Cole
Sands

 
5/24/15 - trong athletic body with a good delivery that is repeatable. High ¾ slot with a loose easy quick arm. FB was 88-92 and downhill. Has a solid avg 3 pitch mix that he can throw for strikes. Wasn’t his best outing but I don’t think he hurt himself. I’ve seen him up to 94 with a plus breaking ball. Appeared to be getting his FB up in the zone and working around his SL at 83-84 mph. I still see him as a good draft.

5/20/15 - North Florida Christian HS – Strong athletic body with a good delivery that is repeatable. High ¾ slot with a loose easy quick arm. FB was 88-92 and downhill. Has a solid avg 3 pitch mix that he can throw for strikes. Wasn’t his best outing but I don’t think he hurt himself. I’ve seen him up to 94 with a plus breaking ball. Appeared to be getting his FB up in the zone and working around his SL at 83-84 mph. I still see him as a good draft.

2/7/15 - FSU commit. 6-foot-3, 205 pound right hander with a tall strong athletic build with a strong lower half. In his windup he steps straight back, his hands go over his head, his arm goes back in line with second base and he lands in line to home plate. High energy aggressive guy that works fast. Doesn’t always stay over the rubber long enough and occasionally leaves his arm behind and gets ball up in the zone. He attacks the zone with his fastball at a high ¾ arm angle at 88-92 MPH and touching 94 MPH. He was throwing a circle changeup in the bullpen but didn't throw it in the game. His breaking ball was hard at 84-85 MPH and had slurve action to it Was getting around it. Struggled to throw it for strikes consistently. Against Aucilla Christian he threw three innings and gave up four runs on three hits and struck out four. He has a good fastball that he keeps down in the zone, nedds to fine tune secondary stuff.

RHP/3B Cole Sands (NFC). Sands has an athletic 6-foot-3, 200 pound frame. On the mound, the big RHP/3B fastball has been clocked at  90-92 mph from a high 3/4 arm slot. The projectable Sands throws a sweeping curveball as well as a developing change up. Cole played along side his older brother Carson (2014) at North Florida Christian HS. Carson was a LHP fourth round pick of the Chicago Cubs. Cole Sands has committed to Florida State University. Will be a good 2015 draft.

4/11/18 - 6’3/220, Junior. Strong, athletic bodied righty with a full, over-the-head windup delivery from the first base side of the rubber. Loose arm with clean path to a three-quarters slot. Lands on-line, some head snap at ball release with average extension out front. Good arm speed. Fair use of his lower half in his delivery. Saw one of his better overall career outings, yet did not see one of his best “stuff” starts. Threw 113 pitches and tied a career high with seven innings pitched while coming within one of his career high for strikeouts with eight. Mixed three pitches for strikes. Located an 89-93 mph fastball to both sides of the plate with tailing action to his arm side and some sink when down in the zone. Struck out three batters with the pitch. Induced three more strikeouts with his fading 79-82 mph circle changeup. All changeups were thrown to his armside, and all three strikeouts were to the same left handed batter. Overall, he used the changeup very effectively against a left handed dominant Georgia Tech lineup. Third pitch was a fringy curveball at 75-78 mph which played up as he repeated it for strikes. Showed some ability to sequence his pitches going fastball inside and changeup away to several left handed hitters. Held runners by mixing a 1.05 second slide step with a 1.33-1.38 normal stretch time to the plate. On this day he showed back end starter stuff and pitchability, more resembling a third round type of prospect. However, it’s the total package, both with stuff and performance, throughout this season and past seasons that should be considered more than just one look. He showed bigger velocity earlier this spring and may return to those levels later this season. Down the road after a few seasons in professional baseball, he may even convert to the bullpen where his velocity could tick up and his stuff play up. Depending upon when a scouting director sees him, or how well a trusted area scout sees him several times, Sands could end up being selected towards the top of the second round, possibly as high as the Compensation/Competitive Balance A rounds.

2/22/18 - Overcame a two-run first inning to settle down and pitch a good game, ending with four scoreless. FB sat 92-96, touching 97 and sitting on 94 in the 4th. Mixed in a low-80s breaking ball for strikes. Showed good feel for his change-up. Overall, a very good outing, showing improvement in many areas.