Barrington's Gosswein making name for himself as White Sox prospect
Publications that rank minor-league prospects, Baseball America and MLB Pipeline being among the best, release rating lists before the season and update them halfway through the year.
Brooks Gosswein's name was nowhere to be found when it was time to play ball in April.
Drafted by the White Sox on the fourth round out of Bradley University in 2021 after prepping at Barrington High School, Gosswein split last season between low Class A Kannapolis and high A Winston-Salem.
The 89 strikeouts in 99 combined innings were a positive, but Gosswein was 3-10 with a 5.36 ERA in 24 games (23 starts) and he issued 57 walks.
Reflecting on his season over the winter, the left-hander realized he needed to throw more strikes if he wanted to make a move on the Sox's top prospects list.
"I'd say command is something I'm continually working on," Gosswein said in a phone interview. "I think a lot of pitchers look at it like that. But honestly, I think it's kind of, 'Hey, in the past a lot of damage that's happened to me has been self-inflicted.' I feel like I've got pretty decent stuff, so why don't I let them do damage to me rather than inflicting it myself?
"That's kind of where it comes in. Sometimes I'll be 1-0, 2-0 and I'll be, 'Hey, let me see what they can do with it.' So I get back in the strike zone and a lot of times hitters will get themselves out."
Back with Winston-Salem this season, the 24-year-old Gosswein is showing why the White Sox drafted him so high.
"Definitely happy," the 6-foot-2, 205-pounder said. "Last season, I got off to a slower start so I kind of came in and wanted to make sure I started the season off pretty strong. Very happy with where it's at, especially with the hard work I put in during the off-season.
"It's definitely encouraging but for me, I like to take it start by start and try to keep the train rolling."
Splitting his time between starting and relieving for Winston-Salem, Gosswein is 0-1 with a 2.53 ERA in 4 games (2 starts). He has 19 strikeouts over 21⅓ innings and didn't walk a batter in his first two appearances (9⅔ innings).
In his last two outings, Gosswein walked 8 in 11⅔ innings but he kept the damage to a minimum thanks a fastball that runs up to 95 mph, a slider, curveball and emerging changeup.
As he said, Gosswein is going to keep working on throwing strikes and attacking hitters. When he's in the zone, the sky is the limit.
During his junior season at Barrington, Gosswein was 5-0 with a 0.97 ERA. He slipped a bit as a senior but never lost confidence.
Broncos coach Pat Wire remembers first seeing Gosswein at a Barrington baseball freshman camp.
"I could tell we probably had a high level Division 1 baseball player," Wire said. "He and his (twin) brother (Blake), very talented. With Brooks, we could just tell there was something special. Clearly, he could throw hard and ultimately, it ended up panning out very well for him."
As he's been showing this season, Gosswein has not even come close to realizing his full potential.
Reliable relief pitchers typically have the fastest path to the major leagues, and Gosswein fits that profile.
"For me, I just kind of take what they give me, whether it's starting, piggy-backing or relieving," Gosswein said. "Just try to do my best every time I'm out there. I'm not super concerned with what position I'm in, you're going to have to do your job no matter what. I think it's definitely huge I've kind of proven I'm able to do many different roles."
An obvious question for Gosswein is - who did he grow up rooting for, the White Sox or Cubs?
"My parents (James and Ellen) grew up in Chicago, my mom right outside in Park Ridge," he said. "My dad was a die-hard Cubs fans. But with that, we've never been completely one-sided. I know a lot of people in the city are Cubs or White Sox but quite honestly the way we've looked at it is, 'Hey, they're in different leagues.'
"Sure, if they played each other we were kind of leaning more Cubs. But I tell people all the time, in 2005 when the Sox won it all, we were watching all the games and were super excited. To me, I always liked both teams. Maybe leaned a little more to the Cubs, but it was awesome to be drafted by your hometown team. Obviously now, we're completely White Sox."