Chicago Cubs: Alex Lange is a potential future ace

Get to know Alex Lange

He grew up in a single-parent home in Lee’s Summit, MO, which is just outside of Kansas City with his adopted mother. He and his mother share a beautiful, tear-jerker of a story masterfully written by Randy Rosetta at The Times-Picayune. I can’t recommend reading it enough.But to keep things strictly baseball, let’s talk about who he is as a pitcher.

Lange’s repertoire is pretty much a pitching coach’s dream. The 2017 30th overall pick’s fastball has good life and sits around 92-96 mph with some room for growth. The rest of his arsenal consists of a power curveball that received a 60 grade on the 20-80 scale at MLB.com and a changeup that is projected to be a plus pitch if he can learn to control it. Back in high school he regularly threw sliders, but upon entering LSU, he transitioned into throwing more curveballs, ultimately walking away from the slider altogether.

His time at LSU left a legacy that will be hard to live up to. In his first year in the SEC, the 6-foot-4 two hundred pound righty posted a 12-0 to along with a 1.97 ERA with 131 strikeouts and 46 walks in 114 innings spread out among 17 starts.