Steven Zobac burst onto the prospect scene in 2023 when he struck out the first six batters he faced. Then he struck out the next four he faced. Over his first seven professional innings, he allowed one hit, one walk, and struck out 18. He was a college product taking on Low-A hitters, and it showed. Eventually, Zobac made his way to High-A and the results remained mostly strong.

Season Stats:

2023 (Low-A): 14 G, 51.2 IP, 2.09 ERA, 2.60 FIP, 29.9% K%, 5.9% BB%

2023 (High-A): 8 G, 39.0 IP, 5.31 ERA, 3.61 FIP, 21.8% K%, 7.1% BB%

Zobac has great command and leans most on a fastball/slider combination. The fastball is his best offering, and the fastball looked better at Low-A than High-A, but still seems at least average. Zobac sits in the mid-90s and lives in the strikezone. Thanks to his pure stuff, he’s able to pitch heavily in the zone and still reduce hard contact. He allowed just a 17.2% line drive rate and 0.35 home runs per nine innings last season for the Fireflies.

Those results started to decline some after a promotion to High-A, but his 3.61 FIP was still solid. Zobac didn’t quite miss as many bats for the River Bandits. His swinging strike rate was a solid 15.1% at Low-A but dropped to 11.9% after his promotion. Another point of concern is the reliever risk. Zobac wasn’t able to get to the sixth inning until his 15th start of the year, and even then that would prove the only time he accomplished six full all year. The organization has certainly eased him into a starter’s workload, and there’s a chance he will be able to better handle that in 2024.

Scouting Grades:

Fastball: 50/60

Slider: 50/60

Changeup: 40/45

Command: 55/60

Best Case Scenario

There’s a back-end starter upside here for Zobac. It’ll take some work to improve his innings workload and develop a more effective third and fourth pitch, but should he do it he may reach that ceiling. Tyler Mahle is my idea of what Zobac could become should he last as a starter in the big leagues. It took some time, but Mahle developed into a great strikeout arm by 2021, although it’s been inconsistent. Zobac has a good starter upside, but a ways to go to truly stick in that role.

Worst Case Scenario

The worst-case scenario for Zobac really isn’t all that bad. I see his floor as pretty safe, although it would be in the bullpen. His command is great and that mixed with his fastball/slider combo should be very effective in a single-inning role. For that reason, I dislike the term “worst-case scenario” here because it really is a pretty good outlook, regardless. It looks like the most likely scenario as well, unless Zobac can start to show more length in his outings.