CJ
Garrett

Garrett has been a name generating some buzz amongst baseball people I know in the area, and has been a name I’ve been told several times I needed to get my own eyes on. Now having my chance to see the talented up the middle profile athlete for the first time, I can confidently say that the buzz was right. Built similarly to his sophomore counterpart, Swafford, but hitting from the RH side, there are some comps between the two in terms of the actions they move with athletically, the presence of bat speed in their swing, the length the barrel stays in the zone for, and a defensive home that will stay in the middle of the diamond. In his first at bat Garrett attacked an early count FB from the Loyola southpaw and drilled a line drive down the LF line just foul before missing under a CHG later in the count, but the strength in his frame helped loft the ball into shallow RF where it fell for a single, Garrett attempted to push it from a flared single into a hustle double, but was gunned down on a excellent throw from the Loyola outfielder. His second plate appearance resulted in a strikeout, but again, Garrett just missed extra bases when he stung a line drive down the LF line that one-hopped the fence about five feet foul. His defensive showing in CF during INF/OF was the extent of what I got to see from Garrett on the day defensively, but the running actions are athletic with burst, he plays the ball with body control, and his throws carry with accuracy on one-hop to both 3B and home plate with minimal, if any, fade to the ball flight. While there is some in-game polish necessary for Garrett to come with more time facing high-level competition, the raw tools in the profile scream future D1 potential for Garrett, and if everything develops to their potential, it could be high-level D1 baseball or potential professional baseball time in his future.