Zak Kent & Brandon Young: Profiling A Pair Of Intriguing Not Top 100 Prospect Team Pitchers

Zak Kent, RHP, Guardians

Kent was originally drafted by the Rangers in 2019 in the ninth round, signing for $140,000. At the time, we described him as having a below-average fastball in the 87-91 mph range while being an intriguing prospect based on his statistical performance in college. Kent will be turned 27 before spring training in 2025, which means he’s been pushing to make the major leagues for a very long time, even as a child.

“It’s easy to stay motivated when the main goal, since I was a kid, has always been to get to the big leagues,” Kent said. “Nothing has changed in that, and that in itself will always motivate me to be the best pitcher I can be”.

That’s a glimpse of the mentality you need to become a major leaguer—a relentless drive spanning almost two decades.

“I’ve never really had a problem with grinding in the minor leagues year after year, but I will say that being injured in 2023 and 2024 definitely made the grind feel tougher,” Kent said, adding that being rewarded by the organization and earning promotions are a key motivator.

“I’ve learned that being able to turn off baseball when you leave the field can really help with the day-to-day grind.”

Next, let’s break down Kent’s arsenal:

If you’re new to movement charts, they show how pitches move while ignoring gravity. The filled bubbles are pitches that generated swings and misses, with the number indicating the velocity of the pitch. The above sample is from August 2024. Generally speaking, you want distinct areas of the chart for each pitch, and most starters will have the kind of arc you see here, covering a wide range of movement. Kent’s chart is typical of what you’d see from a starter.

Kent has five pitches he has confidence mixing, and he has always seen himself as a starter at the big league level. Prior to his injury, he considered his slider his “bread-and-butter pitch” but has leaned into the cutter more, and he now considers the two pitches 1A and 1B. Let’s talk about the cutter first, which caught my eye with the distinct cut-fastball shape.

A quick note: I will sometimes describe this pitch as a “hard cutter” to differentiate it from cutters thrown as an offspeed pitch. However, Kent calls it a cutter. I will use the terms interchangeably in this piece.

Zak Kent’s Hard Cutter

For most fastballs, you want a pitch that has as much ride as possible. This is usually measured in terms of Induced Vertical Break (IVB). On the cart above, the dotted line approximates how much ride a typical four-seam fastball will get from a pitcher with similar release characteristics. Typically, more ride means a better pitch.

However, when you get into hard cutter territory, ride no longer matters, as the pitch becomes a contact management pitch, relying on the cutting action to help it miss barrels. Most fastballs will get some armside run, so having a fastball that moves glove side is not a pitch shape that hitters see a lot of as the primary. Additionally, the cutting action can help it bore into lefthanded hitters, making it a platoon-neutral pitch.

“In college, I always had a bit of natural cut on my fastball, but sometimes it would run,” Kent said. “I think that was due to a lack of understanding about how my stuff worked.”

Once Kent got to pro ball, he started to see more vertical movement, especially around the 0 horizontal break line.

“After dealing with injuries over the last couple of years, I haven’t been able to move like I used to, and as a result, my fastball started cutting more naturally,” he said. “Now, I’m focusing on adding more velocity while also regaining that vertical movement.”

Injuries can impact players in a variety of ways, so it’s fascinating that in Kent’s case it led to his pitch gaining more cutting action. I think it’s a pitch that has a lot of potential as a primary fastball and am quite intrigued to see how it will play.

Zak Kent’s Slider

As previously mentioned, Kent’s slider has always been a bread-and-butter pitch and for good reason. It’s a delightfully unique pitch that has “deathball” shape, falling more than gravity. His slider movement, velo and release is similar to Clay Holmes and Jason Adam, which gives you a glimpse into the potential of the pitch.

If we look at all gyro sliders thrown last season at least 85 mph with at least -3 inches of induced vertical break (i.e. a pitch that drops three or more inches than would with gravity alone), we get the following list of pitches (min 100 pitches):

pitcher Name	Whiffs/Pitch	Whiffs/Swing
Pete Fairbanks	11.2%	24.2%
Luke Jackson	16.8%	32.7%
Bryan Abreu	19.5%	46.8%
Clay Holmes	18.5%	40.7%
Dedniel Nuñez	25.5%	46.6%
Roddery Muñoz	19.3%	40.3%
Jordan Romano	20.0%	38.6%
Spencer Schwellenbach	16.7%	28.1%
Lucas Erceg	16.9%	37.0%

That’s a pretty good list of pitches. Fairbanks had a down year, but in 2023 the pitch was more in line with the other pitches in this table.

