PG Scouting: Demi Orimoloye
By David Rawnsley and Jheremy Brown
Scouting ...
Demi Orimoloye – OF
Height/Weight: 6-4/225
Bats/Throws: R/R
Birthdate: Jan. 6, 1997
High School: St. Matthew
Hometown: Orleans, Ont. (Canada)
Travel Team: Team Canada
Commitment: Oregon
Projected Draft Round: 1
There is no player in the 2015 class that has improved more over the last two years than Canadian outfielder Demi Orimoloye.
Orimoloye's athleticism has always been obvious. He's a chiseled and natural 6-foot-4, 225-pounds and exudes strength. He also ran a 6.57 60-yard dash as a sophomore and has a solid average outfield throwing arm. But dating back to his appearances at the 2013 PG Junior National Showcase and the 2013 PG Underclass All-American Games, it was very difficult to project that Orimoloye would ever be able to hit.
These are notes from the Perfect Game database from that summer that are consistent with the entire body of his evaluations at that time:
BP:Upright/narrow stance, unsure trigger, late start, VERY raw, big loop in back, huge hand drop load, zero balance, big uppercut, can imagine him crushing the ball if he ever learned to hit, but has a LONG way to go. Game: completely overmatched, had absolutely no chance in game ABs.
Fast forward a year to last summer and it was like watching a different player, admittedly still a very large, fast and strong player, in the batter's box. There was balance and timing, there was a much shorter and level path to the ball, there was an explosion of hands and wrists at contact. And there was consistently a huge explosion of barrel and ball at contact. Orimoloye made some of the hardest contact of the summer and made it consistently.
Reports coming in the spring indicated that Orimoloye has continued to hit the same way off college and even professional pitching as part of Team Canada's March tour through Florida.
This would be looking well into the future but should Orimoloye eventually reach the big leagues, he would become the first native born Nigerian Major Leaguer. He immigrated to Canada with his family as a three-year old.