A RARE TREAT
West Allegheny’s Austin Hendrick likely will be the sixth player from the WPIAL to be a first-round pick
There’s no telling whether West Allegheny High School’s Austin Hendrick is excited, nervous or anxious about the upcoming Major League Baseball draft. He doesn’t talk to the media and hasn’t for months.
But Hendrick’s bat has done plenty of talking over the past couple of years, and that’s about all major league teams have needed to hear.
The MLB draft starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday, and Hendrick, a West Allegheny senior, seems to be a sure firstround pick. Just about every mock draft has Hendrick going somewhere between picks 12-20. Baseball America has Hendrick, an outfielder, going No. 16 to the Chicago Cubs while Kiley McDaniel of ESPN and CBS Sports have him going No. 12 to the Cincinnati Reds. Although the Pirates have the No. 7 pick, mock drafts do not project Hendrick going to his hometown team.
The main reason teams have a strong liking to Hendrick, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound left-handed hitter, is his power with the bat.
“You can make the argument that Hendrick is the
best power hitter in the draft … period, high school or college,” said Jonathan Mayo, senior writer and longtime draft analyst for MLB.com.
MLB.com ranks Hendrick as the No. 13 prospect for the draft. Hendrick already has signed with Mississippi State, and he could go to college if he chooses not to sign with a major league team. But that is unlikely.
Mayo, who lives in Squirrel Hill, has been scouting prospects for the draft since 2003.
“There might be a couple high school hitters who might be better pure hitters,” Mayo said. “But for bat speed, and how quick his hands are, Hendrick is unparalleled in this class. He’s the best I’ve seen in those areas in quite some time.”
Hendrick could be only the sixth WPIAL player to be selected in the first round out of high school since the MLB June draft started in 1965. The first was Mount Pleasant shortstop Bob Gorinski in 1970. The most recent was Plum outfielder Alex Kirilloff in 2016.
High school baseball season in Pennsylvania was canceled this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so Hendrick did not play a game. And although Hendrick hit only .327 at West Allegheny as a junior, he has proven himself to major league scouts elsewhere. Over the past few years, Hendrick has been impressive playing on travel teams and competing in national showcases. He won the home run derby at the Under Armour All-America Game in 2019 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.
“Would it have helped him some if he had gone out this spring and gone off in the high school season? It probably would’ve helped him a little,” Mayo said. “But scouts aren’t looking to see if he can hit a Western Pennsylvania curveball or catch up to an 85 mph fastball.”
West Allegheny baseball coach Bryan Cornell has received many calls from major league teams and scouts over the past few months.
“I’ve still been getting three or four calls a week,” Cornell said. “They just want to know what kind of teammate he is, how he’s handling all this. It’s more about what kind of kid is he?”
He’s not one to talk to the media. But Hendrick is using advisers from the company of well-known sports agent Scott Boras, and Cornell said Hendrick’s advisers have instructed him not to talk to the media. While Hendrick’s media blackout is extremely unusual for a high school athlete, Mayo said it won’t affect his draft status.
“Only if he’s being that elusive with teams,” Mayo said. “I remember talking to Bryce Harper before the draft. It was excruciating. He was super young. Then, I saw him after the draft in the Fall League and he was a different human being.”
If Hendrick is picked in the first round and decides to turn pro, he will have a rather hefty signing bonus coming his way. Draft picks have an assigned value. The top 14 picks get at least $4 million, and the top 22 get at least $3 million.
“I think he’s excited and he wants the draft to come, but he’s anxious, too,” Cornell said.
“I think he has enjoyed the process. He just misses baseball.”
“For bat speed, and how quick his hands are, Hendrick is unparalleled in this class.”
— Jonathan Mayo, MLB.com