Kudrna was the KC Royals 2nd round pick (43rd overall) in the 2021 draft out of Blue Valley Southwest HS in Kansas. In high school, Kudrna had a very lean and athletic frame that oozed with projection. I’ve talked to a few Royals front office officials since Kudrna was drafted and he’s already put on significant strength/weight on the frame since joining the org.
As an amateur, Kudrna mainly pitched off of a 2-seam FB that lacked significant movement and was getting more foul balls and weak contact from inferior competition than he was swing and misses. The 2-seam movement has always been ordinary in my looks which is something he’ll need to address early in his pro career.
His slider is a pitch when at its best is a two-plane breaker with tightness and late bite. He’ll add/subtract velo on the pitch and does have a tendency to get on the side where the offering gets more slurvey shaped and losses a bit of its teeth. He didn’t utilize his CH much in HS spring outings and when he did it wasn’t a pitch that blew me away. However, I’ve heard from several scouts and executives I trust who said in the summer circuit when he was facing better competition up and down the lineup he’d use the offering more and they have higher marks on it than I do. It’ll be an offering I keep close tabs on as he progresses in his pro career.
Reports are that Kudrna has already added good weight to his frame and added several ticks to his FB so this report is based solely off my looks at him his senior year of HS. I believe he projects to be a quality back-end SP in the prime of his career with plenty of ceiling for more if the FB command and CH can develop beyond my projection.
