Taylor Kaczmarek Keeps Fighting
KANSAS CITY—Righthander Taylor Kaczmarek thought he had the flu, maybe mono, when he went to a doctor in May 2012.
A blood test revealed a more serious condition: leukemia. That began nearly 3 1/2 years of treatment before the cancer went into remission in September 2015.
“I went through so many different chemotherapies,” Kaczmarek said. “Some made me sick, some made me feel worse than others. I got spinal taps every so often. I had massive headaches you couldn’t do anything about.”
The Royals made Kaczmarek a 40th-round pick in 2016 out of San Diego. He had been drafted twice previously, including by the Dodgers in the 50th round out of high school in 2010, about one week after he had been diagnosed with cancer.
Kaczmarek, who dropped from 225 to 185 pounds during treatment, did not pitch in 2013 and threw just 3.2 innings in 2014 and 31.1 in 2015 while at USD.
Scouting director Lonnie Goldberg opted to draft the 25-year-old Kaczmarek in 2016, after he recorded a 5.27 ERA in 18 games, including two starts, for the Toreros.
Kaczmarek did not allow a run in his first 10 pro outings in the Rookie-level Arizona League and finished with a 1.69 ERA in 16 relief innings.
Prior to cancer treatments, he sat 89-92 mph and touched 94. Now he works in the upper 80s and touches 91 mph.
“I’m trying to get (my velocity) back to what it was before,” Kaczmarek said.
He also throws a solid curveball with a plus changeup.
“My changeup has been my money-maker,” he said. “If I don’t have my changeup, I’m not going to be successful that night. That’s what I rely on a lot, just because it looks so much like my fastball.”
His plan of attack is simple. “Speed them up, then slow them down,” he said.
The Royals probably will assign Kaczmarek to low Class A Lexington in 2017.
ROYALTIES
• The Royals chose 22-year-old righthander Kelvin Magallanes from the Yankees in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft.
• The Royals released Cole Way, a 6-foot-11 lefthander who was a punter at Tulsa. The 30th-round pick in 2014 had not played baseball since high school.
— Alan Eskew is a writer based in Kansas City
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