What a Time for the Kubitza Family

Here's a fun trivia question for you baseball fans out there: what brothers have the most career home runs in the Major Leagues? When I was asked this question at the Hall of Fame last summer, my first guesses included the Boone brothers, heck maybe the Molinas with three of them? Maybe The LaRoches? 

The Aarons. Hank's brother Tommie played 7 seasons with the Braves and hit 13 career home runs, which gives them a grand total of 768 home runs, the most of any pair/set of brothers to play professional baseball in America. 

I found that fun intro both factual and transitional into the topic of today's post, about the Texas native Kubitza brothers, Kyle and Austin.

Both Kubitzas went to Colleyville Heritage High School, which is where current MLB pitcher James Russell attended. Just over a year apart, older brother and third baseman/outfielder Kyle attended Texas State University in San Marcos and was drafted in the 3rd round overall by the Braves. Austin, a crafty yet powerful right-handed pitcher, was drafted out of high school but chose to play college ball for the legendary coach Wayne Graham at Rice University in Texas. He was then drafted by the Tigers in the 4th round of the 2013 draft and I had the pleasure of watching him pitch for the Whitecaps this season. 

They've never faced each other, though. Not when they were in college, travel ball, even little league, Austin told MLive reporter Lenny Padilla. He's waiting for when they both make it to the Majors for that opportunity. 

But anyway, the title of my post implies that they're not just a pair of brothers trying to make it to the show. They are incredibly talented, as you could have guessed from Kyle's high draft position and Austin's high draft position both times (7th round out of high school). Kyle, a lefty hitter who posted an absurd .405 OBP last season, stands at 6'3", 215 and his younger brother (not little brother) is 6'5", 225 pounds. That's an intimidating size for both guys.

Imagine a David Freese sized guy but from the other side of the plate and hitting for a better average. Many scouting reports will say that he lacks power to be an effective third basemen in the Braves lineup, but if you're Fredi Gonzalez, how can you refuse a .295 batting average and a .405 on-base from a lefty? He's only gotten better from joining the minors; after a stunning .321 average in rookie ball in 2011, his average plummeted almost 100 points to .239 in 2012, but after many long hours in the cage, raised it to .260 in 2013 and then to .295 in 2014. The hard work paid off for Kyle, as he was named to the Braves' 40-man roster yesterday. Chris Johnson is the current Braves' third basemen and with the trade that sent right fielder Jason Heyward to St. Louis, there is an opening in the corner pasture. I don't think Kubitza will be the starting right fielder in 2015 but I think he could perhaps get a September call-up. With his naming to the 40-man, he will almost certainly start 2015 for AAA Gwinnett and then see how he hits there; it will be the best pitching he'll have seen to date. 

Here is the link for his prospect watch page courtesy of MLB Pipeline. He is the Braves' 12th ranked prospect, and, as you see on the page, is predicted to make his debut in 2015. Scouts gave him a 50 power (out of 80 as a ceiling) and a 60 arm, which will bode well if the Braves give him a chance as their right fielder or third baseman of the future, as both positions require the ability to sling the ball long distances. Working in his favor are the prospects in front of him, which may sound backwards, but of the 11 other prospects in front of him according to Pipeline, there is only one outfielder and one middle infielder, the rest are pitchers or catchers. Seeing as the Braves management would rather grow their talent rather than buy it, I think he has a good shot to not only get a shot but seize it and becoming a starter. Being selected to the 40-man is a good start. 

Austin saw similar success for Low A West Michigan in 2014. He is ranked the #5 prospect for what is a very weak Tigers farm system (seeing as they traded away their #1 to the Blue Jays last week), but don't let that convince you that Kubitza is not major league material. His 2014 stats were nothing short of dominant, going 10-2 with a 2.34 ERA, a 1.076 WHIP (get this: 3.25 K/BB ratio - wow), and 140 K's which was 4th in the Midwest League. Kubitza was an All-Star representative for the Whitecaps (one of their 4 starting pitchers to be named to the roster) and will likely start the 2015 season at AA Erie for the Tigers. 

I may have been an employee when I saw him pitch, but I couldn't help but sneak a peek to watch him practice his craft. He had a great combination of power fastballs and a sharp slider to go with a changeup that dropped off the table to make hitters swing and miss. His scouting ceiling may only be a 45 currently, but going 10-2 with a 2.34 ERA and finishing 4th in the league in strikeouts might make some people change their mind. 

Like the title said, what a time for the Kubitza family. They have two sons on the verge of reaching the biggest stage for baseball players and here I am refusing to turn the heat on in my house because I want to save the extra money. 

Where did I go wrong?

Thanks for reading.