KC Royals' first round investment in this prospect is finally paying off in 2025

While all eyes seem to be on the likes of Jac Caglianone when it comes to the Kansas City Royals farm system, there are some exciting things going on throughout their prospect ranks as a whole, including the season that former first round pick, Frank Mozzicato is putting together right now.

In High-A right now the Royals' affiliate in Quad City are tearing up the Midwest Division in 2025. The River Bandits hold a 22-12 record that sits just a half game behind West Michigan in the division and is tied with Brooklyn for the fourth best record in all of High-A.

And at the center of this torrid start has been some great all around starting pitching, but led by Mozzicato, as he's turned around the trajectory of his over three year career in under two months.

KC Royals' first round investment in Frank Mozzicato is finally paying

Mozzicato is undoubtedly having a good season in 2025 and does carry the pedigree of being the Royals' first round selection in the 2021 MLB Draft - even if prospect experts like MLB Pipeline's Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo considered him a "big surprise" at seventh overall.

However, it hasn't been smooth sailing for the southpaw in his pro-career until now. In fact, if someone were to throw around the dreaded "bust" term with Mozzicato, there wouldn't have been a ton of ground for even his hardest truthers to stand on.

His first taste of pro-ball in 2022 in Low-A Columbia, Mozzicato threw to 4.30 ERA across 19 starts. Now that's not the worst clip imaginable, especially since he also managed to post a respectable 11.19 K/9 and .218 BAA as well, but he paired that with a very high 1.54 WHIP and 6.65 BB/9.

Then after 12 starts at a 3.04 ERA in Columbia in 2023, Mozzicato got the call to High-A Quad City and it went as bad as you could think. In nine starts, he threw to a 7.12 ERA, 1.83 WHIP and 8.10 BB/9, as his control was all over the place.

Now things improved in 2024, as Mozzicato posted a 3.45 ERA in 22 starts with the River Bandits. However, at this point time he was an arm with three years of pro-ball under his belt, his best season was pitching to a mid-3.00s ERA in High-A and he'd yet to get a taste of the upper minors. That's not a formula that brings about a plethora of hope for a successful big league career in the future.

But through six starts in 2025 he's seemingly flipped the script. While his K/9 rate may've dropped from double-digits a few seasons ago down to under 9.00, he's dropped his BB/9 to under 5.00 as he's looked more controlled than he ever has. This has resulted in a phenomenal looking 1.15 ERA (which leads all of High-A), 0.99 WHIP and .128 BAA with a more than serviceable 3.67 FIP.

To add the real cherry on top, his breakout has not gone unnoticed across MiLB, as he took home Midwest League Pitcher of the Week honors on April 20 and eventually earned High-A Midwest League Player of the Month honors for April.

The next step for 21-year-old southpaw is a promotion into the upper minors with Double-A Northwest Arkansas, and should he continue at this pace, it looks like only a matter of time before he gets that shot.

There's suddenly light at the end of tunnel with this promising young arm, which has to have the Royals faithful ecstatic after numerous arms failed to live up to their draft potential in recent years.