Goss has one of the better sliders in the high school ranks. MLB.com rank Goss at #44 in their draft prospect list (with Matthews at #36), and highlights his low-80s curve with late bite and his “good feel for a changeup.”

While Thompson is more highly regarded, Goss actually out-pitched him last spring [2018].

Continuing the comparison with his mound mate, MLB.com opines, “Goss isn’t as athletic as Thompson but repeats his delivery well and owns better present command. He has a quick, whippy arm that works well, though his arm action does get long in back. He should be able to hold up as a pro starter once he adds some strength.”

And, “Goss usually operated at 90-92 mph with his fastball, though he has reached 95 mph and should deal in the mid-90s more regularly once he fills out his very projectable 6-foot-3 [185-pound] frame. He doesn’t currently throw as hard as Thompson does, but both of Goss’ secondary pitches are better than his teammate’s.”

Perfect Game adds that Goss “gets downhill from a high 3/4’s arm slot, [has a] fast arm with very good extension, stays on line well.”

Goss’s arm is so strong that it has allowed the Mustangs to utilize their ace as an outfield asset in the last couple of seasons.

Cookin’ With Goss

In his three years at Cy Ranch, Goss has amassed 123 innings pitched (11 starts, 24 appearances, four shutouts), and has used them to cobble together a minuscule 1.08 ERA, a decisive 17-2 record, and a dominating 12.9 K/9 and 6.07 K/BB ratio, with a .143 batting average against.

“I lean [heavily] on my fastball and slider,” Goss revealed to the Baseball Prospect Journal recently. “Those pitches are almost neck and neck with my confidence in throwing them. I’ve been working on my changeup and being able to locate it and get the feel for it.”

Referencing his slider, Goss kept it short and sweet: “I just grip it and rip it, I say. I throw it with a lot of confidence and in any count. I throw it for a strike, and it’s one of the pitches I lean on probably 80 percent of the time.”

Texas A&M recruiting coordinator and assistant coach, Justin Seely, weighed in on Goss, recently: “JJ has always been a strike thrower with great feel for secondary. Now, he is getting stronger and his stuff and velocity have taken another step. He is very advanced for his age.”

As for which team might select him in the June draft, even if it’s his hometown Astros, whose ace, Justin Verlander is an inspiration, Goss waxed philosophical: “I just take it a game at a time. I know it’s in the future.

“Whatever happens with that is a whole other discussion with me and my family. But I take it [a] game at a time. I know the scouts are there, but I try not to let that get to me.”