Draft Spotlight: RHP Dominic Pipkin
May 21, 2018
Show up at a game when RHP Dominic Pipkin is pitching and you will quickly notice two things; 1) There are an awful lot of scouts in attendance and not just area guys, and 2) Dominic Pipkin sure does look the part.
We, along with 40+ scouts/crosscheckers/directors saw him on 4/30/18 versus league rival Albany HS. It wasn't his best day and it was more of what a lot of scouts had seen all spring, which is enough to make them go back again, a lot to dream on, but also the feeling of wanting to see better present day performance.
Pipkin has a four pitch repertoire, but it is the fastball that got him on the radar and has kept him on the radar. Well, that and his 6-foot-6 175-pound long and lanky frame. Last summer Pipkin drew attention by touching 96 mph at the Area Code Games. The interesting thing though, is that it was the first time he had been seen that high and he hasn't been seen touching that since. He's regularly up to 92 mph, no doubt there have been some 93s seen this spring, so that's still very good. His arm works easily and it's not hard to envision him getting into and staying in the mid-90s down the road.
All that being said, though he is long and lanky, his frame is pretty narrow, so the physical comps he can draw would be Tyson Ross and to me, Aaron Sanchez, though he is taller than Sanchez. Pipkin is a Cal commit, so whether he is drafted high enough to get him to sign or he heads to school, he is in good shape and will have a chance to reach his ceiling.
