Chris
Lanzilli

Big and athletic middle infielder who has the tools to play the position.   Shows above average arm strength and range from shortstop.  At the plate, he shows gap to gap power with projection to add to that as he physically matures.  Good looking player.

2020 DRAFT: Selected last June in the 39th round by the Giants as a draft-eligible sophomore, Lanzilli was coming off a breakout season, posting a .347/.409/.620 slash with 16 home runs. He did not sign and returned to Winston-Salem for his junior season. He’s big (6-foot-2, 220-pounds) and strong with juice in his bat. He does have effort to his swing, but he produces plus bat speed for over the fence pop to his pull side and the ability to drive the oppo gap. He homered six times in 17 games this spring, finishing with another strong slash of .308/.370/.662. He handles off speed well, but isn’t as comfortable against inner-third fastballs. Defensively, he’s versatile with the ability to play on both the infield and outfield corners and is an average runner underway. He’s an adequate defender with fair actions at third base, but looks best suited to right field in the long term, showing an above-average arm. Despite his tools, strength, bat speed and performance, Lanzilli isn’t an industry consensus top five round talent due to his lack of a true position. However, he has all five tools with high-level performance in the ACC to back them up. He will likely be pushed up draft boards when others fall due to signability and other concerns.

3/10/20:Selected last June in the 39th round by the Giants as a draft-eligible sophomore, Lanzilli is coming off a breakout season witha .347/.409/.620 slash line and 16 home runs. He’s big (6’2/220) and strong with juice in his bat. He starts his swing with his back foot facing the catcher and a big load/hand hitch as his timing mechanism. He shows plenty of effort with his swing, but produces plus bat speed for over the fence pop to his pull side and the ability to drive the oppo gap. He has already homered six times in 16 games this spring and twice during the Louisville series. One was belted 393’ to left center field with an exit velo of 105 mph. On my look, he handled the off speed well (doubling on a CH and homering on a SL), but wasn’t as comfortable and on-time against inner third fastballs. Defensively, he’s versatile with the ability to play on the corners and looked to be an average runner underway. He’s an adequate defender with fair actions at third base, but looked best suited to right field, showing an above-average arm during I/O. (Seifert)

8/20/19:Followed up a breakout spring (.347/.409/.620 with 16 home runs in 270 plate appearances) with a very strong showing for Harwich, slashing .293/.365/.467 with four home runs over his 29 games and 111 plate appearances. There’s good juice in the barrel with an ability to drive the oppo gap with authority to go with his over-the-fence pop to pull. The raw power projects to plus and is already above-average, which makes for an intriguing package with his improved plate discipline and average speed. He’s a Day Two target with some potential for spring helium. (Faleris)