Friday’s Spring Breakout matchup for the Kansas City Royals was, for all intents and purposes, a loss to the Diamondbacks. The Arizona prospects won five to two, but there were plenty of takeaways to be had beyond the box score. Plenty of great young talent was displayed for the Royals, including Jac Caglianone, Carter Jensen, Noah Cameron, and Luinder Avila. However, the biggest winner wasn’t Caglianone, Cameron, Avila, or even Gavin Cross. Each of those prospects put together a strong showing as they have for much of the spring.

Caglianone finished his day just 1-for-4 with a single, but roped a 110 mph line drive the opposite way that was caught for an out. Gavin Cross made a stellar throw from right field to beat a runner at third base, and both Luinder Avila and Noah Cameron showed off the stellar stuff that has headlined most of the spring for Kansas City. Despite a handful of strong showings across the board, it was Frank Mozzicato who came out as the true standout from Friday’s loss.

Mozzicato dazzles on Friday, showcasing more velocity than ever before

In the box score, Mozzicato’s day was good, not great. He finished the day with two scoreless innings of work. Mozzicato stuck out two while working around a walk and a single hit allowed. Although those results were solid, it was Mozzicato’s fastball that stole the show. A first-round pick in 2021, Mozzicato has long been characterized by his velocity for most of his professional career — or rather, a lack of it. As late as last season, the young lefty averaged just 90 mph with his four-seam fastball. He’d topped out at 92 mph but more often sat 88-90 mph in most outings.

Although his curveball and new slider were sound offerings, the lack of fastball “stuff” was seen by most as a barrier to future success. Some of that showed itself last season when Mozzicato posted a career-worst 8.06 strikeouts per nine innings. He did limit batters to just a .199 average, however, leaving some hope that he could continue developing into a top-tier pitching prospect. Then, earlier this week, reports came that Mozzicato had finally started to find an uptick in velocity. That added velocity was on full display Friday when the 21-year-old lefty averaged 93.0 mph with his fastball and touched 94 on multiple occasions.

To say that the news is massive would be somewhat of an understatement. Mozzicato’s fastball has long been of great shape. That was more than evident Friday when he averaged more than 20 inches of induced vertical break (iVB). Anything north of 18 should be seen as great, with anything north of 20 seen as elite. Mozzicato averaged 2338 rpm with his four-seamer, good for a 112 tjStuff+. All four of Mozzicato’s offerings graded out well above average.

The strong stuff helped Mozzicato to a dominant 50% Whiff% over two innings of work while finding the zone nearly 70% of the time with his fastball. It was, by stuff alone, the best showing by any Royals pitching prospect this spring. Now, heading closer to the 2025 season, Mozzicato could be poised to rise back up the rankings and put himself back into contention as one of the team’s best young arms. He won’t turn 22 until June of this season. That youth leaves an additional ceiling to uncover, and we’ve already started to see it, if Friday is any indication.

Mozzicato could head to Northwest Arkansas to open his 2025 season. He spent the full 2024 campaign with High-A Quad Cities. A move to Northwest Arkansas would reunite Mozzicato with fellow 2021-draftee Ben Kudrna. The rest of the rotation would likely feature some mixture of Steven Zobac, Drew Beam, Ryan Ramsey, Hunter Owen, and Oscar Rayo.