Kent’s slider sat around 85-86 mph in the Arizona Fall League, but that might not tell the whole story.

“I’ve always been able to throw it hard, and when I got into pro ball, it became even harder, consistently hitting the 88-89 mph range,” he said. “During the Fall League, I even hit 88 and maybe 89 once or twice. But by 2022, I was regularly throwing my slider at 88-90 mph. For the most part, though, my slider tends to sit around 86 mph.”

A healthy Kent with a hard cutter around 92-93 and a deathball slider at 86 would be a great 1-2 punch.

“Because my fastball has natural cut, the slider tunnels well off it, and I haven’t needed to tinker much with it,” he said.

Zak Kent’s Curveball

Two pitches do not make a starter, unless you’re Spencer Strider. Luckily for Kent, he also has a curveball, which he can use both as a swing-and-miss weapon as well as a strike pitch. It was more successful in Triple-A against lefties, but he was comfortable using it against both.

“The key has been gradual, incremental improvement each year,” Kent said of the offering. “Coming off my elbow injury this season, I returned to Triple-A with more confidence and trust in my curveball. My curveball was always good, but it was inconsistent. Now, it’s more reliable, and I feel like it’s a great asset now.”

It’s a great third pitch, and complements the hard cutter/slider combo very well.

Zak Kent’s Sinker & Changeup

Kent is working on hard on becoming a complete five-pitch pitcher, and the sinker and changeup remain important elements of his arsenal. He expects them to continue to develop over time, especially the sinker.

“Right now, I’m at the point where I need to find a grip that feels most comfortable and trust it,” he said. “I’d say I’m about 60-40% confident in how the sinker will move.”

The changeup is a very intriguing pitch analytically, and has the potential to be a plus pitch. When it’s on, it gets great depth and seam-shifted wake movement deviation, but the pitch isn’t there consistently yet.

Kent describes the pitch as a bit of a love-hate relationship.

“When it’s on, it’s fantastic,” he said. “When it’s off, it’s frustrating. I don’t want to waste pitches in a game, and the changeup still isn’t where I want it to be.

“The coaches I’ve worked with agree that it’s a good pitch, but I just need to develop more confidence in it. I think that confidence will come with more reps and time on the mound.”

This pitch could really be a difference maker in Kent’s arsenal. Most of his pitches are gloveside pitches (i.e. they move to his left), so having an armside weapon in the changeup would help him tackle major league lineups.

Zak Kent’s Mound Presence

Most of my writing is focused on the analytical side digging into the numbers behind each player. However, that doesn’t mean I’m not a big believer in the eye test, as well as other more subjective measures. One of those aspects is the concept of mound presence. \

I asked Kent what contributed to him throwing harder in the Arizona Fall League, and he attributed it to feeling healthy and starting to have success. That leads to confidence and more swagger on the mound, which can, in turn, lead to more velocity.

“I strongly believe in the importance of mound presence,” Kent said. “Most pitchers would agree that when you feel dominant on the mound, it doesn’t matter who’s in the batter’s box—you know it’s over. Part of that confidence comes from having success, but a lot of it comes from believing in yourself.

“Coaches and scouts can often spot this ‘aura’ around a pitcher—it’s hard to define, but you know it when you see it.”

It makes sense then that one of Kent’s favorite pitchers is the late Roy Halladay, who built a Hall of Fame career out of his intimidating mound presence.

So how does Kent judge his own mound presence? It’s a little complicated.

“I’ve always rated my mound presence very highly, but I’ve struggled to maintain it coming off rehab and injuries the past two seasons,” he said. “Now that I’m healthy, especially after the Fall League, I feel like my old self again—dominant and confident on the mound.”

Final Thoughts On Zak Kent

I’m very intrigued by Kent as a potential MLB starter for the Guardians. He has three pitches that will likely play at the major league level in the cutter, slider and curveball, with the potential for a fourth offering if he can get the changeup to where it needs to be. The slider, in particular, intrigues me. If we see a confident, healthy, Kent taking the mound (with swagger) for the Guardians, he could be on his way to finally achieving the MLB dream he’s been working towards his entire life.

