The first round of the 2018 MLB Draft is this Monday and teams are gearing up for their selection of young players out of high school and college. One of those young players is Adam Kloffenstein.
2018 MLB Draft Profile: Adam Kloffenstein
Out of Magnolia high school in Texas, Adam Kloffenstein is a right-handed pitcher and is ranked as the number 43 prospect according to MLB.com. Listed as 6’5″ and 220 lbs., Kloffenstein is intriguing as he is the best hitting/pitching prospect to come into the draft.
Strengths
Adam Kloffenstein has a 96 mph four-seam fastball and a two-seam fastball that hovers around the low 90s but has some good sink to it. The big righty also has a good slider that scouts feel has the potential to develop into a big curveball or a sharp cutter. Kloffenstein also has a changeup that is said to be his best pitch at times, but one that he also lacks consistency with.
According to the 20-80 scouting scale, Kloffenstein’s fastball is listed as a 60, his slider and changeup as 55 while his curveball is graded at 50. When discussing his cutter, Kloffenstein said, “I can control it just as about as good as my fastball. I can throw it in any count. That has kind of been my go to recently. It’s starting to become more of a slider.”
Weaknesses
The biggest worry about Adam Kloffenstein at this point is that he has already verbally committed to Texas Christian University. Most mock drafts don’t have the Texan going in the first round, so it may be difficult to sign him.
When talking about his commitment to Texas Christian and the possibility that he’ll be drafted, Kloffenstein said, “Do I want to play major leagues baseball someday? Of course. I want to make sure I do everything the right way and do the right steps to get there. I think that it would have to be something really dramatic and really extraordinary for me to pass on TCU. I think it’s a cool opportunity that I’ve been dealt. I don’t want to mess that up. If I would go and pass on TCU, I don’t want to be at home at 21, 22 years old saying, ‘Man, what would’ve happened if I went to college? How good could I’ve been?’”
Kloffenstein has said that he grew up wanted to go to Texas Christian University. Texas Christian has produced such current MajorLeague players as Brandon Finnegan, Matt Carpenter, Andrew Cashner and Jake Arrieta. Kloffenstein discussed why he chose TCU, saying “It’s a smaller campus, and for an athlete, I think that’s better. You’re going to be gone during the season and the student to teacher ratio is 13-to-1 compared to some schools where it’s like 50-to-1. I liked that.”
2018 MLB Draft
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