Clemson All-ACC pick Cooper Ingle selected in MLB draft |
Clemson catcher
Cooper Ingle was picked in the fourth round of the MLB draft with the 125th overall selection by the Cleveland Guardians on Monday.
The approximate slot value for the pick is $526K. Ingle earned third-team All-ACC honors as a junior after posting a .328 batting average/.417 on-base percentage/.461 slugging percentage with 34 RBIs, 16 doubles and six home runs. He’s played in 126 games total over three seasons, logging 483 at-bats with a .329 career batting average and .476 slugging percentage. The Asheville native tallied eight homers and 44 RBIs over 54 games as a sophomore. He was the No. 1 catcher out of North Carolina and the No. 24 catcher in the nation out of high school (Perfect Game). Ingle was the highest overall draft pick by a Tiger catcher since 2016 and the first Tiger drafted by the Guardians since 2021 (Davis Sharpe) Ingle thanked Tiger fans before the draft: Dear Old Clemson, The last 3 years of my life dedicated to your great school and baseball program. To my teammates, I love and cherish every relationship we’ve built and will be everlasting. Thank you for giving the kid from Asheville a shot. Excited for what this next chapter has in store. Always proud to be a Clemson Tiger Ingle's selection is ahead of his MLB.com prospect ranking, which was No. 232. His MLB.com profile: After going 1-for-16 as a freshman in 2021, Ingle has been one of Clemson's best hitters the past two seasons. He has started games at five different positions: catcher, both outfield corners, DH and second base. Scouts love his makeup and appreciate his bat-to-ball skills, but they wonder whether he's physical enough to handle a full-time workload behind the plate. Ingle does a fine job of controlling the barrel from the left side of the plate and focuses on putting the ball in play. Just 11 percent of his swings resulted in misses this spring, including only 6 percent against fastballs. He draws a healthy amount of walks but displays little power, making a lot of ground-ball contact to the opposite field and rarely driving the ball in the air to his pull side. Quicker and more athletic than most catchers, Ingle can flash solid speed out of the batter's box. But he's also small for his position at 5-foot-10 and 190 pounds and caught just 60 games in three college seasons. He has average arm strength and similar potential as a receiver, though he needs more reps behind the plate. Ingle is a second 2023 Tiger to be selected, joining 64th overall selection and two-way player Caden Grice (Arizona Diamondbacks). Congrats, @IngleCooper❗️ 👏 ⚾️
The junior C/OF was drafted in the fourth round (No. 125 overall) by @CleGuardians❗️#ClemsonFamily 🐾 🐅#MLBDraft @MLB pic.twitter.com/UeZMehRAsg
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