Offseason Growth Has Royals’ Frank Mozzicato Primed For Step Forward
Lefthander Frank Mozzicato’s prospect shine has faded in the past two seasons as his fastball velocity decreased and his walk rate increased.
As he enters his fifth year in the Royals organization after being drafted seventh overall out of high school in 2021, he is showing signs that he’s ready to take the next step in his development.
Mozzicato was up to 95 mph in spring training and sat 92-94 during the Royals’ Spring Breakout game on an unseasonably chilly night. He pitched at 87-91 mph last season.
One of Mozzicato’s issues with maintaining fastball velocity has been keeping weight on his still-slender 6-foot-3 fame. It’s been an ongoing development goal.
Mozzicato, who will turn 22 in June, believes that building and maintaining strength is primarily a matter of physical maturity.
“I feel like as I get older,” Mozzicato said, “I’ll keep getting stronger and it’ll be easier to keep that weight on.”
It’s also obvious that the Connecticut native is coming into the 2025 season with a positive attitude.
“I feel confident,” Mozzicato said, “and I’m going into it just like any other year of just having fun out there and being aggressive on the mound and pounding the zone.
“It’s definitely nice to see that my hard work is starting to pay off a little bit.”
Ongoing control issues have been attributed in part to Mozzicato’s long arm action, and he worked to shorten his delivery in the offseason.
Some scouts think Mozzicato would fit better in the bullpen, where his fastball could tick up in shorter outings and he could dominate lefthanded batters with his plus curveball.
Last season he made 22 starts for High-A Quad Cities and posted a 3.45 ERA with 91 strikeouts and 62 walks in 101.2 innings.
This year, he’s focused on remaining a starter, explaining how much he relishes pitching deep into games.
“When I get into the fifth, sixth and seventh (innings),” Mozzicato said, “that’s where you really find out how good you are, and you know how well you can pitch.”
