Happy Kevin Gausman Day

We’re not likely to celebrate it every May 23rd, but every big time prospect should get their one day that is theirs and theirs alone. That day is when they make their Major League debut. Today is Kevin Gausman day.

Here’s a scouting report on Gausman from Baseball Prospectus:

Gausman utilizes long arms, a high three-quarters release, and good extension to create hard downward plane on his fastball. The pitch comes with boring action and routinely sits in the mid-90s, with the ability to climb close to triple-digits (he has touched triple digits in the past). He shows comfort with the offering and can move it around the quadrants, showing no fear working inside to set up his plus to plus-plus changeup. The off-speed pitch comes with arm-side fade and late drop, mirroring the action on his fastball, and generally sits in the mid-80s with around a nine to 12 mile per hour delta from his heater.

Gausman wielded both a slider and a curve throughout his scholastic career, but he has focused his attention on the former since inking with Baltimore, making solid strides with the offering over the past 10 months. He will routinely sit in the low-80s with the offering, but can juice it up to the mid-80s with tighter action more closely resembling a cutter. When clicking, the pitch comes with heavy tilt and is tough to pick up against his fastball trajectory, helping it project as a third plus or better weapon once he finds more consistency in command and execution. He is an excellent athlete who repeats his mechanics and fields his position well.

Gausman has the stage relatively to himself with just a short slate going on around baseball. All that remains for the young former first-rounder is shutting down the Blue Jays the first time he takes the mound as a big leaguer.