Reds minor leaguer Jake Gozzo thought his career was over. Now, he's reaching 100 mph.
GLENDALE, Ariz. – Three years before Cincinnati Reds minor leaguer Jake Gozzo was pitching in the Arizona Fall League, he was sitting in a Phoenix-area coffee shop contemplating whether to continue his baseball career.
Gozzo went undrafted in 2019 after two standout offensive seasons at Oklahoma Baptist, a Division-II school. He signed with an independent league team in Evansville, Indiana after his college career ended, but he was released after receiving six at-bats in two weeks.
That could’ve been his final chapter in baseball. He gave it all he had and there were no roads left. He was ready to begin a sales job in Dallas.
One last trip to visit his sister, Morgan, before beginning his new job led to a life-changing conversation.
“She’s like, ‘dude, you can work your whole life. I just don’t think it’s time to give up on baseball yet. Don’t worry, the 9-to-5 will always be there. Your youth won’t.’” Gozzo said. “She talked me out of it.”
Gozzo, listed at 6-foot-5, 221 pounds, decided to give baseball one more chance. His brother-in-law, Jordan McSweeney, and sister own a physical therapy and personal training company in Goodyear, Arizona, so he did some marketing work for the company while his brother-in-law trained him.
He hadn’t pitched since high school, but he always threw hard. There was a rain delay during his senior year in college when he stepped on a mound, for fun, and was clocked at 92 mph.
In better shape and throwing the ball well, he invited a family friend to watch him throw a bullpen session at a high school in Peoria, Arizona. The family friend, then-Cincinnati Reds outfielder Scott Schebler, watched him and immediately contacted a Reds coach.
“It’s just coming out different,” Gozzo remembered Schebler telling him.
Schebler’s tip to the Reds earned Gozzo a tryout during 2020 spring training. With coaches and front office staff watching him, he impressed enough in a bullpen session at the Reds’ facility to receive his first minor-league contract.
Why didn’t Gozzo try pitching during college?
“Honestly, I enjoyed hitting more,” said Gozzo, who hit .333 in his senior season with 20 homers, 17 doubles and 72 RBI in 56 games. “I didn’t really enjoy pitching at the time. I just had more passion for hitting, it was more fun. I put up the numbers. Then I didn’t even think about pitching anymore.”
Gozzo readily admits he’s a work in progress, completing his second year of pitching. He had a 3.95 ERA in 25 relief appearances at High-A Dayton this season with 36 strikeouts and 24 walks in 41 innings, but the 25-year-old was much older than most batters he faced.
His fastball typically sits in the mid-90s, but he hit 100 mph during a scoreless appearance in August. His changeup is his best offspeed pitch, which he throws to hitters from both sides of the plate, and it can be up to a 15-mph difference from his fastball. An upper-80s slider is his third pitch.
“The biggest thing as a pitcher, and as a baseball player in general, in pro ball is just figuring out who you are,” Gozzo said. “Since it is so new, I had to figure it out. I’m starting to get a grasp on what kind of pitcher I am, what works and what pitches play where, then just keep learning from there.”
The Reds sent Gozzo to the Arizona Fall League, a developmental league that includes a good number of top prospects, because they wanted to challenge him against better competition. He’s permitted 13 hits and seven earned runs in 8 2/3 innings (7.27 ERA). Five of those seven runs scored in two of his seven outings.
“Before I got the opportunity to come to the Fall League, I was going to go play winter ball because I just wanted as many opportunities as I could get and just keep getting reps because that’s really all I need,” Gozzo said. “The stuff has been developing as I go, which is awesome and great, and now it’s just time to put it together. Time to go compete.”
Gozzo isn’t a pitcher who will show up on prospect lists, but it wasn’t that long ago when he thought his baseball career reached the end of the road.
There was disappointment when he wasn’t drafted. He said the Los Angeles Angels called him on the second day of the 2019 MLB Draft – “They said we have some senior money for you, get ready to go,” he said – but he went unpicked and didn’t receive an offer as an undrafted free agent.
The two weeks in independent ball didn’t put him any closer to playing in the minor leagues.
Now that he’s here in the Arizona Fall League, chasing a dream as a pitcher, well, he’s determined to give it his best shot.
“This is the most I’ve ever thrown, so I’m obviously learning how to deal with that too,” he said. “I know (100 mph) is in there and I’m excited to get into the offseason and keep working on it. Come back for spring and ready to throw some heat.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds minor league pitcher Jake Gozzo hit 100 mph, sent to Fall League
