Mike Mulligan and Marshall Harris were joined by Florida State University baseball head coach Link Jarrett to share a scouting report on Seminoles third baseman Cam Smith, whom the Cubs selected at No. 14 overall in the MLB Draft on Sunday.
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00:00One thing I will tell you about Cam, the it factor, and the presence, and the smile, and the personality, and the quality of the human being, as good as I've ever been around.
00:10So, that's where I'll start with him. And, you know, looking at these kids that all dream of walking onto our field at Florida State and playing in this stadium and experiencing this,
00:21that's what they want to become. And he, and other players on our team, they elevated the reach and the interaction with the fans. So, when I say he has it, you guys are getting the face, and the presence, and the smile, and the star power on top of an exceptional talent.
00:48That's perfect.
00:50That's what we call a ringing endorsement, I guess.
00:53Yeah, you know, and here's how it is in our sport, and I dealt with it last night, and right now, like the draft, we signed 23 players. We signed 23 players to come in this year, and then when you watch this unfold with the draft, you don't end up with 23.
01:14He had that opportunity out of high school and chose to come here, but because of his age, he only got to stay in our program for two years. So, he was a draft eligible sophomore, which is a little unusual, you know, selfishly as a coach, to have him one more year and watch the development.
01:33If you look at what he was able to do, no freshman, very few, are equipped to handle stepping in to play this level of baseball as freshmen, and he made strides and had some learning that he had to do and improve to come into this year, following a good summer in the Cape Cod League, to come back and perform the way he performed and make adjustments.
01:57I had not seen a hitter in that short period of time. We're just talking about a year. Pitch recognition, plate discipline, that's the biggest improvement that he made. He simplified his swing.
02:11I work with the infielder, so every day when we're training and practicing and doing our things, like watching him mature and learn how to play third base, it is rare that infielders coming into college or even in some cases into professional baseball are going to play the position they play.
02:27They usually play shortstop, most of them do, and then they go to third, somebody goes to shortstop, somebody ends up in the outfield, but he had never played third. So having those seasons to groom and learn, I just saw him continue to mature as he did at the plate and the power to right field and right center field and staying on the ball, exceptional.
02:49You go back and you look at guys. I didn't know a lot about him before he was taken, but certainly studied up on him. You talk to people and they tell you that he's got a chance to be a third baseman, a slugging third baseman, because obviously you want that out of third base.
03:08You mentioned the Cape Cod League. He did a great job. They love when a guy kind of takes over the Cape Cod League, and that's a really good test for someone and a good way of projecting how they're going to do once you draft them.
03:25It is. You play basically every day in college. We can't play every day. We have academic commitments, and by not playing every day, we do get a chance to practice. I talked to our strength coach last week. We lifted 132 times. Pretty intense weightlifting.
03:42The physical development, the practice, we get that during our college calendar. In the Cape, it's a little bit harder to do that because you're playing every day. You're swinging a wood bat. Professional baseball really likes to look at how players handle that atmosphere, and he clearly excelled there.
04:02Having done that, to come back and use the aluminum bat. Again, the aluminum bat goes through phases. Right now, I think our ball is a little hotter than it was 10 years ago, but I think the bat is not as hot. The aluminum bat does change things for you, but it doesn't change it as much as it once did.
04:22Just an incredible year. I talk about the makeup and the character and the personality and the smile, but if you dig into some of the big hits and the games and the big plays he made, there's a fire in there that you don't see.
04:36As happy and personable as he is, when it's time to go, Cam competes, and you can see some of the big home runs and the way he reacts and running the bases. There's an intensity there that you have to have if you're going to play this game every day at the professional level. You have to have that fire because it's very grueling, and he's got it.