Kiefer
Lord

Featured last fall as one of our Rising Pitchers, Lord is a transfer from D3 Carleton College (Minn.). He’s also the rare college junior with ample projection remaining to his game and likely his best days are ahead of him. Long and loose, Lord checks a lot of boxes at 6-foot-3, 195 lbs with wide shoulders and a coat hanger shaped upper half. He features some present strength in the lower half and has a chance to fill out even more. Making the start against Oregon, the right-hander was shelled for six runs on eight hits in two innings. It was not his best outing, but he showed a 92-95 mph fastball that lacked much deception or life. A 75-76 mph curveball was his best pitch, while also mixing in a 82-86 slider. Down the road he is a good candidate to scrap the slider and learn a cutter to complete his pitch mix. Top four round prospect.

The former D3 All-American is three starts into his D1 career at Washington and overall the early results are encouraging. Through 17 innings, Lord has now allowed nine hits, three earned runs, three walks with 26 strikeouts. He’s also holding opponents to a .155 batting average against. His recent outing on Saturday, March 4 against Northern Colorado was essentially perfect as he retired all 18 batters he faced across six flawless frames with 10 punchouts. Physically, Lord checks a lot of boxes at 6-foot-3, 195 lbs with wide shoulders and a coat hanger shaped upper half. He features some present strength in the lower half and has a chance to fill out even more. There is certainly some projection left for him to grow into which helps his prospect status. In the opening frame his fastball sat 95-97 throughout, mostly 96 with more control than command. It’s a relatively straight offering coming out of a high three-quarter slot and to the eyes there’s not much wiggle or late movement that jumps out at you. Later on in the fourth inning of work, his velo had dipped to 92-93 but was still able to reach back for 95 when he gassed up a two strike heater. His curveball was his most consistent secondary on this look, sitting 75-78 with 11/4 shape and hard, downer action. The breaker features quality velocity and still manages to generate quite a bit of shape. There is some depth when he stays behind it but the break is more gradual and it can lack teeth at times. Flashed an occasional slider at 83 but, overall it didn’t look like he was comfortable with it this outing. Showed a changeup in warm-ups, but there was potentially only 1-2 in-game that were misfires and therefore tough to gauge. Mechanically everything flows with consistent tempo and rhythm throughout. The arm speed really stands out from the side view. It’s an athletic finish with controlled intent and a strong lead leg block. The glove side does tend to get a little soft at times and causes him to either pull the FB out of the zone or elevate his breaker. He’s not necessarily ‘flying open’ but that lead arm could certainly tighten up and help him maintain direction a bit more often. From a composure standpoint, Lord carries himself like an experienced arm and I believe there’s potential to stick as a starter in pro ball. Granted he pitched entirely from the wind-up and never had to deal with a baserunner. But he was still quick to make adjustments and never allowed his misses to snowball. Overall, Lord has size, athleticism and a big arm. He looks like an arm who could come off the board within the first 100 picks of the upcoming MLB draft.

The transfer from D3 Carleton College (Minn.) has been a revelation in the Pacific Northwest this fall. Showing 95-98 mph fastball velocity, a good slider and feel for a solid changeup, Lord will likely be a part of the Huskies’ weekend rotation this coming spring.