San Diego Padres: Three Bold Predictions For 2018

San Diego Padres Bold Prediction No. 3 – Dinelson Lamet will win 15 games this year

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The San Diego Padres weren’t quite sure what they had in their young flamethrower Dinelson Lamet. Lamet, 25, is an imposing figure standing at 6’4″ and weighing nearly 200 lbs.

In most scout-circles, Lamet was nowhere to be found on any nearly any top-prospects lists.

Then he made his major league debut versus the New York Mets and everyone from Queens to Vallejo saw this young man’s potential appear as if it was a grand piano had just smashed down on a sidewalk from six stories above.

As some of you may know, I also follow (and write about) the Mets, and live in New York. I was lucky enough to see Dinelson Lamet’s debut first hand. And with first-start nerves and all, I saw him literally leave jaws hanging around the stadium.

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I’m not sure if it was his funky-but-also-smooth delivery, his electric fastball, or his ridiculous off-speed pitches, but anyone who was there that day or has seen Lamet pitch knows, this guy is for real.

If he can continue to fit all of the pieces of the puzzle together, we could see Lamet reach some amazing heights this season. I understand that fifteen wins on what projects to be a mediocre team is probably setting the bar a little high. But I don’t think that’s the case at all. Fifteen wins. Write it down in Sharpie.

Bonus prediction: 3.50 ERA or lower…boom