East Catholic’s Mozzicato mowing down pro hitters
Baseball is often called “a game of failure,” especially for hitters. A pitcher who is a high school phenom, one who is used to stringing no-hitters together for East Catholic, doesn’t experience much failure until he gets to the professional ranks.
“I had to experience it,”
Frank Mozzicato said. “Getting punched in the mouth, getting hit around, it definitely makes a big difference. I accepted pretty early on that failure is going to happen and it matters what you do with it.
“If you’re going to sulk about it, complain, that’s the wrong path. If you learn from it, then it doesn’t really become failure.”
Mozzicato, picked seventh overall in the 2021 draft by the Kansas City Royals, the highest-drafted high school player from Connecticut since Bobby Valentine in 1968, learned how to take the punches last season. He was 2-6 with a 4.30 ERA with the Columbia Fireflies, Kansas City’s Class A affiliate. He struck out 89, but walked 51 in 69 innings.
He was 2.7 years younger than the average player in the Carolina League in 2022. This season, back with the Fireflies, Mozzicato, 19, a lefty, is stronger, more in control of his pitches and he is starting to show off the “wow” stuff the scouts fell in love with. He struck out 13, a franchise record, in six scoreless innings in his second start on April 18 against Fayetteville, and he has been solid since.
“To be honest, I didn’t even know I had 13 strikeouts,” Mozzicato said. “It was one of those days where they really weren’t hitting the ball and I was throwing it where they couldn’t hit it.”
After throwing 5 innings Thursday in his sixth start, Mozzicato’s ERA is 2.45, with 48 strikeouts, 19 walks in 29 innings.
“He’s on a really good trajectory right now,” said John Habyan, Columbia’s pitching coach, the former big league reliever. “He’s got a good handle on his pitch shape and how they work and when he needs to use them.
You’re seeing the results.”
Mozzicato, you may recall, was headed to UConn, his dream destination, before his senior year at East Catholic when he rose like a rocket as a pro prospect, going 9-0 with an 0.16 ERA and 135 strikeouts in 55 innings, overmatching local hitters right through the Class M title game.
Still, the Royals surprised many when they took him at No. 7, in part because they hoped to sign him below “slot value” for that
pick and spread their cap money among other prospects. Mozzicato signed for $3.55 million and went to work.
The minor-league route changed during the pandemic with no more short-season rookie leagues. Mozzicato had to start in Class A and was ready to take the growing pains.
“It doesn’t matter how old (the hitters) are,” he said. “I’ve still got to get ’em out.”
At 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds, Mozzicato is throwing in the low 90s with his fastball; a plus-curve and the change-up he’ll need to get through lineups multiple times is a work in progress. The Royals were more than satisfied with his offseason and spring training work, and he began this season pitching solely from the stretch to have better rhythm and command of his pitches. He’s just now working in full-windup deliveries.
“He’s doing what we try to instill at this level,” Habyan said. “He’s going to learn a lot about the art of pitching and the science involved. Everybody has goals, but it’s really developing the processes and routines to achieve those goals. You have to be routine- and process-oriented. Strength, conditioning, nutrition, sleep, what you do on your bullpen days and playing catch. Frank has good work habits, he’s a competitor and that’s part of it. He enjoys the process.”
The next rung on Kansas City’s organizational ladder is Quad Cities (Iowa) in the Midwest League, advanced Class A. Certainly, if Mozzicato continues to excel in Columbia he could move up before this season ends, but for now, he’s on the right track.
“It’s a work in progress, you’ve
got to take baby steps,” he said. “Their thing is, they don’t want to rush and it makes sense. I’m just going with the flow, trying to become as consistent as possible.”
The pro life is a lot to handle — long days, even when he’s not starting. But he knew what to expect. His parents, Anthony and Suzanne, who get down from Ellington to see him when possible, raised him on the premise that there is no crying in baseball.
“They’d tell me, ‘If you’re getting hit around, you’ve got to deal with it and try to get out of it,’ ” he said. “And you can’t cry and complain. Keep your head on straight and don’t let up.”
Tough finish for UConn softball
After winning the Big East regular-season title, UConn softball came up short in the conference tournament at home, eliminated with losses to Seton Hall and Villanova on Friday.
The Huskies are still looking for their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2001, but keep knocking on the door and, with a number of promising freshmen, will get there sooner than later. In any conversation regarding top-shelf coaching hires by AD David Benedict, Laura Valentino, 110-58 since taking over the program, should be right in there.
Sunday short takes
The UConn women’s lacrosse team was eliminated by Penn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but Lia LaPrise, from Windsor, ended her career with a program record 286 points.
Zach Fogell, a grad transfer from Brown, really saved UConn’s bacon on Friday night, coming out of the bullpen to throw 5 innings of scoreless relief, striking out nine, as the Huskies survived and beat Butler in 13 innings. Keep an eye on the lefty as a postseason weapon.
Another first-round pick, Reggie Crawford, a two-way player from UConn, has recovered from Tommy John surgery and is starting to pitch in the Giants’ organization, hitting 98 mph in an extended appearance last week.
Watching Jalen Brunson star for the Knicks, albeit in a losing playoff cause, I couldn’t help but remember him torching UConn at the XL Center on Jan. 20, 2018. This was a game Dan Hurley, after he was hired two months later, reviewed with his new players and kept saying, “this can’t happen … that can’t happen.”
The Titans are saying Ryan Tannehill is their No. 1 quarterback. Second-round pick, Will Levis, from Xavier-Middletown, will start out No. 3 and fight for his reps.
If the internet hired coaches, the Wolf Pack’s Kris Knoblauch could start looking for an apartment in New York.
Had a great visit with Jim Calhoun in his office at the University of Saint Joseph on the eve of his 81st birthday this week. I can report, after a recent illness, he looks and feels fine and continues to thumb his nose at Father Time. Though he didn’t make it to Houston for the Final Four, he enjoyed a halftime Zoom call with the famous alums attending the championship game.
Last word
Neat moment at Southington High on Friday, where all-time great coach John Fontana was remembered and honored, with two major leaguers he coached — Rob Dibble and Carl Pavano — throwing out first pitches.
Fontana, who won 669 games and two championships in 41 seasons at Southington, died at 84 in 2019.
Dibble earned enduring fame as a member of the 1990 Reds’ “Nasty Boys” bullpen, and remains part of the scene here with his talk show on 97.9 ESPN.
Meanwhile, it’s interesting to note that though Pavano, 47, who lives in Fairfield now, was often maligned (an understatement) during his injury- and controversy-filled Yankees days, he pitched 14 seasons in the majors, with a 108-107 record and 4.39 ERA, and came up big for a championship team, the 2003 Marlins. Those achievements, and his 16.4 career wins above replacement, look pretty good today.