North Allegheny High School shortstop Cole Young on the Red Sox draft radar?
Young has been compared to a current MLB All-Star infielder
The 2022 MLB Draft will be here before we know it and there has been a ton of speculation as to who the Red Sox will select. Boston holds the No. 24 overall pick in the first round, which is the latest chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom has picked during his tenure leading the front office.
The Red Sox will look for tremendous value with the No. 24 overall selection. Bloom has selected infielders with his last two first round picks in Nick Yorke and Marcelo Mayer.
Could he draft another infielder in the first round?
According to a mock draft from Baseball America, Boston could target high school shortstop Cole Young out of North Allegheny High School in Wexford, Pa.
MLB Pipeline has Young listed as their 18th best prospect heading into the draft. Young is said to have “impressive bat-to-ball skills from the left side of the plate.”
“He doesn’t swing and miss much, doesn’t look overmatched against velocity and shows the ability to use the whole field. While he’s not a huge power guy, there is some impact here, with gap power,” per MLB Pipeline.
Baseball America has Young as the best pure hitter in the draft class after fellow prospect Termarr Johnson.
The 6-foot, 170 pounds left-handed swinging Young projects to hit for both average and power at the professional level.
Young is a slick fielder and offers a good arm. Again, scouts are enamored with his approach at the plate more so than his ability in the field.
No matter what the experts say about Young, the infielder is enjoying the process and loves reading what people say about him leading to the draft.
“It’s always fun reading it to see what some people say,” said Young in an article for Trib Live. “It’s cool to see. I’m trying to enjoy the whole process, because you only get to experience it one or two times.”
Young has also committed to Duke but is focused on wrapping up his senior season.
“It honestly feels like I time traveled from ninth grade to right now,” Young said. “It feels really weird. I can remember in ninth grade I said senior year is so far away. And then the next thing you know, it’s here.”
One comp that keeps coming up in research about Young is he compares to current Mariners infielder Adam Frazier. “The Duke recruit has received comps to left-handed hitting infielders like Adam Frazier, with more extra-base impact and a better chance to stick at short, and former first-rounder Stephen Drew,” per MLB Pipeline.
“One of the top middle infielders in the 2022 class. Pretty complete profile. Young checks a lot of boxes scouts want to see. A low chase rate, a low whiff rate, and tempered swinging strike rate. It’s a very polished profile that projects to stick at shortstop and hit for average and defend well. Some Adam Frazier in this profile,” per Prospects Live.
If Bloom selects Young he will join a really good group of infielders in the Red Sox system. Mayer and Yorke already are top prospects within baseball. With the acquisition of Alex Binelas and the continued development of Blaze Jordan, Young would add another potential top prospect within the organization.
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