The Miami Marlins continued their pitcher heavy draft by selecting right-handed pitcher Kyle Nicolas out of Ball State University. Nicolas is a 21-year-old who stands at 6’4 and weighed in at 225 pounds.
Kyle Nicolas attended Jackson High School where he helped lead the Polar Bears to a 30-2 record as a senior. They would also go onto win state that season. In his senior year, we had a record of 8-0 with an ERA of .50 over 56 innings. He also had 78 strikeouts. His accolades in High School included: Ohio Player of the Year, first-team all-state, and Federal League Co-Player of the year.
In 2018, he pitched in 15 games and 10 of them were starts on the mound. He went on to have a 2-4 record over 57 innings and had an ERA of 5.21. He picked up his first college win on February 24.
In 2019, he appeared more as a bullpen arm than a starter. In 24 games, he only started 6 but ended with a record of 2-2 over 55.1 innings. His ERA was 6.02 which was high, but the team still went 18-6 in games he pitched.
His Junior season was cut short due to Covid-19, but he still had 4 strong starts. In 23 innings pitched, he would hold a 0-1 record where he ended with an ERA of 2.74 and struck out 37 batters.
Nicolas has a fastball/slider combination but has shown he can throw a changeup. His fastball hit 97 in the Cape Cod League in 2019, but his fastball typically ranges between 93-96 mph. His slider has a lot of bite to it and ranges between 85-87 mph.
The real question for the Marlins is whether they will use him as a starter or reliever. He has had troubles of keeping the ball in the zone but will look to keep improving under the Marlins pitching staff.
