Rookie Profile Mackenzie Gore

The San Diego Padres have been long regarded as the laughing stock of the MLB. However, times are indeed changing for San Diego as they are putting together quite a promising young team. They made a huge acquisition of Manny Machado back before the 2019 season and have the young Fernando Tatis Jr who is emerging as a star. Their pitching staff has Chris Paddack and star closer Kirby Yates, however, they are relatively weak otherwise. Mackenzie Gore can not only provide depth to a weak rotation, however but also become San Diego's future ace.

Gore was drafted 3rd overall in the 2017 MLB draft who played baseball at Whiteville High School in North Carolina and has been living up to his potential since. He is the top-rated pitching prospect in the MLB currently and is expected to join forces with the San Diego rotation next season. Last year in the minor leagues' Gore finished with a 1.69 ERA and 135 strikeouts in just 101 innings pitched. At only 21 years old, he has the potential to become one of the best pitchers in the game. Gore has a fastball that can reach a speed of 96 MPH and has both a slider and curveball for his strikeout pitches.

While Gore is certainly going to be a problem in the majors for quite some time, it is hard to say whether he will find immediate success in the MLB. He will be pitching in a division that plays a handful of games at Coors Field as well as a bunch against arguably the best team in the MLB in the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, we've witnessed Chris Paddack pitch an impressive 2019 rookie season just a year ago so Gore for sure may have an early breakout.