When Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Andrew Abbott started playing Little League baseball, his coaches put him in the outfield. When he was a teenager playing travel baseball in Virginia, it took a while for the University of Virginia to even take a look at the left-hander. In the 2020 MLB Draft, Abbott didn’t get picked.
Abbott is 6-foot, 192 pounds. His fastball sits at 93 mph. Now, he’s one of the 15 youngest starting pitchers in MLB at 24 years old.
Most young starting pitchers in baseball are overpowering and rely on velocity. None of them are showing as much savvy, poise and aggressiveness as Abbott, who has a 1.