Unlikely Brewers pitching prospect is opening a lot of eyes down at spring training

Everyone loves an underdog story, especially in the sport of baseball. While there is no shortage of guys with prospect pedigree showing out as professionals, the list of guys who legitimately came out of nowhere to become big league contributors is pretty short. However, the Milwaukee Brewers may have found such a player in RHP Jack Hostetler.

You are forgiven if you had no idea who Hostetler was until now. He doesn't appear on any Brewers prospect rankings (yet) and wasn't even picked by the team in the draft out of Whitman College as he signed as a nondrafted free agent. Not exactly the profile of a guy that is going to create some buzz especially without any data from the minor leagues to look at.

However, Hostetler is quickly becoming a name to keep an eye on as his performance in spring training could have him on the fast track to joining some elite company.

Undrafted Brewers prospect Jack Hostetler is making a name for himself in camp

Not being drafted is not a death sentence for a player's career, but it does make things a lot harder. There have been nondrafted success stories in MLB including Larry Walker, Bobby Bonilla, Kevin Mitchell, and Bruce Sutter, but having a team invest a pick in a guy definitely helps a player's argument that their organization should invest some effort into their development.

Fortunately for Hostetler, it seems like Milwaukee knows they were likely to find this diamond in the rough. Hostetler's fastball is a mid-90's offering with a lot of movement that gets swing and miss and a lot of weak contact. His slider and changeup are behind the heater, but still appear to be offerings that could improve with some coaching. As Brewers farm director Tom Flanagan said, "He has quick at-bats, always on the attack. He knows his stuff is good and makes short work of the hitters he’s faced.”

Time will tell if Hostetler will become the latest undervalued player that Milwaukee gets rewarded for taking a bit of a gamble on. Players from small colleges can be tough to project as prospects, but we will see Hostetler in the Spring Breakout game on March 16. If he performs well in that, the Brewers' little secret may not be a secret much longer.

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