Live-arm lefty with upside, but command is the separator
In the 2026 season, Old Dominion’s Cole Lanford has worked 31.1 innings with 30 strikeouts, but his 22 walks and 7.76 ERA show a profile still ironing out command; he’s a 6-foot-4, left-handed arm with legit starter traits and enough bat-missing ability to keep evaluators interested. The upside is clear, the margins are just as clear: when his strike-throwing sharpens, he can be a useful matchup piece or rotation candidate, but right now he looks more like a developmental arm than an instant plug-and-play answer.
