We barely saw any of Cincinnati Reds lefty Nick Lodolo last year, and when we did, it was rather awful.
His velocity was down a tick, and his patented control - something he began while at Texas Christian University to make him a 1st round pick and later perfected in his first years as a pro - wasn’t there, either. It wasn’t that he was walking folks, per se, but he was missing within the zone repeatedly and being punished by opposing batters because of it.
There was a significant reason behind those struggles, of course. A left tibia injury that nagged and worsened effectively sapped his drive off the mound and, eventually, sapped his 2023 season altogether.