MLB Draft: Arizona RHP Owen Kramkowski (Walden Grove HS) picked by Tampa in 5th round

Kramkowski, who attended Walden Grove High School, followed the path laid out by former teammate and fellow Tucsonan Mason White. White went from Salpointe Catholic to the UA to pro ball, coming off the board in the fourth round last year.

After missing a large chunk of his high school career because of an arm injury, Kramkowski appeared in only three games as a UA freshman in 2024. He emerged as a top-of-the-rotation starter in '25, posting a 9-6 record with a 90-18 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 92 innings.

Mirroring the Wildcats’ plight, Kramkowski didn’t enjoy as much success in '26. He finished 1-8 with a 6.13 ERA despite posting an even better K/9 rate (9.4) than the previous season (8.8).

Kramkowski has flashed a fastball that can reach the mid-to-upper 90s and got a ton of strikeouts with his slider this past season (40% miss rate per Baseball America).

One of the players scouts have compared Kramkowski to former Arizona right-hander TJ Nichols, whom the Rays took in the sixth round in 2023.

Also in the scouting reports: The strike-throwing Kramkowski sometimes catches too much of the plate. MLB.com analyst Jonathan Mayo addressed that issue on the website’s livestream after Kramkowski was picked.

“It's control over command,” Mayo said. “We always talk about command as guys who can't throw strikes. He throws a lot of strikes, but he gets hit.

"But there's an interesting combination of stuff here. It's a really heavy, sinking fastball. It's up to 98 (mph) at times. He backed up a little bit velocity-wise (this past season), although he posted every Friday for the University of Arizona. He's got a good upper-70s slider with good three-quarter tilt to it. There's a cutter that he started using more.

“He reminds a lot of scouts in the Four Corners of TJ Nichols, who's now a Rays prospect — kind of a tall and thin sinker-slider combination. There's stuff to work with there. And if they can get the command within the zone, so he can miss more bats and not allow guys to dial the ball up as much, I think there's interesting pieces here to be a potential starter.”

Kramkowski was the only Arizona player selected when the Star went to press Sunday morning. When he came off the board in the fifth round, it marked the first time the UA didn’t have a player picked in the top four rounds of the draft since 2014.

Tampa took Arizona outfielder Brendan Summerhill at the tail end of the first round last year.