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SARASOTA, Fla. — The question was not yet finished, but a big grin had already broken out on Carlos Lagrange’s face.
The Yankees’ pitching prospect had just finished a four-inning start in the Spring Breakout game against the Orioles’ top prospects, during which he consistently unleashed a fastball that hit 100 and 101 mph on the stadium radar gun.
Surely there was some extra adrenaline that helped him sustain that velocity over the course of his outing?
“I feel really good, but I throw this velo always,” Lagrange said through his wide smile on Saturday night at Ed Smith Stadium.
The 21-year-old right-hander, who measures in at 6-foot-6, flashed his potential across the start in which he struck out two, walked none and allowed two hits and two runs (one unearned).
One run came on a wind-aided, inside-the-park home run while the other came in the first inning after Enrique Bradfield Jr. singled, took third on Lagrange’s wild pickoff throw to first and then scored on a wild pitch.
But Lagrange settled in, retiring 12 of the next 13 batters he faced while hitting 101 mph on his final pitch of the night to end the fourth inning.
“This was a big, big opportunity for me,” Lagrange said through an interpreter. “It meant a lot. It just was an opportunity to prove to myself and everybody else that I’m a good pitcher and I can throw strikes.”
Lagrange, who enters this season as the organization’s No. 19 prospect by MLB.com and No. 15 by Baseball America, signed with the Yankees out of the Dominican Republic for $10,000 in 2022.
His biggest hurdles since then have been health and command. He missed time last season with a back issue, but came back to pitch in the Arizona Fall League, where he had a 2.08 ERA in five games but walked 15 and struck out 10 in 8 ⅔ innings.
In 95 ⅔ innings in his pro career, Lagrange has struck out 133 but walked 63.
His ability to throw strikes consistently may decide just how far he will get. But on Saturday at least, he did so often enough with his triple-digit heater — which he said first reached 100 as a 19-year-old — and a biting slider.
“I just had a minor problem [last season], but this year I feel good,” said Lagrange, who will likely start the season at Single-A Tampa. “I feel ready.”
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