A New Era in Bay Area Baseball: The 26 Draft – Gabe Gaeckle

Welcome to Part 1 of the blog series, A New Era in Bay Area Baseball: The 26 Draft. We will feature the 7 members of the #kpicrew that saw their names called in the 2026 MLB Draft.

Gabe Gaeckle – The Electric Arm

Anyone who has ever seen Gabe throw a baseball knows that the arm talent is special. It has been apparent to anyone that has watched Gabe grow up that he was destined to be a high level pitcher.

But Gabe’s path hasn’t been straight forward and his progress was not linear. What was always constant was a highly driven, intense young man that sought out a higher level of training and thinking, as he has constantly pushed those around him to push him too new heights… and he keeps reaching them.

Gabe’s Story

Gabe grew up in Aptos, CA and stayed local for most of his youth baseball career. He was a high level player at a young age and started to branch out to more regional travel ball teams as he neared high school. He started his freshman baseball campaign at Aptos HS and then Covid hit. As he emerged from Covid he was throwing very hard for an undersized freshman and he tore his UCL the Summer of 2020. He had a successful surgery and took the next year to rehab, and just like he does with everything, he dominated his rehab and was throwing in games the Summer of 2021.

Given that we were still in Covid protocols in Santa Clara County, getting Gabe’s recruitment process going was challenging. He had an inconsistent tournament schedule and there were heavy protocols in place for attendance. But Gabe was dominating the competition early that Summer and he eventually committed to a top program in the nation.

Year 2 after surgery really saw Gabe take him game to a whole other level. He came to KPI shortly after his UCLA commitment, and as you will read below, he brought his level of play to new heights through a comprehensive and systematic approach to his development.

In the Summer of 2022 Gabe was named a Perfect Game All American and was selected to the 17U USA Baseball National Prospect Development Pipeline, an honor bestowed by only the top 80 players in the nation. At this time he decided he wanted to take a new approach to his college selection, and KPI led the charge with his de-commitment from his previous school selection, and eventual commitment to the University of Arkansas.

While at Arkansas, Gabe enjoyed high level development and some of the best resources in college athletics. He thrived in this environment. During his career at Arkansas he was named a freshman all american, pre-season all american, pre-season SEC Pitcher of the Year, played in the college world series, and for the Team USA Collegiate National Team.

As Gabe college career ended after his Junior season at Arkansas, his professional career began with the Oakland A’s drafting him in the second round of the 2026 MLB Draft.

Gabe’s Journey at KPI

Gabe arrived at KPI after a successful year of rehabbing on his own and after his first college commitment. He was obviously very talented, but lacked the consistency expected of a high level pitcher, and of course, he had a major arm injury at a young age.

We took Gabe through our normal assessment process where he showed some outlier traits with low levels of mobility (not common for high level young players), he was exceptionally strong but lacked proper use of time and range of motion, and our software indicated that he had an inefficient arm path, likely contributing to his previous arm injury.

We started in on the mobility and timing of his force profile. We gave Gabe individualized, daily mobility routines to follow and he did what he does… he did the work at a high level. His lifting protocols were different than what he was used to… we needed to train his Central Nervous System to use more time and range of motion to more evenly spread out his force profile. Gabe is a classic example of why traditional, high velocity weight training can do more harm than good, as he was already very adept at producing force and moving energy, but his results were inconsistent, and with a major injury under his belt, we needed to take a more nuanced approach to his training.

We also identified an inefficient arm path that was likely a reason he experienced consistent arm soreness and inconsistent results, despite being a plus athlete and a fairly simple mover. We prescribed him individualized throwing drills, some non-traditional, and he thrived in cleaning up his path and he went from being a big arm that couldn’t command the zone, to being an efficient and strike throwing pitcher that could do what he wanted with the ball. To learn more about our throwing process with Gabe, check out the blog we wrote when he was in high school on his throwing prescriptions.

As Gabe’s performance skyrocketed after a year at KPI, we stepped in and led his new recruiting process that eventually led him to the University of Arkansas. Gabe was drawn to Arkansas because of the incredible facilities, resources, and tradition, but also because there was a dramatic amount of synergy between the modern development at Arkansas and the data-heavy approach that KPI employs. This consistent approach, along with Gabe’s constant willingness to push his development to new places, led to the path of his successful college career and eventual professional seletion.

As the 2023 draft approached during his senior season, we led Gabe through the navigation of the professional scouting world and we added and refined his pitch arsenal to make him more attractive to MLB teams. Despite having significant offers to sign professionally, Gabe made the decision to attend Arkansas and that 3-year journey has better prepared him to be a professional.

The Next Stage

KPI still assists with Gabe’s journey, as there is constant communication with him and he comes in and trains when he is home. That’s a difference at KPI… we always remain family with our family. Being a KPI OG definitely makes Gabe part of the lasting KPI family.

We are excited to watch Gabe work his way through the minor leagues and eventually get to The Show. We know his work ethic, determination, and commitment to development will drive him to see all of his dreams come true.