Caden Bodine is likely going to be a first-round pick in the upcoming MLB Draft as the top defensive catcher in college baseball. It certainly helps that he can hit!
Coastal Carolina’s backstop has turned an absurd number of balls into strikes with his incredible ability to frame anything close.
Bodine, a junior, was ranked as the 13th-best catcher in the college baseball recruiting Class of 2022. He has far outperformed the guys who were ranked ahead of him over the last three seasons. The 5-foot-10 switch-hitter finished second on the team with a .367 batting average as a freshman and hit .328 as a sophomore with 71 (!!) RBIs. This year has been just as impressive.
Although Bodine’s batting average is still below his freshman year at .332, his on-base percentage increased to a career-high .466 with 52 runs scored, 41 RBIs and a career-low 21 strikeouts in 226 at-bats. The New Jersey-native can hit!
However, it is his defense that really sets Caden Bodine apart. He immediately picked right back up where he left off at the College World Series and threw out a baserunner in the top of the first inning. (The call of safe was overturned after review!)
That is Bodine’s 45th caught stealing in his career, which now puts him just one behind the record held by Matt Beaird. If Coastal’s opponents are smart, they will not give him the chance to tie or break the 46-mark. If they try to run like Arizona, there is a very good chance that he will finish as the best to ever do it. Beaird set the record at 46 over four years. Bodine is right with him before the end of his third season.
And then there is his framing. No catcher in college baseball is better! Caden Bodine managed to get all of these pitches called as strikes:
It is truly an art.
The bat is one thing. Defense is another. Both of those things combined makes Bodine the top true catcher prospect in the upcoming MLB Draft. He could go as high as No. 16 but Major League Baseball experts don’t expect him to drop out of the first round. You can see why!