16-year-old Cole Kuhn, a right-handed pitcher from St. Joseph’s Preparatory School in Pennsylvania, just threw a fastball 101.8 miles per hour. Naturally, this being 2026 and him being 16, he captured the truly rare and amazing feat on video.
Making Cole Kuhn’s feat even more unique is the fact that he failed to make the JV baseball team as a freshman.
The 6-foot-6, 220-pound teenager from Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, is currently among the best high school pitchers in the country. He has received a scholarship to pitch at Duke University. In addition to that, he is already being scouted for the 2027 Major League Baseball Draft. All at the age of 16.
According to Lancaster Online, Cole Kuhn has only pitched in just a few varsity high school games. This, despite him already throwing 90 miles per hour in January 2025.
Since then, he has been working at Ascent Athlete, a training center in Garnet Valley. And it is legit. Big league players work out in the morning there before high school players take over in the afternoon.
“Without question, that place is the single biggest driving force behind his major jumps over the last eight months,” said Kuhn’s mother, Tonya Lawrence. “They’re comprehensive, they’re involved, and they know what they’re doing.”
Scott Lawler, the general manager of Ascent, called Kuhn “a unicorn” and said he has never seen a high school arm like Cole Kuhn possesses. Lawler played minor league baseball and coached in college.
“It’s not like we’ve been pushing him or somehow training him to hit 90 mph. It wasn’t even on our radar. It just happened,” Cole’s father, Andrew, said. “In the big picture, it’s really about exercise, friendship, and competition. Then, who knows? Hopefully, it’s intriguing enough and interesting enough that kids want to stick with it. We want our kids to be well-rounded and respectful and to try their best.”
So how does he do it?
“Four days a week throwing and four days a week, you know, lifting with some arm care stuff worked into that. Obviously, some movement prep, too,” Cole Kuhn told ABC 6 News in February.
Kuhn says his baseball heroes are two former Phillies pitchers. “In 2008, they won it, and I was born in 09, so I’m definitely a big Cole Hamels fan,’ he said.
“There are people out there who are willing to take credit for Cole. There’s only one person who takes credit for Cole, other than his parents, who genetically have wired him this way, and it’s him and his work ethic,” said St. Joe’s Prep baseball coach Bobby Muth.