Round 18, Pick 538: Thomas Koehler | RHP, SUNY Stony Brook | SIGNED

[JJ]

[!NICK!]

4.15 ERA 111 Ks in 93.1 innings.

[Ralph]

6'4" 247

Pretty big guy.

[markotsay7]

Player Bio: Tom Koehler :: Baseball

[markotsay7]

My buddy was on the baseball team at Stony Brook. Trying to get some info on Koehler from him.

[markotsay7]

Originally Posted by markotsay7 My buddy was on the baseball team at Stony Brook. Trying to get some info on Koehler from him.

Text from my friend: "Good shit a lotta potential once he gets a good pitching coach and a legit strength and cond program"

[markotsay7]

Also from my friend: "Yeah...once he loses a lil more weight he'll be set"

[Marlins#1]

Tom Koehler: Former New Rochelle star maturing on mound | lohud.com | The Journal News

[Hugg]

Baseball America

Tom Koehler, who has improved his stock as a senior by getting his body into much better shape. Koehler has always had good stuff and ran his fastball up to 94 as a junior, but scouts shied away from him because of his weight, and he went undrafted. He worked hard to firm up his body in the offseason and lost 35-40 pounds, and he anchored Stony Brook's America East-championship pitching staff this spring, going 6-5, 4.15 with 111 strikeouts and 45 walks in 93 innings. He works in the 92-94 range with a sinking, average to plus fastball, and he pitches off it well. His slider is a plus pitch at times, and he mixes in a promising changeup with some tumble. He'll flash a good overhand curveball, but other times he'll throw a flat one. His arm action has some funk, with a wrap in the back that affects his command, but with a 6-foot-3, 235-pound frame, he has a chance to be a workhorse if he can keep his body in shape.

[markotsay7]

This time, Tom Koehler was sure the phone would ring. He wasn't quite ready to pitch at the professional level after high school, and he was carrying a little too much weight after his junior year of college. But on this draft day, the third he had nervously sat through in five years, Koehler knew an organization would bite. Still, when the call finally came, he couldn't help but leap from the chair in his basement and jump up and down, screaming like a child. Koehler had finally accomplished his lifelong goal. And nobody was there to share the moment with him. "My mom was at work; my dad was running errands with my sister," Koehler said. "I thought I was dreaming. I guess we didn't want to make a big deal about it." No party. Little fanfare. Just a collective Koehler family sigh of relief that the third time really was the charm. After being passed on twice before, Koehler, a former New Rochelle and Stony Brook standout pitcher, was selected in the 18th round of the Major League Baseball first-year draft by the Florida Marlins last month. He is currently playing with the Jamestown Jammers, Florida's Single-A affiliate in Jamestown, N.Y., where he is 1-1 with a 2.95 ERA in 18 1/3 innings of work. "It was excitement; it was relief; it was a weight off my chest," Koehler said. "It was what I always wanted to do." Koehler has been a pro prospect since high school, armed with a low-90s fastball and two hard breaking pitches. The big-bodied, 6-foot-3 right-hander never had trouble striking batters out. In his junior season at Stony Brook, Koehler led the America East Conference in innings (85) and strikeouts (87) but finished the year a disappointing 5-8 with a 4.98 ERA. The velocity and stuff were there, not the consistency. Koehler still thought he could get drafted, his repertoire enticing enough to counteract mediocre statistics. It didn't happen, though, sparking a major turning point in his career. "At an immature time, he could have packed it in," Stony Brook coach Matt Senk said. "At a mature time, he handled it the way he did. He got extremely introspective. He wanted to know why and handled it the right way." Koehler's conditioning had scared teams away. With his large frame, his weight made him risky. He met with the Stony Brook strength coach, agreeing to undergo a rigid diet and training program that would burn fat without taking anything off his fastball. The leaner Koehler once again led the America East in innings (93 1/3 ) and strikeouts (111), while shedding his ERA down to 4.15. That was the Koehler major-league teams wanted. Koehler, now 235 pounds according to Stony Brook, would not share how much weight he lost but said it was a key reason for his improvement this spring. "He's a big-framed-body guy, but professional baseball is a whole other world of conditioning, and we've seen his competitiveness," Jammers manager Darin Everson said. "If he keeps going the way he is, he'll make our decisions about his future easier." Now Koehler faces the challenge of climbing the minor-league ladder, hoping to pitch for the Marlins one day. Senk said Koehler has big-league potential, but Everson has not yet started projecting Koehler's future. For now, Koehler is happy to be pitching in Jamestown while waiting for another call - a call up to the next level. "I'm just thinking about each pitch, each batter, each inning," Koehler said. "Right now, I'm a Jamestown Jammer, and that's who I have to get outs for. If it happens, it happens."

Tom Koehler: Marlins give former New Rochelle pitcher his chance | lohud.com | The Journal News