How Lyndsey Grein, Dez Patmon fit at Oregon

Oregon graduated one of the biggest senior classes last season. Melyssa Lombardi and her staff sought out the transfer portal to help alleviate the load on a younger, inexperienced roster compared to years past. Former Virginia Tech right-handed Lyndsey Grein heads west to join the pitching staff. Dez Patmon’s power fits what the Ducks need offensively.

Lyndsey Grein

By the end of the season, Oregon’s primary rotation was Morgan Scott, Elise Sokolsky and Taylour Spencer. Scott had a team-high 112 innings, which need to be filled along with about 80 innings from the departures of Raegan Breedlove and Stevie Hansen. Grein pitched over 100-plus innings each of her first two seasons, and can certainly be a part of that solution knowing that.

Grein dropped her ERA to 2.89 after having a 4.45 her freshman season. She committed to sticking with her rise ball. Last year, Grein threw her rise ball 61% of the time. That was a drastic 19% increase from 2023. Her changeup became her main secondary pitch. Grein dropped the speed on her change quite a bit, an average of 10 mph compared to her rise. That fooled hitters enough that she saw 40 swing-and-misses when she pulled the string.

Grein struck out a career-high 12 batters to open the season against Auburn. Five came via her rise ball. Three more was when she used her change despite only throwing the pitch 14 times the entire game. In the clip below from Synergy Spots, Grein not only uses her changeup to mix speeds on hitters, but their eye levels as well. After constantly biting at rise balls above the zone, the Auburn hitters tried scooping out changes that hit the dirt.

Even though Grein, Sokolsky and Spencer are a trio of righties, they all pitch differently. Sokolsky uses a rise and change combination too, but uses them at about the same rate with decent usage of her curve and screw. Spencer’s primary pitch is her curveball followed by a rise and screw. She tends to induce a lot of fly balls and pop-ups. Lombardi can use them in different ways.

Dez Patmon

Graduates Ariel Carlson, Alyssa Daniell and Vallery Wong combined to hit 38 doubles and 33 home runs last season. The returning Ducks don’t possess that type of power. Incoming freshman Stefini Ma’ake should help in the extra-base department but Oregon needed a veteran presence.

That’s where Dez Patmon fits. After two solid seasons at North Carolina A&T, Patmon earned Conference USA Newcomer of the Year at New Mexico State last season. The San Diego native hit 11 doubles and 15 home runs in 2024. That came against quality opponents such as Arizona, Arizona State, and Liberty.

Patmon was a curveball’s worst nightmare last season. According to Synergy Sports, 17 of Patmon’s 26 extra-base hits last season were hit on curveballs. Based on her hitting and spray chart, it’s clear that Patmon’s power comes from every part of the strike zone and she can send balls across the diamond. She also only struck out 25 times and walked 19 times.

Patmon was New Mexico State’s designated player most games but could play one of the corner infield spots. Oregon certainly wants her bat in the lineup and we’ll see how the freshmen class fits around her.

Oregon will have new faces as impact starters including Grein and Patmon in what feels like a critical season for the Ducks moving to the Big Ten.

The post How Lyndsey Grein, Dez Patmon fit at Oregon appeared first on On3.