I was able to catch up with 2011 baseball commit [URL=”http://www.wildcatrecruits.com/playerProfile.php?Contact_ID=640&Recruit=Austin-Cousino”]Austin Cousino[/URL] this week, who has now joined fellow 2011 recruits Sam Mahar, Spencer Drake and Taylor Martin on campus. I congratulated Cousino on his recently being named a 1st team All-American by Baseball America. He said thanks, and that he had first heard he made it from fellow commit Taylor Martin.
Like many of the baseball recruits, Austin is (was) a multi-sport athlete. Up until his sophomore year, he played hockey and football (slot receiver). I asked if he had talked to Joker about walking on the football team, and he said no, but he had been out there when some of the football players were throwing the football around. He said those were some “elite athletes”.
The UK football players were hardly the first experience with “elite athletes” for the Dublin, Ohio native. Cousino played for Team USA’s 16U team in 2009 when they won the IBAF World Youth Baseball Championship. He told me it was a great experience, especially playing beside guys he knew would be pros in the future. It’s funny to hear him talk about the caliber of player of the “other guys”, as Austin was named to the tournament All-Star team as an outfielder and MVP of the championship game. He certainly qualifies as an elite athlete himself.
Austin is a very cerebral player too. The director of the 16U team said “…he’s the best instinctive baserunner that I’ve seen. If an outfielder made one tiny mistake, Austin saw it and he took advantage of it.” ([URL=”http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/high-school/news/2010/2610885.html”]source[/URL]) I asked Austin to expand on that, and he said “you can pick up things from watching the pitcher and catcher”. He said it’s just like Yogi Berra said “You can observe a lot just by watching.”
Even with awards like the Team USA championship, Baseball America All-Star Team, Rawlings HS Gold Glove Team and his state awards (OHSBCA 1st Team All-Ohio and #1 OF in Ohio by Perfect Game), Austin went undrafted in this year’s MLB draft. I asked if he was surprised by that, and he said “A little bit.” Austin worked out in front of a lot of scouts this past year, and felt he did well. There were two things he felt affected his draft status, the first was his surgery. He had surgery last December to repair a “posterior labrum tear”. I asked how he was healing from that, and he said he is still working on strength and conditioning, but he feels confident with it (it didn’t seem to hurt his play this spring). Still, it causes some scouts to pause when they see “surgery” on the spec sheet. The second thing Austin said may have hampered his scouting report is that he is not “your typical 6’ 4”, 200 lb. outfielder” (he is currently 5’ 11”, 170 lbs.).
Cousino bats and throws lefty. He finished his senior year statistics with 46 hits (8 home runs), 19 walks and 8 strikeouts in 87 at-bats (.529 BA). He also stole 25 bases out of 25 attempts. With offers from North Carolina, NC State and Vanderbilt, I asked Austin why he chose UK. He said the coaches were great, the location was right, and the level of competition in the SEC is high.
One last thing. When asked if his jersey number (19) had any special meaning, he referred back to his hockey days. Austin chose 19 for his hockey jersey because he liked Steve Yzerman, who was #19 for the Redwings at the time. He just kept it for baseball because that’s the number he had been wearing.
Thanks for the interview Austin, and welcome to the BBN.
