Lancaster, California —— Entering play on Monday night, San Diego Padres left-handed pitching prospect Thomas Dorminy is 2-1 with a 3.50 ERA over 18 games (one start) split between the Double-A San Antonio Missions and the High-A Lake Elsinore Storm with 42 strikeouts against 37 hits and 13 walks over 36.0 innings pitched in 2017. I observed the San Diego Padres former tenth round (2014) pick several times already in 2017; below is Baseball Census‘ full Thomas Dorminy scouting report, including video.
Thomas Dorminy Scouting Report — Video
Our video of San Diego Padres lefty Thomas Dorminy comes from a June 12 outing he had in relief on the road against the Lancaster JetHawks:
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Thomas Dorminy Scouting Report — Notes
A little lefty who’s converting to the bullpen full time in 2017, Thomas Dorminy has a deep repertoire for someone who should project out as a situational left-handed reliever one day. The former tenth round pick of the San Diego Padres shows four pitches: an 89-91 mph fastball, a 74-76 mph curveball, an 81-82 mph changeup, and an 82-83 mph slider. The fastball isn’t overpowering or deceptive, coming out of a pretty standard high three-quarters arm slot, but Dorminy gets exceptional arm-side run on it. His control of the pitch is significantly better than his command, but when it’s well-placed glove-side, he can get backdoor strikes against lefties and move righties off the plate with tough pitches that start inside and run to the corner.
Dorminy’s curve is a relatively unique offering now that he’s working out of the ‘pen; it’s slow with a big hump, not unlike that of Padres teammate Jerry Keel, but it’s also very tight out of his hand. I’d love to see the spin rate on that pitch. I don’t think it has quite enough bite to miss bats in the high minors, but he’s using it well right now and could still see some development in its downward plane that sits 11-to-5 right now. The slider is definitely a distinct pitch from the curve, and works at times like a cutter more than a true, sweeping breaking ball. His changeup has decent hump and some arm-side tumble, though not as much movement—or as late—as the fastball. Nevertheless, he has good feel for it even out of the bullpen and it gives him a better weapon against right-handed hitters.
He’s undersized, likely smaller than his 6’0″ list, and there’s not much room for physical projection with age. He’s also 25 years old and in High-A, so Dorminy will have to move quickly if there’s to be any future projection here. But, well, he’s left-handed and he throws strikes with four pitches, so there’s always a chance.
Thomas Dorminy Scouting Report — Projection
Thomas Dorminy ought to project out as a future low-leverage long reliever out of the bullpen for the San Diego Padres, with a very likely ceiling as organizational depth in front of him. There’s an outside shot he could find his way into a left-handed situational role with the use of two breaking balls, but he doesn’t likely have enough deception in his delivery or wipeout pitch action in his repertoire to be tasked with the biggest left-handed at-bat(s) in high-lever relief every night. The four-pitch mix should instead help him fit as a long reliever; his command is good enough to slot in to a multi-inning role and he’ll be a pitch-to-contact guy as he moves forward against better hitters. Above all, though, he’s running out of time at 25 years old and needs to move quickly now that he’s transitioned to the bullpen.
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