Frank Mozzicato (born June 19, 2003) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

in the

Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...

organization.

Amateur career

Mozzicato attended

East Catholic High School East Catholic High School is a private, college preparatory high school located in Manchester, Connecticut, United States, under the auspices of the Archdiocese of Hartford. The parochial school was founded in 1961 and is inspired by the charis ...

Manchester, Connecticut Manchester is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 59,713. The urban center of the town is the Manchester census-designated place, with a population of 36,379 at the 202 ...

, and pitched for the school's baseball team. He committed to attend the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

on a

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

scholarship with the Connecticut Huskies baseball team. In his senior year of high school, Mozzicato’s draft stock rose significantly after he threw four consecutive

no-hitter In baseball, a no-hitter is a game in which a team was not able to record a hit. Major League Baseball (MLB) officially defines a no-hitter as a completed game in which a team that batted in at least nine innings recorded no hits. A pitcher wh ...

s. That year, he led his team to a Connecticut Class M State Championship, in which he struck out 17 and only allowed one hit. As a senior, Mozzicato recorded a 0.16

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

with 135

strike out In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is denot ...

s over 55.2

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

Professional career

Mozzicato was selected by

in the first round with the seventh overall selection of the

2021 Major League Baseball draft The 2021 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on July 11–13, 2021. In conjunction with the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the draft was held in Denver. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The ...

. He signed with the Royals on July 17, 2021, receiving a $3.55 million

signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee (including a professional sports person) by a company as an incentive to join that company. They are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive ...

. He opened the 2022 season in extended spring training. In mid-May, he was assigned to the Columbia Fireflies of the

Single-A Class A, also known as Single-A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A, Double-A (baseball), Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams classif ...

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

Personal life

Mozzicato's brother, Anthony, also pitched for East Catholic High School's baseball team. Anthony currently pitches for the

Central Connecticut Blue Devils baseball The Central Connecticut Blue Devils baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Connecticut, United States. The team is a member of the Northeast Conference, which is part of th ...

team.

References

External links

Living people Baseball pitchers 2003 births Baseball players from Hartford, Connecticut Columbia Fireflies players {{US-baseball-pitcher-stub