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Photo by: Bruce Kluckhohn
Examining Minnesota’s Success in Developing High School Pitching Talent
9/11/2019 9:30:00 AM | Baseball
In the past three seasons alone, the Minnesota coaching staff has turned six previously undrafted high school pitchers into Major League Baseball selections. This string of recent success adds flavor to the program's already successful track record in developing young collegiate arms.
Dating back even further, the Gophers have had a pitcher taken in the MLB Draft in each of the past nine seasons. Overall, 18 Gopher hurlers have had their name called by an MLB team in that time frame.
Coming out of high school, the likes of Brian Glowicki ('17), Reggie Meyer ('18), Jackson Rose ('18), Nick Lackney ('19), Brett Schulze ('19) and Jake Stevenson ('19) were not chosen by a single MLB team. However, after playing college baseball at Minnesota and working with pitching coach Ty McDevitt, all six were able to change their status from undrafted-to-drafted.
Schulze saw his stock improve the most of any in the group, as the Maple Grove, Minn. native was taken in the seventh round by the Philadelphia Phillies this past June. His teammates, Stevenson and Lackney, followed him in the 10th and 18th rounds, respectively. The remainder of the group was drafted from 2017-18: Glowicki (10th round), Meyer (28th round) and Rose (35th round).
In addition, lefty Lucas Gilbreath ('17) was taken in the 36th round out of high school, but later saw his stock rise to a seventh round selection in 2017 after attending the U.
All seven of these aforementioned pitchers arrived in Minneapolis with velocities topping out anywhere from 86-88 miles per hour. By the time their names were called in the MLB Draft several years later, each pitcher had experienced a six-to-11 mph uptick in velocity, resulting in draft day speeds of 94-97 mph. Collectively, this group exhibited an aggregate increase in velocity of 8.6 mph.
Stevenson, a right-hander, finished his high school career with a fastball that maxed out at 86 mph. During his senior season with the Gophers in 2019, he was touching 97 mph on the same pitch. Righties Rose and Schulze, as well as southpaw Gilbreath, all improved their velocities by nine mph throughout their Minnesota careers.
As previously reported, the Gopher pitching staff achieved a record year in 2019, striking out 536 batters throughout the duration of the campaign. This can be attributed in large part to the Minnesota coaching staff's ability to successfully develop high school arms into draft-able pro baseball talent.
Dating back even further, the Gophers have had a pitcher taken in the MLB Draft in each of the past nine seasons. Overall, 18 Gopher hurlers have had their name called by an MLB team in that time frame.
Coming out of high school, the likes of Brian Glowicki ('17), Reggie Meyer ('18), Jackson Rose ('18), Nick Lackney ('19), Brett Schulze ('19) and Jake Stevenson ('19) were not chosen by a single MLB team. However, after playing college baseball at Minnesota and working with pitching coach Ty McDevitt, all six were able to change their status from undrafted-to-drafted.
Schulze saw his stock improve the most of any in the group, as the Maple Grove, Minn. native was taken in the seventh round by the Philadelphia Phillies this past June. His teammates, Stevenson and Lackney, followed him in the 10th and 18th rounds, respectively. The remainder of the group was drafted from 2017-18: Glowicki (10th round), Meyer (28th round) and Rose (35th round).
In addition, lefty Lucas Gilbreath ('17) was taken in the 36th round out of high school, but later saw his stock rise to a seventh round selection in 2017 after attending the U.
All seven of these aforementioned pitchers arrived in Minneapolis with velocities topping out anywhere from 86-88 miles per hour. By the time their names were called in the MLB Draft several years later, each pitcher had experienced a six-to-11 mph uptick in velocity, resulting in draft day speeds of 94-97 mph. Collectively, this group exhibited an aggregate increase in velocity of 8.6 mph.
Stevenson, a right-hander, finished his high school career with a fastball that maxed out at 86 mph. During his senior season with the Gophers in 2019, he was touching 97 mph on the same pitch. Righties Rose and Schulze, as well as southpaw Gilbreath, all improved their velocities by nine mph throughout their Minnesota careers.
As previously reported, the Gopher pitching staff achieved a record year in 2019, striking out 536 batters throughout the duration of the campaign. This can be attributed in large part to the Minnesota coaching staff's ability to successfully develop high school arms into draft-able pro baseball talent.
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