TD Top Prospects: #4 Kohl Stewart

Age: 20 (DOB: 10/7/94)

2014 Stats (Low-A): 87 IP, 3-5, 2.59 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 62/24 K/BB

ETA: 2018

2014 Ranking: 4

What's To Like

When the Twins added Stewart to their stable, they were adding a powerful right-handed arm. Stewart has a fastball that currently sits in the low-90s, but has been clocked at up to 97 mph. As a prep, he showed a slider that projected as a future plus pitch. He also flashed a changeup that impressed scouts.

His scouting report has evolved through his one full season of professional baseball. He spent a lot of time at Cedar Rapids honing his fastball command. He didn’t throw his slider much, but instead relied on a curveball, a sinker that is new and a changeup.

The full picture of Stewart can’t be painted without mention of the fact that he committed to Texas A&M to eventually compete to become the successor for Johnny Manziel and passed over scholarship offers from other schools, such as Notre Dame. Stewart passed on his football commitment when he decided to sign for $4.5444 million.

Stewart comes from a very athletic family that includes seven children: Kyle, Kayla, Kohl, Kelly, Kade, Katie and Karli. Kelly plays volleyball for Auburn. Kade is an All-State prep golfer in Texas.

What's Not To Like

While there aren’t any red flags - if there were, there is no way the Twins invest a 4th overall pick on him - there are a few reasons to keep the caution flag handy.

Stewart missed time in his debut season after cutting his foot on a seashell while walking the beach. No big deal. A bigger deal is that he missed a four-week span in 2014 with a right shoulder impingement. His return from the injury lasted only two outings - 5 ⅓ innings - before he was shut down for the season. That left Stewart at only 87 innings, short of the targeted 100-plus that previous prep pitchers have gotten in their first full season.

The always-cautious Twins, who limited Stewart to 75 pitches per start in 2014, will continue being cautious with Stewart’s innings moving forward. Instead of the 140 innings that Jose Berrios threw a year removed from Cedar Rapids, Stewart is likely in line to throw somewhere between 115 and 125 innings.

One number that has prospect-followers alarmed is 6.4. That number, of course, is Stewart’s K/9 during the 2014 season. How could an arm so electric produce only 62 strikeouts in 87 innings? Well, the answer, hopefully, is that the combination of working on his fastball command and trying to be frugal with his pitch-allotment, left Stewart striking out fewer batters than he’s ultimately capable of.

Stewart, a Type-1 diabetic, also has a mound attitude that can rub opponents and umpires the wrong way. Time will tell how this will play out as Stewart matures.

“He's very loyal and driven," his mother told the Pioneer Press shortly after being drafted. When he's passionate and invested, he's all in. So he really invests himself in whatever it is -- friendship, family, whatever."

What's Next

After spending a full season in the Midwest League, Stewart will get his first chance to crack the Florida State League in 2015.

Stewart told Tyler Mason of Fox Sports North earlier this month that his shoulder feels stronger than ever and that he's reintroduced himself to a throwing routine that involves tossing around the ol' pigskin.

Like Berrios did last year, Stewart hopes a strong first half can help him advance from Fort Myers to Chattanooga, which would leave him knocking on the big-league door.

Realistically though, the projections haven't changed much since being drafted: Stewart is still a few years away and likely won't pitch in the majors until 2018. Let's just hope that when he gets there, he has more success than Adam Johnson and Willie Banks.