Emperors' Lara fans 12 in six hitless frames
Jhancarlos Lara has been putting together a strong 2024 season for the High-A Rome Emperors, but on Wednesday, he pitched like a king. The Braves’ No. 12 prospect spun six hitless innings and tied his career-high with 12 strikeouts in Rome’s 4-1 win over Greensboro. He threw 54 of his
Jhancarlos Lara has been putting together a strong 2024 season for the High-A Rome Emperors, but on Wednesday, he pitched like a king.
The Braves’ No. 12 prospect spun six hitless innings and tied his career-high with 12 strikeouts in Rome’s 4-1 win over Greensboro. He threw 54 of his 80 pitches for strikes and faced just one batter over the minimum, erasing a walk in the third inning with a double play and working around an error in the fourth.
Lara's performance was among the most dominant in the Minors in recent memory. Over the past 20 years, there have only been 20 other instances of a pitcher striking out 12 or more batters while walking fewer than two over six or more no-hit innings.
Lara’s first victim of the outing was Greensboro’s leadoff hitter Termarr Johnson (MLB No. 74). After leaning on his fastball early in the at-bat, the 6-foot-3 right-hander fanned Johnson on a 1-2 slider.
The 21-year-old then got the next batter to fly out to left fielder Ethan Workinger, before breaking off a streak of four straight strikeouts, fanning the side in the second. Lara would go on to fan Johnson an additional two times, starting and ending his day with a strikeout of the 2022 first-rounder.
Signed as an international free agent in 2021, Lara's arsenal features two pitches – a 65-grade fastball and a 55-grade slider. The heater ranges from 95-98 mph and frequently touches 99 mph. His slider has a sweeping action and sits between 88-90 mph.
Lara now sports a 3.92 ERA, 1.47 WHIP and 10.45 K/9 after the stellar outing.
Brendan Samson is a contributor to MiLB.com.