Random Prospect Sunday - Adam Zebrowski
Random Prospect Sunday - Adam Zebrowski
After putting up a ridiculous season in college, Zebo has found professional pitching a bit more difficult to conquer
You have got to imagine pitchers in the Empire 8 conference back in 2021 still wake up in a cold sweat after nightmares involving having to pitch to Adam Zebrowski.
It was that year, after just nine games over two years due to injury and a worldwide pandemic, that Zebrowski had a season for the ages. If you were playing a video game and put up a triple slash of .500/.594/.993, your buddy might tell you to up the difficulty level. But Zebrowski, playing for St. John Fisher, was doing that in real life, punishing nearly every Division III pitcher that came his way. "Zebo" took home not just Empire 8 and New York Region's Player of the Year, but was the National Player of the Year according to the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings. He had multi-hit games in 22 of 38 contests including a pair of five-hit games. He even threw out five of 13 potential base stealers.
In short, 2021 was the kind of year people talk about over and over. It's also the kind of year that makes major league teams send scouts to get a closer look at the monster of the Northeast. The Albany native, who added six homers in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League for the Albany Dutchman, was selected by the Braves in the 13th round. He soon joined the team on a $125,000 bonus.
He quickly found that Division III isn't quite on the same level as professional pitchers, even those in rookie and low-A. After a 4-for-17 run in the Florida Complex League, he joined Augusta to close out 2021. Over eleven games and 43 trips to the plate, he hit just .221/.302/.263. Not a hugely successful seventeen-game look, but oh, well, he did get his feet wet.
Zebrowski returned to Augusta to open 2022 and, on opening day, he blasted his first professional homer off Royals' minor leaguer, Noah Cameron. That got him off the snide pretty quickly. Hits were few and far between for the catcher, but he showed a willingness to take his walks and flashed way more pop than the Braves saw in his brief 2021 run. He smacked three homers in each of May and June. Of his 29 hits between those two months, 13 went for extra bases. That, with his walk total, kept his OPS around .750ish despite an average in the .220s.
Zebrowski really found his footing in July. Surprisingly, he only homered once that month, but picked up three multi-hit games and hit .296 for the month. He also walked 13 times, giving him a .456 OBP. Not St. John Fisher stuff, but that will play. Zebrowski added three more multi-hit games over the first three weeks of August, earning a promotion up the ladder to Rome to finish out the year.
He'd struggle tremendously in Rome. Zebrowski produced two walks and no hits over the first 23 times he came to the plate. He managed four hits, including a homer, in his final 15 plate appearances with a walk and sacrifice fly, but after a .794 OPS in Augusta, his .114/.180/.200 end to end the year was a bit deflating.
After a spring training dinger off Kenley Jansen, I'd love to say Zebrowski bounced back in a big way this season in Rome. But that wasn't to be.
Handling the catcher position when Drake Baldwin was DHing, Zebrowski has only hit .203/.307/.376. He's bashed 13 homers, but the lack of quality contact - or enough contact in general - has dragged down his numbers significantly. Even worse, his numbers are inflated after a red-hot start to the year where he slashed .386/.500/.773 in April with five doubles and four dingers. Since then? A .317 SLG and a .594 OPS.
If there is a plus for the 2023 season beyond his power, it's that he's significantly cut down on his errors. He committed an insane 15 of them last year - all with Augusta. He's down to just five this year. While his caught-stealing rate won't wow you at 22%, it's still good enough to lead to outs.
But the rub on Zebrowski was supposed to be his offense. It's also why he's DHed 30 times this season. He's supposed to be a hitter who is trying to stay behind the plate. So far, it hasn't worked out that way. That said, if you're looking for some highlights, Zebrowski has put up some good numbers against southpaws at the plate over the last two years. If that continues - and his defense is adequate enough - he could eventually develop into a platoon option to pair with the rare left-hand hitting catcher.
Of course, that's getting way ahead of ourselves. Zebrowski still needs to hit a bit more than he has to this point. A career .213 average, even paired with a .327 OBP, won't get you too far. And while he has blasted two dozen homers as a professional, that's not enough to overcome his offensive deficiencies.
2024 very well could be a make-or-break campaign for Zebrowski. Baldwin has already passed Zebrowski in the pecking order, recently debuting with Mississippi. Tyler Tolve, picked five rounds after Zebrowski, breezed by Zebrowski last year with a .809 OPS in Rome. He's been in Mississippi this season. Selected this year, Will King has hit well in rookie ball and Josnaider Orellana opened a few eyes in the Dominican Summer League. Zebrowski will likely be tabbed for a return trip to Rome, but he'll need to show that the extra seasoning will deliver better results before he’s pushed for playing time.
He doesn't have to be the St. John Fisher Cardinal who put up video game stats. But he does need to be more productive than we've seen so far.
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