A trip to the Midwest League to scout Frank Mozzicato

Another look at KC’s future.

We recently went down to Cedar Rapids to watch the River Bandits play the Twins High-A team, the Kernals. The River Bandits came into this six-game set with a record of 19-14, but lost all six games of the series, allowing Cedar Rapids to jump them in the standings.

The purpose of this trip was to watch the Royals 2021 #1 draft pick, Frank Mozzicato, now in his second season of High A ball. It also served the purpose of learning how to pronounce the name of Royals prospect Ben Kudrna. The helpful program says “sound it out like Coulder-na.” I never would have guessed that.

Cedar Rapids has an excellent little ballpark, christened Rise 2 Greatness Field. It was 2-for-1 drink night, which can get interesting as fans unwind after a week of work. Helping set the mood was the Kernals mascot, Mr. Shucks, an energetic sort who appears to be wearing a large green diaper, and from the big smile on his face, happy to have it on. It was a beautiful night for a game, 80 degrees with a slight wind blowing out to left.

The game got off to a good start for the Bandits, with leadoff hitter, shortstop Jack Pineda stroking the third pitch of the game over the 315 mark in left field. I believe that ball only traveled 315 ½ but they all count the same. There were a couple of other players I wanted to scout this night, Carson Roccaforte, who was acquired in the 2023 draft, and Kansas City native Carter Jensen, who still can’t legally buy a beer, at least until July. On the mound for Cedar Rapids was C. J. Culpepper, a 13th-round pick in the 2022 draft. Young Mr. Culpepper looks like a scaled-down version of Noah Syndergaard. Kind of throws like Thor too, as he was consistently hitting 96 on the gun, mixed with an effective curve ball at 84.

Mozzicato’s first pitch of the night was a fastball at 88. He ran into a little trouble in the first, with runners at the corners with just one out, but worked his way out of the inning without giving up any runs. Mozzicato looked like he was in a groove, getting the first two outs in the second before the ugly walk dog reared its head. The next four hitters went: walk, stolen base, walk, RBI single and another walk.

The last walk brought a visit from the QC pitching coach and worked as young Mr. Mozzicato got the next hitter, the dangerous Rubel Cespedes, on a grounder to second. Cedar Rapids plated the run on a single by Luke Keaschall, who looks like the real deal. Keaschall was the Twins second-round pick in the 2023 draft out of Arizona State. He ended the night at 3-for-5 which brought his season average up to .302 and it’s worth noting that the Twins had him start his career in High-A and it looks to me like he could be in AA before the season is over. Good pick by the Twins.

The Bandits picked up a run in the top of the third when a Carson Roccaforte single brought home Omar Hernandez, who had led off the inning with a double. Roccaforte, who came into the game hitting .204, has a nice swing. He picked up two hits in four at-bats for the game and had a walk.

Mozzicato got a quick out in the third before finding trouble again. Another walk brought first baseman Kevin Maitan to the plate, and Maitan teed off on one of those 88 mph fastballs. And by teed off, his swing looked like me and my buddies seeing who can hit the longest golf drive after about six beers each. That ball got out of the park in a hurry, flying out of the ballpark and across 8^th Avenue and ending up in someone’s front yard. A well-struck home run just sounds different and this one sounded like a thunderclap. QC third baseman Trevor Werner made an excellent play on a hard chopper for out number two, followed by yet another walk. Mozzicato got a strikeout to end the inning, but the damage was done.

Mozzicato’s fourth went in similar fashion, two quick outs followed by a walk and a stolen base. He recovered and got the Kernals Jay Harry on a fly ball to left to end his night.

For Mozzicato, he threw 88 pitches with just 46 finding the strike zone. He gave up five hits and three runs. He only struck out two and issued five walks, which was a problem when I saw him pitch last summer. Like all Royal fans, I want this kid to succeed. He isn’t a hard thrower, with his fastball losing some velocity as the night went on. On this evening, he didn’t seem to have as much bite to his curve as he had in the summer of 2023. Might have just been an off night.

The curve started at 80 to 82 but tailed off to as low as 78 before the night was over. Can he make it to the show with that arsenal? He reminds me a bit of Tom Glavine with his smooth motion, and I think most Royal fans would be overjoyed if he had a career half as good as Glavine’s. One thing I noticed both summers is that Mozzicato bounces a lot of pitches in front of the plate, which is a workout for his catchers. I’m assuming this happens because when you’re topping out at 88, you want to keep the ball down, lest it end up in someone’s front yard.

This outing bumped his ERA up to 2.57, still a respectable number and it’s important to remember that Mozzicato won’t be 21 until June 19th. Here’s hoping that when his man muscle comes in, it allows him to add another 5-7 MPH to his fastball. He’s an unusual pitcher. When he avoids walks, he can be effective in getting outs. There have been plenty of soft-tossing lefties who have had long and productive major league careers and I’m hoping he’ll be one of them.

After Mozzicato hit the showers, QC brought in another lefty, Oscar Rayo, who bears a strong resemblance to current Royal hurler Angel Zerpa. Rayo went three innings, giving up another three runs on four hits. QC closed it out with one inning from Ben Sears, a big (6’6) righty who they took in the 14^th round of the 2022 draft. QC picked up single runs in the seventh and ninth on hits from Brett Squires. Werner had a tough night at the plate, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and had the ignominy of being the last out of four separate innings. Ouch. The Kernals took this game by a score of 6-to-4.

I try not to read too much into Class-A ball. The rosters are a strange brew of young kids (19-20) trying to move up and older players (24 to 26) trying to catch one more day in the sun. The Twins have a couple of good ones in Keaschall and Cespedes, who I fully expect will play with their big-league club in a couple of seasons.

For the baby Royals, no one really blew me away. Carter Jensen looks much improved at the plate and I’ll be rooting for him to make it to Kansas City, plus he’s just 20. Jack Pineda went 3-for-4 with a walk and three runs scored. Roccaforte, Squires and right fielder Jared Dickey all collected two hits.

I continued to be amazed at what a good baseball experience minor league ball is. The stadiums are outstanding, concessions are plentiful, and tickets are reasonably priced ($18 for a seat two rows behind home plate? Sign me up). Plus, you can see tomorrow’s Royals up close and personal. Just three short summers ago, the River Bandits fielded a team with Maikel Garcia, Nate Eaton, Michael Massey, Nick Loftin, Vinnie Pasquantino, Will Klein, Anthony Veneziano and Angel Zerpa, all who are either in KC or have seen time there.