Kings of Kauffman Prospect Rankings: #22 Jason Adam

Who: Jason Adam
DOB: 8/4/1991 Overland Park, KS
Position: RHP
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 225
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Acquired: 2010 Draft – 5th round. Signed 8/16/2010

Rankings:
~ Baseball America #11
~ Royals Prospects: #25
~ Royals Review #23
~ Kevin Goldstein: #15
~ John Sickels #28 C+

Stats:
-Adam signed late and didn’t pitch competitively as a professional. As a senior at Blue Valley Northwest, Adam recorded 79 strikeouts compared to just seven walks. He compiled a 2.16 ERA over 41.2 innings.

He pitched in the Arizona Instructional league in September and October, though those games aren’t official and stats are hard to find.  The best information I came up with regarding Adam’s performance this fall is a scouting report from Conor Glassey at Baseball America.  He mentioned a three inning stint by Adam against the Indians where the local righty was hitting the mid-to-upper 90s with his fastball, an improvement over his pre-draft workout numbers.

That’s a good thing, too, because if he develops as many expect, the Royals will have gotten a steal in the fifth round.  Some believe Adam had first or second round talent, but he had a commitment to Missouri and teams shied away from selecting him for fear of losing him to the college game.  The Royals jumped in – as they often have in the past few drafts – and took him.  It cost a bonus of $800,000, but they got their guy.

Adam has the typical repertoire of a fastball, curveball and changeup.  The fastball sits around 94 mph but Glassey’s report mentioned that the first pitch out of his hand was a 97 mph fastball.  He’ll keep the curveball around 79-80 and he’s working on a changeup that was hanging around 84 mph.  That’s a pretty good range for those pitches, and Adam’s a big kid and could easily add velocity if he gets some mechanical things ironed out.

What I notice from this scouting video on Baseball Beginnings is a pretty standard delivery from the stretch, but Adam’s arm is a bit slow.  The video was shot in April and notes that he was around 86-90 with his fastball, so it’s possible as he was preparing for instructs that the Royals helped him work that out and that’s the source of the increased velocity.  It’s also important to remember that he had barely turned 19 when he signed with the Royals, so he’s still developing and should be adding arm strength as he works out with the coaching staff.

It’s nice to get a local product, especially one within an hour’s drive of Kauffman Stadium, but more importantly, the Royals got a good pitcher from down the road.

“You don’t want to get beat in your own back yard,” general manager Dayton Moore said. “But it didn’t matter if he’s from Overland Park, Kan., or Southern California.

He’s a high-ceiling right-handed pitcher with a repeatable delivery. He spins the breaking ball well, and he throws strikes. We like him a lot.

From www.kansascity.com (share this quote)

Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus’s Kevin Goldstein have Adam a lot higher than the Royals blogs, which I find interesting. I’d chalk that up to their focus on high-ceiling prospects (which applies to Adam) and not so much the development time. For me, I don’t think Adam will pitch until the short season rookie leagues start up in the summer and that limits what we can know about him and how he’ll adjust to professional baseball.  From what I read, I think he’ll be fine, but I want a bit of data to go along with the scouting reports.  Beating up on 6A schools in Kansas isn’t quite enough.

Though that 79/7 K/BB ratio is pretty sweet.

(Here’s a bonus video where KSHB talks about Adam joining the Royals – Jack Harry was unavoidable, I’m afraid.)

Keep track of the full list of prospects in the Kings of Kauffman Countdown on our Prospect Rankings page under the Organization tab or by clicking here.  Stay current on all the Kings of Kauffman content and news by following us on Twitter, Facebook, or by way of our RSS feed.