Landon Thomas Sims (born January 3, 2001) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

in the

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West Division. The franchise was established ...

organization.

Amateur career

Sims attended South Forsyth High School in Cumming, Georgia, where he played on the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team as a

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

and on the

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team as a pitcher. As a sophomore in 2017, he went 6-2 with a 2.10 ERA and 58 strikeouts over fifty innings. As a junior, he won ten games while pitching to a 0.90 ERA over 62 innings. Sims went unselected in the 2019 Major League Baseball draft and enrolled at

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

. Sims made seven appearances as a freshman on the

Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball The Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball team representing Mississippi State University in NCAA Division I college baseball. The program is a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They are curre ...

team in 2020 and compiled a 3.46 ERA before the season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In 2021, he became the team's closer. For the season, he made 25 relief appearances and went 5-0 with a 1.44 ERA, 100 strikeouts, 15 walks and 13 saves over innings. Sims, alongside Will Bednar, threw a combined one-hitter against the Vanderbilt Commodores in the final game of the 2021 College World Series, leading the Bulldogs to their first ever championship. He was named to the USA Baseball National Collegiate Team after the season. Sims entered the 2022 season as a top prospect for the upcoming draft. For the season, he moved into the starting rotation. He was named the team's Opening Day starter and pitched seven innings in which he gave up one earned run, seven hits, no walks, and 13 strikeouts in a 3-0 loss to Long Beach State. On March 4, in a game against the Tulane Green Wave, Sims was removed in the fourth inning due to a right arm injury. On March 14, it was announced that he had torn his ulnar collateral ligament and would undergo Tommy John surgery, forcing him to miss the remainder of the season. Over innings pitched in 2022, he compiled a 1.15 ERA and 27 strikeouts.

Professional career

Sims was selected by the

with the 34th overall selection of the 2022 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the team for $2.35 million. Sims made his professional debut in 2023 during a rehab assignment with the Arizona Complex League Diamondbacks, and was later assigned to the Visalia Rawhide. Over innings pitched during the season, he went 0-4 with a 5.47 ERA and 28 strikeouts. He was assigned to Visalia to open the 2024 season.

References

External links

Mississippi State Bulldogs bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sims, Landon 2001 births Living people Arizona Complex League Diamondbacks players Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Gwinnett County, Georgia Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball players Sportspeople from Lawrenceville, Georgia United States national baseball team players Visalia Rawhide players 21st-century American sportsmen Amarillo Sod Poodles players Hillsboro Hops players