Landon Ginn – Pic via ECU Athletics

For Landon Ginn, he was signed as the second nondrafted free agent this year and also the second pitcher. The right handed reliever from East Carolina cleaned up in the second half of this year and dominated the American Athletic Conference down the stretch. His performance resulted in him signing a nondrafted contract with the Cubs.

Basic Information

Age -22 (just turned it in mid-July)
Height – 6-foot-3
Weight – 200
Bats – Switch
Throws – Right
From – Goldsboro, North Carolina
Signed as an undrafted free agent

Tweet of His Career

This tweet turned out to be quite prophetic as Mason McRae was always a fun follow about the draft for the past few years. Earlier this summer, McRae announced that he had been signed by the Cubs to be part of their scouting and draft staff. Just based on this tweet, Ginn had to be on his radar based on the metrics in the tweet.

The Cubs could build on something here.

Ginn’s freshman year at East Carolina saw him only get in 10 games and pitch a total of nine innings. He struck out six and walked six and had a 4.00 ERA but he did not allow home run with a 1.667 WHIP. There were some things he needed to work on. That summer he played in the Valley Summer League for Waynesboro. He got in five games and threw 14.1 innings as a starter with a 7.53 ERA. He struck out 15 and walk 12, which seemed to be the theme of the year.

Instead of returning to East Carolina, Ginn went the junior college route to the College of Central Florida. He pitched in 16 games and had a 2.30 earned run average with 103 strikeouts in 82 innings. He also won 10 games and lost one, but he hit .323 with 23 RBIs and four dingers. He would come back to East Carolina for his final year.

Unfortunately, injuries cut the beginning of this season short. He wound up getting in 26 games with a season long 4.67 ERA but that only tells half the tale. Starting about the latter half of April, he was a lock down guy with a sub 1.50 ERA through the end of the year.

It will be interesting to see if the Cubs keep him as a reliever next year.