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Prior to this season, Steven Zobac was a relatively unknown Royals prospect but has quickly gotten himself on the radar after a very impressive 2024 season. He has been an incredibly pleasant surprise for the Royals’ organization and has firmly cemented himself as one of their top pitching prospects. The 6’3″/185 lbs. right-hander was selected by the Royals in the 4th round of the 2022 MLB draft out of the University of California. Zobac was an outfielder at Cal until his junior season when he became a full-time pitcher, making his development that much more impressive. This is only Zobac’s second season pitching professionally, and he has blown scouts away with his improvement in nearly every facet of his game.
Zobac has always been known for having an above-average command of his pitches, and that trend has continued this season. He has a solid 3-pitch mix and has been effective with all three. His primary pitch is a mid-90s fastball that has very good ride up in the zone, helping him get swings and misses despite not having top-end velocity. He also gets great extension with his delivery, which allows his fastball to play up and fool hitters. He pairs the fastball with a very high-quality slider and a changeup that has been effective down and away against lefties. The slider sits around 84 MPH but has a great bite to it and gets a lot of swing and miss, especially from righties. The changeup has been a real focus for him this season to help his fastball play better and improve his outcome against lefties. He has had much more success with the changeup this season and that has improved his ability to be consistent no matter who is at the plate.
“Zo” knows pitching. Steven Zobac 5 no-hit frames tonight with 7 strikeouts. Ridiculous numbers in last 5 appearances for Naturals:0.68 ERA26.1 IP10 hits4 walks
40 strikeouts pic.twitter.com/nsJzwVuvhz