Brandon Young, RHP, Orioles

The Orioles named Young their minor league pitcher of the year in 2024 after posting a 3.57 ERA along with a K%-BB% above 20%. Let’s dig into his arsenal.

Brandon Young’s Fastball

I asked Young in late December if he felt he still was working his way back from an elbow injury that left him on the IL from April 2022 through July 2023. He said he felt strong in spring training last year and figured he was back to normal, but, as he described it, “I definitely feel there’s more in the tank”.

Those words are ringing true in spring training:

Young’s fastball last season was around 92-93 mph with above average vertical ride. Early in the spring, that popped to 94-95 with even more ride, making it a very good pitch and bordering on plus. That’s a significant leap year-over-year and dramatically boosts his chances of being a eventually becoming a midrotation starter for the Orioles.

“There’s definitely some underlying metrics that help,” Young said when asked why he thought his fastball was great for inducing chase. “Being aggressive and throwing it with conviction has been the difference maker.”

That sounds a lot like what Jason Ruffcorn described with the Mariners. I often overemphasize pitch shapes—as that’s all I can see—but coaching and development is a lot more nuanced than just increasing IVB or velo.

With his fastball, Young said his approach is to “live in the top of the zone because of the movement and perception of the pitch.” But he’d also like to go low and away more consistently.

Asked about the cues for maintaining fastball shape, Young said, “Kind of knowing what I have to do mechanically to get into a good position so that I can just trust it and rip down knowing it will ride”.

When writing up a pitcher like Young, I’ll often dream on the pitch with an extra couple of ticks and little more ride. The early spring data suggests he may have just done that, which is extremely exciting for a pitcher with a wide arsenal of quality pitches.

Brandon Young’s Curveball

After the fastball, Young ranked his secondaries in the following order: curveball, change, cutter and slider. So, let’s dig into the curveball next:

The curve is Young’s highest spinning pitch at around 2700 rpm. He feels he got more spin on the minor league ball and had to adjust when he got to Norfolk. As he describes it, it was about finding the right grip pressure and spot on the seam to throw it, at which point he “really locks the grip in, and just rips down on it.”

He’d like to throw the curve harder to help the Stuff+ grades, as well as increase the usage somewhat. He also feels he can throw in in any situation, to righties and lefties.

What’s the key for making his curveball work?

“Arm speed for sure, not trying to baby it,” Young said. “As well as where I’m applying finger pressure and how much”.

His response goes to show how complex getting a pitch right can be, as it’s an amalgamation of mechanics, seam orientation, timing, finger pressure and more to execute each pitch.

Brandon Young’s Changeup

Young gets about a 7 mph velo gap between his fastball and changeup, which he describes as the result of his grip and release. At times, he’ll slow it down and try to get more depth/movement. His change has been his go- to pitch since college, but it doesn’t shake out well on some public Stuff+ models.

“I’ve noticed (the changeup) doesn’t grade well most of the time, but I’ve seen with my eyes that the pitch plays,” Young said.

I think for changeups, which rely on so much more than just movement, traditional scouting and performance is far more important of a metric.

Young’s changeup was his highest in-zone pitch, and he said he feels confident with it when he needs a strike. The key for the pitch is to “just trust it and finish the pitch out front off my finger tips,” he said, noting that when he gets a good one, he can feel the ball roll off his middle finger to the right.

Brandon Young’s Cutter

Young’s cutter and fastball are thrown from a very similar release, and he, too, mentions Halladay as an inspiration, using the cutter and heater to set each pitch up. This is the concept of a “bridge” cutter. Young believes he can fix the contact issues with pitch by tweaking his usage and location.

Brandon Young’s Slider

Young said he’s working to make the separation between the cutter and slider more distinct

“During the season, I tried a couple different grips, cues, and found mixed success,” he said. “At times, I was just throwing the cutter grip differently to make it have more depth to get some whiffs. I’ve landed on one that I feel good with and have been working on it.” 

Final Thoughts On Brandon Young

Young has a complete five-pitch arsenal, headlined by a plus fastball. He’s working on a two-seamer as well, which is the modern trend, and he expressed interest in throwing a splitter. Pitchers with 5-6 pitches and a good fastball are a good bet to have success in the majors. I think Young will be a key member of the Orioles’ rotation at some point this season.