 overall prospect, MLB.com had him as the #60 prospect, and Baseball Prospectus ranked him #40 overall.

His 2014 season didn’t go nearly as well as he moved up to high-A Lynchburg in the Carolina League. He spent the entire season there, making 28 starts and throwing 156 1/3 innings with a 4.20 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 8.43% walk rate, but a 15.83% strikeout rate, which was nearly half his previous rate.

Due to the worse performance, he fell off the Baseball America list completely, but he was still ranked #94 overall by MLB.com and #54 by Baseball Prospectus.

Still just 20 years old to open the 2015 season, Sims opened with the Braves’ new affiliate in Carolina, repeating high-A, and his initial starts were brutal to say the least. In his first 4 starts, he only threw 14 2/3 innings, with a brutal 8.59 ERA, 1.98 WHIP, 18.06% walk rate, and 20.83% strikeout rate.

He worked with Carolina’s pitching coach to get his mechanics ironed out, and had began to show life again before the Carolina bus crash, making two starts where he threw 13 innings, allowing just 2 earned runs and combining to walk 2 and strike out 10 in those two starts.

Sims didn’t return to Carolina for nearly two months after the crash, and when he did, the Braves promoted him to AA after just his first positive start with high-A, something I honestly wasn’t a big fan of.

Instead, he went to AA and, while his first couple starts were certainly rough, he finished the season on a tear before going to the Arizona Fall League and being one of the most talked-about pitchers in the entire AFL in 2015 with his excellent performance.

Overall, his regular season performance in 2015 was 20 games started, 92 2/3 innings thrown, a 4.37 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 13.37% walk rate, and a 24.75% strikeout rate. In the AFL, he made 6 appearances, throwing 17 innings with a 2.12 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, and a 3/17 BB/K ratio.

Sims had the ultimate in roller coaster seasons in 2016. Few pitchers in the Braves systems were as high as he got nor as low. He opened the season with AA Mississippi. After just 3 AA starts, he was bumped up to AAA, and he finished April having made 5 starts, throwing 26 2/3 innings, with a 2.03 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, a 14.29% walk rate, and a 37.5% strikeout rate.

His walk rate was concerning, but he was so dominant that it was seemingly ignored, but it came home to roost in force starting with his first May start, where he ironically did not walk anyone, but his command was completely off and he hung a number of pitches dead in the zone, leading to 3 home runs and 8 runs given up in 4 innings.

By the time Sims was demoted back to AA Mississippi, from May 1 to the demotion after his June 15th start, he had tallied up 9 starts, 38 innings, a 9.24 ERA, 2.08 WHIP, 16.06% walk rate, and a 21.76% strikeout rate.

It took some time under the tutelage of noted pitching guru Dennis Lewalyn, but Sims got his feel back with Mississippi, and his second tour with Mississippi on the season was 14 starts, 76 1/3 innings, a 2.83 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 13.76% walk rate, and a 22.94% strikeout rate.

Overall, Sims made 28 appearances, throwing 141 innings with a 4.40 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 14.56% walk rate, and a 25.16% strikeout rate.

Sims did make one postseason start for Mississippi, going 5 innings, allowing 2 runs on two hits and two walks, striking out 6.

Next: Sims' scouting report