MLB lists KC Royals prospect Jackson Kowar as potential ace

The KC Royals’ impressive crop of young pitching talent continues to gain national recognition ahead of the 2020 campaign.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The KC Royals have some darn good young pitchers in their farm system. The likes of Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, Jackson Kowar, Kris Bubic and others make up one of the more exciting cores the franchise has ever had. As the major league team looks to return to being competitive in the next couple of seasons, all of the aforementioned pitchers will play major roles in that success.

Singer seems to be the closest to the MLB, as his high floor as a prospect is enticing. Lynch has some of the best pure stuff and has posted some great minor league numbers thus far. Kowar, who played with Singer in college at Florida, recently took his turn as the week’s most hyped-up pitching prospect. MLB.com’s Alyson Footer published a list of each AL Central organization’s pitcher most likely to become an ace last week, and Kowar was the KC Royals’ representative:

"“We’ll go with Kowar as our potential ace for now. As one rival scout said during camp, ‘He probably has the highest ceiling of that group. Once he better commands his curveball, he’ll shoot to the big leagues pretty fast.'”"

Kowar was remarkably consistent across two stops last season. In Single-A Wilmington, he spun a 3.53 ERA in 74.0 innings. Once he got promoted to AA, he pitched 74.1 more innings and his ERA was 3.51. So, in 13 starts at each destination, he was stellar. He even managed to increase his strikeout total from 66 to 78 despite being promoted a level.

The article also notes that Kowar’s curveball will make for a lethal three-pitch mix once it catches up to his changeup and fastball. He’s got the athletic profile and the stuff necessary to be one of the leaders of the pitching staff for years to come.

It’s nice to see Kowar getting some love. Usually, Singer gets the recognition for being such an MLB-ready prospect with a winning pedigree and competitive nature. Lynch has some electrifying stuff and the potential to be dominant. Kowar is right up there with both of them — and he’ll show it once play resumes.

For more on Kowar, check out our very own Michael Huckins’ profile of him from last fall.