GDC Scout Blog: Week 2 (hitters)
March 1, 2023
Etowah
2026, OF/IF, Deion Cole, Etowah
Uncommitted. 6-foot-1, 190 pounds. In the past 10 years of scouting this area, very few players have shown me this advanced of a bat as a freshman. Good news for Deion, all of those players are currently in the big leagues. Every time I write up Deion Cole, I have to constantly remind myself not to produce a book on his perfect swing mechanics. It’s probably one of the hardest things to do, as these swing mechanics are generational and he is on a completely different level than 99% of HS hitters with sequence, timing, and torque. The ease of effort begins with his smooth forward move created by the lower half. His smooth leg kick allows the hips to roll forward automatically, creating effortless momentum in the lower half at landing for the hands+upper half to lever against. He coils in stride gradually, with perfect fluidity in the hands. As you’ll see with Deion, the hands never come to a complete pause. His timing is so elite that as soon as the front foot strikes, the hands are thrown in perfect harmony. When he gets a breaking ball (happens a lot) the hands will decelerate to get on time, but they never come to a complete stop. This is the mark of a future good hitter, with great timing. It was encouraging to see him playing 2B, as this is yet another position he looks natural at defensively. We are used to seeing him as a CF, but due to his current actions in the IF I have no doubt he can handle 2B or 3B with relative ease in the future. Sadly we did not get his 102 EV HR on film, but he’s a near guarantee for 2 barrels a game so it’s easy to get good film on him. We could not be more excited or privileged to be able to cover this future star for 4 more years before he takes the game by storm.
‘26 OF Deion Cole (@EtowahBaseball)
— Justin Goetz (@JGoetzPBR) February 25, 2023
Yes he had a pull side 102 EV 💣 last night, but this swing might be even more beautiful. Smoothest, most well sequenced forward move in the class. The timing doesn’t get more precise.@PBRGeorgia @ShooterHunt pic.twitter.com/im37fjAvmD