Jacob Bosiokovic's Long-Awaited Debut is on the Way

07/02/2024 09:00 AM

The 30-year-old with an incredible backstory is the next in a long line of players to make their debut with the Cardinals this year.

The St. Louis Cardinals just keep calling players up and Jacob Bosiokovic is the next in line to ride the shuttle from Memphis to St. Louis (and likely back to Memphis after his first appearance).

Gordon Graceffo is the latest pitcher to take the shuttle with Adam Kloffenstein coming and going before him. Now Bosiokovic is next in line and he'll be making his MLB debut at the age of 30.

As you might expect from that last sentence, Bosiokovic's career has taken a long and winding path to the majors and I want to start this article by diving into his background and sharing his story of resilience.

Background

Bosiokovic was a 19th round pick all the way back in 2016 and while it's notable that a 19th round pick has even made it to the majors, it's even more notable that Bosiokovic wasn't drafted as a pitcher. Rather, he was drafted as a first baseman and also played some corner outfield.

The issue for Bosiokovic is that while he did have some success at the lower levels of the minors, he simply couldn't put the bat on the ball often enough to become a real prospect at the plate. Take a look at his Fangraphs page to see what I mean:

Simply put, a near 40% strike out rate as a college draftee in Single-A isn't good enough. So Bosiokovic pivoted and became a pitcher in 2019. The early returns were somewhat promising with him posting a 3.70 FIP in Single-A. That's not exceptional but it proved that he could hang as a pitcher despite not pitching in a competitive game in quite a while.

In fact, I haven't even been able to find pitching statistics from his college days which would make the 2019 season the first time Bosiokovic had pitched in a competitive game in something like 7 years (assuming he pitched in high school).

That's incredible in and of itself. (He may have pitched in college and if he did then please correct me in the comments.)

By itself, the fact that Bosiokovic switched from hitting to pitching is really cool and worthy of a shoutout but that's not all. Following the 2019 season, the Cardinals selected Bosiokovic in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft from the Rockies.

And then he had to wait more than a year to make his organizational debut as the 2020 minor league season was cancelled.

So when minor league play began again in 2021, Bosiokovic was a 27-year-old who had yet to pitch above Single-A and was now in a new organization. To top it all off, he was then assigned to Double-A to begin the season.

And that's when Bosiokovic really broke out.

In 48 innings, the right-hander struck out just under 33% of the batters he faced and while he did struggle with command (13% walk rate) he showed that he definitely belonged on the mound. His performance was good enough to earn a late season promotion to Triple-A Memphis where he continued to impress in 8 innings of work.

Things were then trending up for Bosiokovic heading into the 2022 season. The Cardinals kept him on the Spring Training roster for most of the spring and gave him a spot in the Memphis bullpen, just one step away from the majors, to open the 2022 season.

It seemed like a debut was fast approaching for the then-28-year-old but after 3 scoreless outings to begin the year, things took a turn for the worst. The right-hander succumbed to injury and mised 2 months of game action. When he got healthy again, he pitched for a month and a half before getting hurt again.

That essentially made 2022 a lost season for Bosiokovic as he missed much of the year with injury and struggled when he was healthy. He then became a free agent following the season casting his future in doubt and marking a somewhat disappointing end to a Cardinals tenure that was, at least briefly, filled with promise.

But as it turns out, the 2022 season wouldn't be Bosiokovic's final one in the Cardinals organization.

The reliever came back last offseason on a minor league contract after spending the the 2023 season in Indy ball with the Charleston Dirty Birds of the Atlantic League. He pitched well in Charleston, earning a 3.35 ERA and fanning 30% of the hitters he faced in a hitter friendly league and that showed enough for the Cardinals to bring him back for another year.

So now, at the age of 30, the former 19th round pick has finally fought his way through a position change, injuries, an Indy ball stint, and that kind of resilience is certainly something worth recognizing. Personally, I can't wait to see Bosiokovic take the mound for the first time after everything he has worked through in his career.

Arsenal

This isn't just a feel-good story, though. Bosiokovic brings some real skills to the table. His arsenal is simple. He throws a fastball, a slider, and a sweeper with the slider with both slider variations missing bats at a high rate.

I want to start with the fastball, though. The fastball doesn't have a typical bat missing profile as it generates just 13.3 inches of induced vertical break from a 6 foot release height. That's well below average. Yet the pitch has played well in Triple-A, missing bats at a 22.5% rate and allowing a wOBA of just .290.

So why is that? Well it probably has something to do with the velocity of the pitch (95.4 mph on average) and the cutting action that the pitch gets (3.3 inches of run on average). A hard fastball with cutting and sinking action can play well (I've written about that on more than a few occasions) and I'm actually really curious to see just how effective Bosiokovic's heater will be at the major league level.

Now, I will say I find it weird that the right-hander throws his fastball at nearly a 70% rate not because the pitch is ineffective but because his sliders are so dominant.

The 30-year-old has generated a 44% whiff rate on his traditional two-planed slider while allowing just a .122 wOBA. The pitch gets between 4 and 5 inches of glove side movement on average but Bosiokovic has also shown an ability to get a lot more sweep and when he throws the sweeper he has been able to miss bats at a high rate in a small sample size as well.

His sweeper sits at almost 11 inches of sweep on average while being thrown at 83-84 mph and that's an effective combination. The slider has more depth, less sweep, and is thrown a bit harder (85.6 mph on average) which marks the distinction between the two different pitch types.

That's really the story with Bosiokovic. He throws a bunch of fastball with cutting action (relative to the typical fastball) and then uses two different slider variations to gets whiffs. It's a true relief profile and it's one that should continue to miss bats at the highest level.

Final Thoughts

I really have three questions for Bosiokovic. The first is can his fastball continue to be so effective? Triple-A hitters, despite the lack of success against it, actually hit it hard with an average exit velocity of 91.5 mph against the pitch. If MLB hitters can have more success against the pitch then I will be somewhat concerned.

My second question ties into the first. And that is...will Bosiokovic use his sliders more? I'm generally on team "throw fewer fastballs" and even more so for a reliever with two nasty sliders. I would love to see Bosiokovic drop his fastball usage from 70% and perhaps even use his sliders as his primary offering.

Finally, I also want to know if Bosiokovic can live in the zone more frequently. For all his bat missing abilities, he also has a 17.2% walk rate in Triple-A. That's obviously too high for us to expect any sort of sustained success and it's down to Bosiokovic's ability to both command the ball better and attack hitters more frequently to change that.

So while there are some serious concerns about how effective Bosiokovic can be at the major league level, he also has pretty exciting stuff and a history of missing bats. He could very well be an effective pitcher. Plus, he's likely up in the majors to cover some innings for a short period of time so if he isn't very good then it's no big deal but if he is good then he can be another legitimate bullpen option for the Cardinals this season.

Add that to his incredible backstory and there are plenty of reasons to be excited for Bosiokovic's upcoming debut. I know I can't wait. I love debuts and I'm looking forward to seeing another one very soon.

Thanks for reading.