Player Spotlight: 2016 RHP Keith Kutzler

November 20, 2014

By Steve Nielsen
Scouting Supervisor – Wisconsin/Illinois

Pitching is in his blood, and every time we’ve seen RHP Keith Kutzler (Tremper, 2016) take the mound his confidence and moxy on the bump is something that jumps off the page to the trained eye. Keith’s father Jerry, a RHP, was a 6^th round draft pick of the Chicago White Sox in 1987 and broke into the big leagues in 1990. Keith’s older brother Kyle, also a RHP, was a William Penn commit out of Tremper HS in 2013.

The art of pitching is something that takes most prospects years to master, and most never do. In a new Keith Kutzler age of pitching where everybody tends to put an exaggerated emphasis on the radar gun, Kutzler is a bit of an old school arm who gets it done with feel for multiple pitches and an attacking mindset on the mound. His fastball currently tops out at about 85 mph and will pitch and hold his velocity just shy of that. He compliments his fastball with a slider/cutter (74-78 mph), curveball (66-71 mph) and changeup (69-73 mph).

Kutzler changes speeds and pounds the zone better than any other arm in the class. In an outing at the Labor Day Challenge, Kutzler tossed five innings of three hits baseball while touching every number on the velo board from 67-85 mph, at least once. Kutzler truly has a feel for four pitches which is rare for his age and seems to have a knack for using the m in the right situations as well.

Kutzler looked just as sharp at the PBR Future Games in August. One of the few bright spots for Wisconsin, Kutzler tossed two shutout frames in efficient fashion.

Kutzler’s ability to pitch is what’s getting him attention at the next level, and savvy recruiters will be looking past the radar gun and into his ability to manipulate the baseball at a high level.

Player Spotlight: 2016 RHP Keith Kutzler

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