THEN 2016: Early in his high school career Seymour was an undersized left-handed pitcher and outfielder. With a 5-foot-11, 175-pound frame his arm was quick and he had athletic actions as an outfielder, but he had the makings of a high level arm with proper development. The traits that stood out were his aggressiveness, arm speed and his ability to repeat and throw strikes. His make-up is through the roof. He wants the ball and keeps a positive approach regardless of negative or positive results. Right from the jump, he proved that he was not scared of any moment, big or small. During his appearance at the 2016 Future Games his fastball sat 84-86 with life and sink. The breaking ball was a bit wide at 67-69 mph. His changeup had the makings of a quality pitch and sat in the upper 70’s. The spin was correct and with time it could be a quality pitch. The arm worked clean at a ¾ slot. His leg lift was simple, but had some head movement when he tried to overthrow. Seymour also played right field, showing a quality glove and arm strength. He swings the bat from the left-side with looseness to it. The bottom half needs to settle down but he could be a two-way player at a lower level. However, he will more than likely be a pitcher at a higher level of Division I baseball.

 

NOW 2020: Seymour planted a flag with a loud Cape showing in which he struck out 39 while allowing just six walks in his 25.1 innings of work (2.48 ERA/1.03 WHIP/.217 BAA). The 6-foot lefty doesn’t boast overpowering stuff, but he works quickly and does a very good job tunneling his fastball, changeup and slider, making him a tough arm to consistently square-up. He works his heater 89-to-90 mph, touching 92-93, with modest arm-side action, but it plays up thanks to an above-average 79-to-80 mph changeup that he throws on plane with the fastball with excellent arm speed deception. The offering shows exaggerated arm-side dive following that of the fastball and Seymour excels at turning it over consistently. His tilted slider is a potential average offering that also plays up due the mirroring action off of his fastball and changeup, and is particularly effective away to same side arms after being set-up by a fastball. Given his loud summer, strong four-week spring (3-0, 2.21 ERA, 20.1 IP, 13H, 5 BB, 40 SO) and solid three-pitch mix, Seymour profiles as a Top 5 round target this summer.

 

HOW THE JUMP WAS MADE: "Ian was mid-80s his freshman year with a good changeup. At that time in his career he did not know his potential. He really committed himself in the weight room over that summer and throughout his sophomore year. He was then able to maintain his velocity much more consistently. He increased his velocity into the upper-80s to low-90s range. He still had the good changeup and added a cutter to go along with a better feel for his slider. Ian became more confident pitching on Fridays and competing at a very high level in one of the best conferences in the country. He carried his sophomore campaign into the summer and had a very good season in the Cape Cod League. Over that summer he began making a change to his fastball, using mainly 4-seam fastballs to get more carry, which made his changeup play even better. He used the fall of his junior year to work even harder in the weight room and really committed himself to the mental game. Ian was extremely focused on every single pitch and was competing at such a high level this season. He was on pace to be an All-American and was going to put together a pretty incredible season when it was all said and done. He had an overall swing and miss rate of 50% and his changeup had become one of the best pitches in the country with a 72% swing/miss rate. I have never seen anyone with that high of a swing and miss rate on a pitch. The switch from throwing a 2-seam to 4-seam fastball was a big reason. I really can't speak highly enough about his overall commitment in all facets of the game to become one of the best arms in this upcoming draft. Whoever drafts him is going to get a great player and a great teammate. We will definitely miss him in Blacksburg." - Ryan Fecteau

 

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