When a team turns in its draft card, it’s never just about grabbing the biggest bat or the flashiest arm left on the board. Not for an organization that knows who it is.
The real win comes when a franchise marries talent with identity, selecting a player whose raw tools don’t just shine on their own, but slot perfectly into the system that can turn them into big-league talent. It’s why Ryan Garcia of the “Fireside Yankees” podcast believes the New York Yankees found a diamond in the rough with their fourth-round selection of Mississippi State University pitcher Pico Kohn.
“He could be a perfect match for this organization,” Garcia said. “He could be the steal of the draft for the Yankees in 2025.”
Yankees Selected Mississippi State University Pitcher Pico Kohn in Fourth Round
Kohn, a 6-foot-4 left-hander from the middle of Alabama, pitched primarily out of the bullpen as a freshman in 2022. Kohn lost a full season after Tommy John surgery in 2023, but he returned in 2024 with a taste of what he could do, putting up a 3.38 ERA in a handful of starts before really showing his workhorse potential for the Bulldogs in 2025.
No longer a bullpen arm, Kohn embraced the starter’s grind, racking up 15 starts and logging 80 innings with 114 strikeouts, holding hitters to a .227 average while carrying a 4.73 ERA and 1.23 WHIP. He wasn’t babied either — three times he eclipsed the 100-pitch mark, peaking at 121 against Auburn, but his most electric outing came against Oklahoma, where he carved through six shutout innings with 10 punchouts to seal a tight 2-1 win.
By draft day, MLB.com pegged him as the No. 122 prospect on the board — a testament to the resilience and big-game flashes that make him an intriguing fit for an organization that knows how to mold grit into gold.
An organization like the Yankees.
“The Yankees are really good at helping guys add pitches and flesh out and refine their pitches,” Garcia said. “So, Pico Kohn is not someone who needs to become talented. He’s already talented. He’s someone who needs refinement, who needs pro coaching, and needs a really good organization to take him in and refine and identify the things he needs to work on. The Yankees are that organization.”
Yankees Insider Believes Pico Kohn Fits Perfectly With Team’s Developmental System
Kohn has relied primarily on the two-pitch combination of a fastball in the low 90s and a gyro slider, both of which generated a lot of swing-and-miss, in large part due to a deceptive crossbody delivery that Garcia said has allowed Kohn to get a lot of chase on his fastball above the strike zone.
“You’ll see some very ugly swings and misses on that heater,” Garcia said, “and I overall think it’s a very effective pitch and one that the Yankees should be very excited about.”
Kohn has also utilized a changeup that has shown some good vertical ride, and Garcia said the Yankees are the perfect organization to help Kohn improve on that pitch.
“That changeup is a pitch the Yankees have, in my opinion, a lot to work with, but they also have a lot that they can do to help that pitch and a good track record with left-handed changeups,” he said. “You think of Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortez, and Ryan Yarbrough as all pitchers who have developed their changeups in recent years. So, the Yankees have done a really good job with left-handed change, and I think that Kohn is someone whose changeup could get that much better.”
Garcia said Kohn would also benefit from adding another pitch or two to his arsenal, to keep hitters guessing, and he compared Kohn to a young Sean Manaea, suggesting that just giving Kohn a few variations of what he already has could make a huge difference.
“The most important thing is the fleshing out of his repertoire,” Garcia said. “[Manaea] now has three different fastball shapes, two slider shapes, and a changeup. Pico Kohn could be someone who has maybe multiple fastball shapes, maybe multiple slider shapes and a changeup. That’s all possible for him.”
Especially as a member of the Yankees.
“I love what he could be, I love what he could develop into,” Garcia said.
“The Yankees stole this guy in the fourth round because I really think the Yankees acquired someone who just fits all of the things they do really well: left-handed changeups, flushing out repertoires, adding other fastball shapes, adding different breaking ball shapes, making breaking balls better, adding velocity. All of those things are things the Yankees do super well, and those are all the things Pico Kohn needs to work on.”
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Yankees’ System Strengths Could Turn Lefty Into ‘The Steal of the Draft’ appeared first on Heavy Sports.