In Baseball America’s 1st mock draft they matched Gowdy with the Yankees. Gowdy makes a lot of sense for the Yankees as he is a pitcher out of California.
Background: Kevin Gowdy is 6’4″ 175lb right handed high school pitcher. He pitches at Santa Barbara in California while also playing on GBG Marucci. Currently Gowdy is committed to powerhouse UCLA.
Stuff: Gowdy runs his fastball up to 94 mph before the start of this year. He normally sits between 89-92 MPH. Gowdy has had his velocity tick up each year so his velocity might be trending up. Offspeed pitches for Gowdy is a slider that used to be a curve ball. It’s pretty slurvy right now. His change up is the most advantage off speed pitch right now. It has good fade and sink right now and should improve with more consistency and usage.
Upside: Gowdy has all the makings of a potential #2 starter especially if his velocity keeps trending up and professional coaching can tighten up his breaking pitch. With Gowdy being so thin there is lots of potential for him to add weight and muscle so he can throw 200 innings a year.
Overall this would be a very solid pick for the Yankees with their first round pick. Gowdy has everything the Yankees look for, he is tall, projectable pitcher from California who already has one very good pitch in his fastball. Only time will tell with Gowdy’s stock especially since it’s so early in the spring.
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