Former outfielder Steven Zobac now a key Royals pitching prospect

The California native is forcing his way into the team’s future.

It was a standout season for a handful of Kansas City Royals pitching prospects, including pitcher Steven Zobac. Zobac, a California native selected in the fourth round of the 2022 Amateur Draft, pitched 126 innings this season. Between High-A and Double-A, he posted a 3.64 ERA with 123 strikeouts, good for third among pitchers in the Royals’ farm system this season. His walk rate of 2.1 per-nine-innings ranked second-lowest among Royals arms with at least 100 innings, behind only Ethan Bosacker. It all culminated in a 3.03 FIP which paced the Kansas City farm system (min. 100 IP) in 2024. For Zobac, it represented another step forward after a fantastic 2023 debut in which he put up a 3.47 ERA over 90.2 innings of work.

Zobac grew up a Giants fan. He was born in San Jose, California, where he attended Valley Christian High School. After high school, Zobac attended the University of California-Berkeley, where he played primarily as an outfielder for the Golden Bears. His first two seasons at Cal saw Zobac pitch 24.2 innings with 228 plate appearances. He slashed .240/.344/.359 his sophomore season before transitioning to pitching full-time in 2022. That time as an outfielder helps Zobac on the mound, even today.

“It’s always good to see, from the hitter’s perspective, what pitchers look like,” Zobac told me in an interview this week. “If I throw a fastball on the outside corner and then throw a changeup in the same spot, that pitch looks a lot different than if I were to throw a fastball inside and then a changeup away.”

With year two complete, how good can Steven Zobac become?

Now through his second full season as a professional, Zobac is one of the organization’s best pitching prospects. MLB Pipeline ranks Zobac as the 17th prospect in the organization. FanGraphs has him 15th and Baseball America has him 17th. Just a year ago, Zobac was unranked by Pipeline. That rise is a testament to Zobac's job harnessing his pitch arsenal in the strike zone. He finished the year with a 30.4% Whiff% at Double-A and was named the recipient of the organization’s Paul Splittorff Pitcher of the Year Award.

“Getting an award like this one is phenomenal,” Zobac told me. “It’s honoring and definitely something that I didn’t expect going into pro ball, especially being so new to pitching.”

The Award is a testament to Zobac’s work ethic and tenacity on the mound. It’s also a great example of how well the Royals' pitching philosophy matches what Zobac does on the mound. Zobac praised the team’s pitching development staff. Entering the season, the team’s “Raid the Zone” mantra shifted to “Reign the Zone.” That’s exactly what Zobac did this season. Zobac called the shift “great” and said it falls perfectly with his current arsenal of pitches.

“For the org to be asking me to do something that I already do is pretty simple,” Zobac said. “But then having that reminder, having that confidence that this is what I need to do in order to, one, [make the Royals] happy, but two, get what I need to do on the field done.” He continued, “To try and do that as much as I can, to have emphasis as an org to do that, it just made it a lot easier to understand what my goal at the end of a start was.”

No start was better this season than Zobac’s dominant showing on August 7. He went seven scoreless innings for the Naturals that start, allowing just two hits and no walks while striking out 12. After the start, Royals Senior Director of Pitching Performance Paul Gibson, said Zobac was “as good as he’s ever seen him.” Gibson has praised the improvements Zobac has made on his slider this season and it’s clear that Zobac is forcing his way into the team’s future pitching plans.

Into the offseason, the focus for Zobac lies in continuing to take his three-pitch mix even further. He found improvements on the slider by trusting the pitch more this season, and again attributed the team’s Reign the Zone mantra as a leading force behind his improvements.

“The Reign the Zone aspect,” Zobac said, “where it’s not going to be an effective pitch no matter what it looks like if it’s not in the zone.”

His emphasis on the season with the slider was to throw it for strikes and have the pitch break outside of the zone. Zobac changed the grip on his changeup a few times this season and will continue this offseason to improve that offering to be even better for next season. On expanding his arsenal, Zobac said he’s comfortable right now.

“I think it’s more important to get three really good pitches than it is to get four with two good pitches and two mediocre ones.”

Legendary influences for Zobac and what the 2025 outlook holds

A recipe of three really good pitches isn’t all that different from two legendary pitchers who influenced Zobac’s game. I asked Zobac if there were any former big league pitchers or players that influenced his game. “I was a huge Giants fan growing up,” Zobac told me.

“Madison Bumgarner, I think was the top if not my favorite pitcher. Max Scherzer’s a close second.”

Bumgarner, of course, was dominant in the 2014 World Series and a key factor behind the Giants’ victory over the Royals. Scherzer, a Missouri native and future Hall of Famer, is one of the best arms this century. Both arms represent exactly what Zobac does so well: command the ball well and own the strike zone ruthlessly.

The ire that Bumgarner still causes Royals fans to this day isn’t lost on Zobac, either. “I’ve already gotten some spite for saying that before,” Zobac said. It’s all in good fun, especially if Zobac can continue to develop into one of the team’s best young arms.

After starting this season with High-A Quad Cities and moving his way up to Double-A Northwest Arkansas, the outlook for next season looks great. Zobac turns 24 this October and should get a chance to pitch for Omaha next season. It’s unclear if he’ll debut there or return to Northwest Arkansas, but one thing is certain: Zobac could quickly become a key piece in the team’s future.

No prospect in the farm system offers the mixture of fastball effectiveness and command that Zobac provides. He commands the pitch on the edges of the strike zone and generates elite levels of swing and miss. His velocity ranges anywhere from 93-96mph, settling most often in the 94mph range. The pitch has good shape and carry through the strike zone. In today’s Major Leagues, the fastball is the foundation of any great starter and Zobac has it. If his changeup continues to improve over the offseason, there’s the potential that Zobac could be pitching big league innings as early as the middle of next season.

That’s a meteoric rise for a prospect who is still just in his third calendar year as a full-time pitcher. The Royals will host Futures Night on September 20, where they’ll recognize Zobac and the rest of the 2024 Organizational Award winners.