Tommy Mace
RHP 6-6 225 Florida
2020 Florida stat line - 4-G, 4-starts, 3-0, 1.67, 0.96, 27-IP, 26-K
Tommy Mace, RHP, University of Florida
It was expected that Mace would sign in the 2020 draft, but he ultimately didn’t get the offer he was looking for and opted to go back to Florida to try to further improve his stock. At 6’7” with a big fastball, Mace has been on the radar for awhile, and while he’s been a solid performer for the Gators his statistical profile has never quite lined up with what scouts thought was possible for him at the college level. While he’s already a big guy, Mace still has some room to grow into his body, and there’s potential for his mid-90s heater to get even firmer at maturity.
Mace has very pretty delivery that produces good location, and a deep arsenal to go with it. While he’s a fastball first hurler, Mace also brings a pair of breaking balls and a changeup to the mound. His biggest issue to date has been difficulty missing bats, as his heater doesn’t have a ton of movement and his offspeed offerings tend to produce more weak contact than whiffs, with his strikeout totals at UF being a bit underwhelming. If Mace is able to tweak the spin axis on his fastball to create better life, or find a new angle on one of his offspeed pitches, he could begin to look like a mid-rotation arm, but for now he looks like a safe, solid #4 starter type.
3. RHP Tommy Mace, Florida
Bat: R. Throw: R. 6’6″, 225 lbs. Born 11/11/1998. Hometown: Tampa, FL
2018-2020: 16-5, 4.37 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 145/55 K/BB in 179.1 IP.
Man, have I written about Tommy Mace a lot lately. Like so many names before him on this list, he was a very well-known draft prospect coming out of high school in 2017, but he opted to bet on his extreme projectability and head to Florida instead. Mace’s time in Gainesville has been a mixed bag so far, as he’s proven his durability and command but has not yet taken the “leap forward” that scouts have been hoping for. After putting up a 4.84 ERA and a decent 17.4% strikeout rate over his first two years, he jumped out to a 1.67 ERA and a 24.1% strikeout rate over four starts in 2020, so he priced himself out of a possible second round selection to bet on himself once more. The Top member of the 2020 College Class to return to school, he immediately becomes the top senior-aged member of the 2021 class.
Mace’s fastball sits in the low 90’s and can hit 96, though it can be very straight and easy to pick up at times despite its solid velocity, so scouts would still like to see it tick up a little farther and get into the 94-95 range more often. He never really developed a true breaking ball, instead relying on a cutterish short slider that can be above average and miss barrels effectively. Mace’s changeup is solid average, giving him three pitches to work with, and his solid average to at times above average command makes it play up. His track record of filling up the strike zone really helps his stock as scouts wait for his stuff to tick up, though he’s set to turn 22 in November and without that tick up in 2021, he will project more as a #4 starter than a higher ceiling mid-rotation guy.
Tommy Mace (@GatorsBB) has been looking as sharp as ever this summer. FB 93-96. CT is the real difference maker in lo-90's. Sweeping CB @ 78-80. Has added some good weight and filled out what has always been a proj frame. #MLBDraft pic.twitter.com/vr3HZEsscp
— Kyler Peterson (@KPeterson813) July 17, 2020
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