UNLV coach describes Phillies first-round pick Bryson Stott as a polished hitter

A few years ago, the notion that Bryson Stott might someday get too big to play shortstop would have produced more laughter than all of the country's best comedy clubs combined.

Stott was a shrimp, to put it kindly, growing up in Las Vegas. As a sophomore, when he went out for the baseball team at Desert Oasis High School, he stood only 5-foot-4. Shortstop seemed like a natural position for a player of his stature. If anything, he might have been on the small side.

But Stott hit a wicked growth spurt in his junior year, sprouting up to 5-11. As a senior, he was 6-1. He was nearly 6-3 by the time he arrived at UNLV in the fall of 2016, prompting coach Stan Stolte to wonder if the shortstop that he recruited had outgrown the position even before his first college game.

“He’s not one of those weight-room guys that lifts all the time, either,” Stolte said by phone late Monday after the Phillies selected Stott in the first round, 14th overall, of baseball’s annual amateur draft. “But he lifted enough, and I think he naturally just filled out, stretched out, and got a little broader and stronger. His dad was a quarterback in college [at UNLV], so he’s a good-looking athlete.”

Indeed, Stott stayed at shortstop for three seasons at UNLV, and the Phillies believe he can remain there in pro ball, too. Their projections have him as a “front-line shortstop,” according to amateur scouting director Johnny Almaraz, with a “favorable timeline” for reaching the big leagues.

Stolte was sold on Stott as a shortstop for two reasons. He had the arm strength necessary to play the position, and despite his size, he demonstrated good range, footwork and overall fluidity on the infield.

"The ball just finds his glove," Stolte said. "Bad hops don't bother him, and he's got plus-plus arm strength. It's all kind of going to depend on how his body adjusts as he gets older. If he gets wider, you know, some people just grow into a third baseman. But he's good enough [at shortstop] right now, absolutely."

As a hitter, Stott improved steadily during his college career, improving his on-base percentage from .359 to .442 to .486 and his slugging percentage from .379 to .556 to .599. He hit 10 home runs as a junior this season and might still develop more power.

But if there was any question about where Stott ranked among college left-handed hitters this season, Stolte points to the lengths that opponents went to defend him. Infield shifts are becoming more prevalent in college but still aren’t used nearly as frequently as in pro ball. It wasn’t uncommon, though, Stolte said, for teams to position their shortstop behind second base when Stott came to the plate.

"He's such a talented hitter, there are times they would put a shift on him where they would play him to pull and he still tried to hit it through the shift," Stolte said. "But when he went the other way, which he can do very well, he had success with it. He's not going to be caught off guard when he sees a team play a shift like that."

Stolte described the Las Vegas baseball community as "a small circle." He wasn't surprised, then, to hear that Stott knows Bryce Harper through a family connection. Stott's mother, Shana, once coached Harper's sister, Brittany, in cheerleading.

Harper and Stott share an agent, too. Scott Boras represents Stott and will soon begin negotiating a signing bonus for the first-round pick. The recommended slot value for the 14th overall pick is about $4 million.

And with Stott on the verge of a journey through the minor leagues that he hopes will eventually lead to his becoming Harper’s teammate in Philadelphia, Stolte said it’s a good bet that more Phillies fans begin cropping up in Vegas.

“I’m sure there are more with Bryce playing there now, and I would think that [Stott] should add to that,” Stolte said. “They were kind of Nationals fans when Bryce played for the Nationals. It’ll be interesting to see if it turns to the Phillies now.”