2011 S2S FSL All-Star Team: LHP Andy Loomis

On November 9th, James Chipman launched the 2012 Seedlings to Stars Florida State League All-Star Team with an intro post. He went on to reveal 8 members of the team before leaving our site to focus his writing efforts on out Detroit Tigers site, Motor City Bengals. Nathaniel and I decided that we needed to reveal the rest of the team to take the series to its planned endpoint. To tie up the loose end I will be unveiling the rest of roster and will follow a similar format to what James was doing for consistency.

Today I am pleased to announce our selection for the team’s left-handed reliever.

Name:  Andy Loomis
Height:  5’10”
Weight:  175 lbs
Bats:  Left
Throws:  Left
Age:  26
2011 FSL Team:  Clearwater Threshers (Phillies)
2011 FSL Stats:  31.2 IP (28 G), 1.14 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 7.7 H/9, 2.8 BB/9, 11.1 SO/9 and 3.90 SO/BB

Background:

Loomis made his way from Bishop Noll Institute (HS) in Hammond,Indiana to South Suburban College in South Holland, Illinois where he pitched for two seasons. From there he headed to Purdue where he spent 2 seasons in the Boilermakers bullpen. Those two seasons were nearly polar opposites of each other.

2007: 8.22 ERA, 2.36 WHIP, 3 BB and 11 SO in 7.2 IP
2008: 1.72 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 8 BB and 30 SO in 36.2 IP

The Florida Marlins selected Loomis in the 16th round of the 2008 draft after his standout senior season with Purdue and sent him to Jamestown in the NYPL after he signed. Over the next several seasons he turned in steady but not overwhelming results in the Marlins system while making it as far as Jacksonville (AA) in 2010.

Loomis started the 2011 season on the 7-day DL and was later traded (June 20th) to the Phillies for future considerations. He made his first appearance of the season on June 23rd and proceeded to produce the best season of his four season minor league career.

General Thoughts/Future:

Obviously at 26 years old and with just 4.0 innings above High-A, Loomis is more of an organizational arm than a prospect. In fact, even earlier in his career he wasn’t on the radar in the prospect rankings world and has failed to move the needle much in that regard. Topping out in the high-80s with a 5’10”, 170 lb frame tends to have that effect. However that doesn’t take away from his superb 2011 season and this All-Star team is all about performance.

To his credit he’s always managed to maintain a strong SO/BB regardless of where’s he’s pitched and now holds a career mark of 3.31 in that area. Another feather in his cap is that he hasn’t allowed a home run since 2009 when he was pitching with the Greensboro Grasshoppers in the South Atlantic League. Regardless of level and regardless of age, those are noteworthy achievements.

Noteworthy enough that the Baltimore Orioles selected Loomis in the Triple-A portion of the Rule 5 minor league draft this past December. Given his success with Clearwater it seems reasonably safe to assume that he’ll spend the upcoming season with either Bowie (AA) or perhaps even Norfolk (AAA). While he might not be regarded as much of a prospect, if he continues to get results in 2012 like he did in 2011, he just might get a look in the majors.

To review the rest of our 2011 Florida State League All-Star Team, click here.

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For more on the Phillies, check out That Balls Outta Here.

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