North Allegheny’s Cole Young projected as 1st-round pick in MLB Draft

By: Chris Harlan
Sunday, February 13, 2022 | 11:01 AM

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Cole Young has a Twitter account, so the North Allegheny senior usually notices whenever someone publishes a new MLB mock draft or an updated list of high school baseball prospects.

His name gets mentioned often nowadays.

“It’s always fun reading it to see what some people say,” said Young, a left-handed hitting shortstop and a likely first-round draft pick this summer. “It’s cool to see. I’m trying to enjoy the whole process, because you only get to experience it one or two times.”

With baseball season just around the corner, his name appeared a few more times in recent days. For him, it’s likely a preview of the months ahead as the buzz around Young’s draft stock is sure to increase.

Baseball America named him a preseason high school All-American on Monday, which was three days after MaxPreps listed him as one of the top 10 high school prospects for the 2022 draft.

“An athletic fielder with a strong arm, Young first burst onto the scene when he was the national MLB Pitch, Hit and Run champion in 2014,” the MaxPreps analysis said. “He has continued to rise in the recruiting rankings ever since to the point where he ranks as one of the top two infielders in the nation.”

The latest Baseball America mock draft published Thursday has the Detroit Tigers selecting Young with the 12th overall pick. The recognition is appreciated, Young said, but he hasn’t dwelled on it.

“Everyone’s going to have their own opinion,” he said. “Honestly, for me, it doesn’t really matter. I just keep working hard and don’t really listen to that stuff because nothing is guaranteed.”

As a 10-year-old, he won his age group at the 2014 MLB Pitch, Hit and Run finals in Minneapolis, so he’s carried around lofty expectations for awhile.

Young started at shortstop as a freshman at North Allegheny and again earned national recognition before his sophomore season when Rawlings/Perfect Game named him to their preseason underclassman All-American team.

The MLB Draft was always a far-off dream for him, but suddenly that reality is only several months away. MLB hasn’t yet set a date for the draft, but last year’s was in July.

“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.”

But before draft day arrives, the Duke commit hopes to celebrate another WPIAL Class 6A title and also add the state championship that escaped him and his teammates last spring. Young batted .437 a year ago with 33 runs, 23 RBIs and 14 extra-base hits. He struck out only five times in 101 plate appearances.

Yet, he says he hasn’t forgotten his last at-bat of his junior year, a game-ending popup in the state finals, when NA lost to LaSalle College, 2-1.

“The main goal is to win a state championship,” he said, “because we were so close last year.”

WPIAL teams start official practices March 7 with season openers March 25.

Young already has heard from a number of scouts, saying it’s probably more than 10. MLB teams like Young’s glove as much as his bat. He turned 12 double plays a year ago and had a .952 fielding percentage with five errors in 105 chances at North Allegheny.

In the summers, Young plays for the Canes, a travel team based in Virginia. He was among 39 players selected last July for a national all-star game at Coors Field in Denver.

“Cole has a knack for the barrel, a future plus hitter but doesn’t project to hit for power. He needs to get stronger, but runs well and can defend,” wrote Baseball America in its latest mock draft.

At 6 feet and 185 pounds, Young said he understands he might not fit the power-hitter image some baseball fans might have for a high school kid with first-round talent.

He’s OK with that.

“People have this idea that if this kid is going to get drafted out of high school, he must be 6-3 and 225 or whatever,” Young said. “But the thing I’ve realized is everyone is different. It’s just about finding what you’re good at and keep working on that.

“I’m not trying to be Aaron Judge or someone like that. Know yourself, focus on you and don’t compare yourself to others.”

Young spent time this offseason focused on getting stronger with trainer Frank Velasquez, the director of sports performance at Allegheny Health Network. He has worked with Velasquez for several years.

AHN has a sports-oriented facility in Wexford, and at times Young has shared it with former Mars pitcher Will Bednar, a first-round pick last summer.

If Young follows as a first-rounder, he will be the sixth player from the WPIAL to earn that honor in the past eight years. He would join Bednar (2021), West Allegheny’s Austin Hendrick (2020), Blackhawk’s Brendan McKay (2017), Plum’s Alex Kirilloff (2016) and Mt. Lebanon’s Ian Happ (2015).

Hendrick and Kirilloff were first-round picks straight from high school. The others were drafted in college.

Young hasn’t decided whether he’ll add an agent as an advisor but said he probably will. However, in the weeks ahead, fielding grounders and hitting in the cage are also high on his to-do list.

“I’m challenging myself on and off the field,” he said, “making sure I’m doing the things to put myself in a position to succeed.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: North Allegheny