Brad Dobzanski Shows Promise In Jupiter

JUPITER, Fla.—Righthander Brad Dobzanski guided Tri-State Arsenal Prime to a 6-2 victory over the Houston Banditos on Saturday night, helping his team improve to 2-1 at the World Wood Bat Association Championships. With the win, Arsenal advanced to the playoff round of 32. Dobzanski struck out seven and walked none in 5.2 innings.

Dobzanski showed promising stuff and athleticism, which is unsurprising given his background and family history. His old brother, Bryan Dobzanski, was a 29th-round pick of the Cardinals in 2014, and signed for an $800,000 bonus. Bryan was more physical, with a taller, thicker build, and more fastball velocity but Brad has shown excellent control, and he projects well going forward.

On Saturday, Dobzanski showed an athletic delivery, with a well-balanced back side and a smooth leg lift and stride. He has a loose, fluid arm action with a slight wrap in the back before he fires through his three-quarters arm slot.

Dobzanski’s fastball worked at 88-91 mph in his first inning, showing very late sinking action. Het settled into the upper 80s later in the outing. His control really came along as he went; of the 69 pitches he threw, 50 were strikes. But perhaps more impressive than his control was his curveball, which showed late dive when Dobzanski hit on it. The pitch checked in at 76-80 and broke from 12-to-6.

“Sometimes it has really good movement on it, but I have to be more consistent with it,” Dobzanski said. “It didn’t really break every time I threw it today, but once I get consistent with that I think it will be a really good out pitch.”

Going forward, Dobzanski has a plan of what he wants to address mechanically. He said that he had some issues “stepping over” and flying open in the summer, which led him to throw across his body more often. He also says that he wants to work on repeating his arm slot on his breaking pitches.

“Sometimes I get over the top on the curveball and a little more out to the side on the slider,” Dobzanski said. “I have to keep it all around in the same area to fool the better.”

An excellent wrestler, Dobzanski looks to follow in his brother’s footsteps and gain strength this winter. He is committed to Kentucky, where he could have an instant impact if he does not sign professionally out of high school.