Alex Swenson, a former D1 coach, breaks down what college scouts want in a high-school shortstop: elite athleticism, reliable defense, arm strength, and speed under 6.9 seconds in the 60-yard dash. He uses Cade, a prospect committed to Wofford, as an example of the profile.
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Hey, team Alex here. Thanks for joining me. In today's episode, we're going to be talking about what Does a Division 1 shortstop look like in high school? You could also say it as what does a Division 1 commit look like in high school? And the reason I am talking about this is to help you understand what these college coaches are looking for. What are the tools and intangibles they're looking for in a shortstop? I've also done one of these for pitchers, righties and lefties and, and catchers as well. So if you're interested in that, go back and take a look at those episodes. But also to help you understand what you need to work on. There's always areas we can improve and get better on. And understanding what these college coaches are looking for so you can improve it and so they can become attractive to these college coaches will be important. So if you're new to my channel, my name is Alex Swinson. I'm A former Division 1 college baseball coach, scout and recruiter with 11 years of experience. And now what I do is help high school baseball players and their parents navigate this recruiting process and really help them find the best college fit. So if there's anything that you get away from this video or if you're on the podcast, please smash that like, button and subscribe. So you guys can get my weekly episodes as I release them. That's going to help you again go through this process. With that said, let's go on and dive in and take a look at what a Division 1 shortstop looks like. And you could also, hey, what these college coaches are looking for, the first thing is athleticism, alright? Shortstops are super athletic. They're usually and typically the most athletic players on the field who could probably compete with that is the center fielders. They're super athletic as well. But what makes a shortstop athletic, it's their feet. Feet, it's their hands, it's their range, how smooth they are. And what does athleticism really do for a scout? It's projectable, right? They project how good you're going to be. And if you have that base layer of athleticism, they are projecting that you're only going to get better with more skill, work with more confidence as you go through that. So typically Division 1 shortstops in high school are super, super athletic. They're also very reliable defensively. They can make the routine plays, but they also can make the hard plays. That's really what separates the shortstops at the next level is they can make that play in the Hole, they can make that play up the middle and they have that range, if you will, in the arm to get the ball over to first place. And their hands and feet are very good. You're going to take a look at Cade again. This video we're about to watch of a shortstop who's a current high school player right now that's committed to a Division 1 school. And he has very good hands, very good feet, he's super athletic. He has good range. We're going to see that in the video. And again, as I mentioned, good in the hole. That backhand is a big deciding factor. If you can play that position and up the middle as well. If you can get to that ball arm across the diamond, it's good. Arm doesn't have to necessarily be elite. If it's elite, that's fantastic, okay? But it needs to be strong enough where you can make a play in the hole, you can make a play up the middle and get it over to first place. There's been plenty of shortstops that had very average arms, average to above and that are very, very good defenders as far as shortstops, if you will. But then of course, we see the elite arms and that's only a plus up the middle. If you have an elite arm and you're a good defender, man, that's a weapon right there. And then as far as speed, very good speed. Six, nine and below, again, just overall, the most athletic kid on the field. So From a Division 1 standpoint, usually 6, 9 and below is what the shortstops are going to be running. And by the way, all the way up to this point is what every level is looking for. All right? It's super athletic, good defender and good hands, good range. Whether it's D1, D2, D3, NAI and JUCO, that's what you're looking for. Now, as far as speed, this is where it can kind of fluctuate. So division one is again, six, nine and below. And then in division two is around. A lot of guys are coming in six, nine, but it can be up to seven. And then division three, you know, Nai Juco can be in that seven, one, seven twos. Although plenty of guys are running and are super fast up the middle as we go. But this is where it kind of starts changing depending on the levels. Also a good hitter, Very good hitter. Hitability is high, so we're looking for high average doubles, things like that. And power. If we have power, some power is good. We kind of want some. Some power, but it doesn't need to be elite power, doesn't need to be a first baseman power or even like a third baseman power. But if you do that is fantastic. That is only a plus. So that is what a Division 1 shortstop looks like. Now let's take a look at a video and again, if you're on the podcast, come on over to YouTube and take a look at this. But I want to take a look at Cade here. So we're going to take a look. He's going to run, he's going to hit and he's going to field and we're going to talk a little bit about this. Okay? He runs a really. He runs well. He runs I think as low as up to this point. He's 69 2, so. And he's super physical. He looks good. So this is something that I didn't put on my last slide, but physical body. All right. Athletic and physical body. He's a left handed bat. That's only a plus. Very simple, not a lot going on which is a plus. Good hand speed and bat speed went oppo right there too. He's not all pool. Went up the middle there. Very good Here again, good hands, good lower half. Very, very good. Again, the lefty is a plus. There's only 10% of the population's lefty, so. And only a certain percentage of those are playing baseball. Now let's take a look again. Like the body gets down, down low in his fielding, gets kind of low towards the ball. He doesn't stand up. He isn't high up when he feels the ball. This is that backhand. Got to it. Got it over. You can see by the trajectory of the ball that it got to first base. Super athletic. Hands are good. Feet are good. Athletic up the middle to second base. Works through the bag. Good whip. He has a lot of leverage with his body. Super athletic here. So all around that is what a Division 1 shortstop looks like. And I'm excited for his career is going to Wofford, a school in South Carolina. Good academic school and a good baseball school. Good mid major. But again, that visually is what a Division 1 shortstop looks like. So hopefully you took something away that's going to help you move forward and help you improve at the shortstop position if you can. If you got anything from this video, please smash that like button and subscribe to the podcast as well and I will see you in the next video. Take care.
