Padres lefty Gore makes professional debut

He probably won't step onto a Major League field for several years, but MacKenzie Gore took the first step toward that goal on Monday night in Arizona.
The third overall selection by San Diego in this year's Major League First-Year Player Draft made his professional debut with two scoreless innings for the the Rookie-level Arizona League Padres. Gore allowed one hit, walked one and struck out two in the 7-6 victory over the AZL Royals.

The Padres selected Gore with the first of two picks in the Draft's top 40 this year. The Whiteville, North Carolina high school product was MLB Pipeline's fourth-rated overall talent heading into the Draft.
"The athleticism, ease of operation, arm angle jump off the table at you," Padres scouting director Mark Conner said after his selection on June 13. "As you start watching, the competitor comes out more and more. He's easy to fall in love with."
Gore has four above-average pitches, according to MLB.com's grades on the 20-to-80 scouting scale. The former prep lefty's fastball, labeled as a 65, checks in at his best pitch. Gore's heater reportedly reached 97 mph during his senior season in high school, a year after a campaign in which he went 12-1 with an 0.08 ERA and 174 strikeouts in 83 1/3 innings. The 18-year-old also throws a curveball, the best of his secondary offerings, along with a slider and a changeup.
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"It all started by getting in the weight room in the fall, putting on about 15 pounds and getting a lot stronger," Gore told MLB.com the day he was drafted. "That's kind of where the velocity came from. The breaking stuff, I got more consistent with it and really worked on it in games when I started throwing. Now, I feel like I can throw it any time in the count."
"We felt like he was as talented as any left-handed high school pitching prospect that we've seen over the course of the last 10 years," Padres general manager A.J. Preller said in June.
Gore was committed to East Carolina, but received a San Diego franchise-record $6.7 million signing bonus on June 23.