Prospect Spotlight- Kole Cottam

Kole Cottam is a 22 year-old catching prospect from Knoxville, Tennessee. Cottam was selected by the Red Sox in the 4^th round of the 2018 draft out of the University of Kentucky. Coming out of high school, Cottam was ranked the 500^th best player and the 127^th best catcher in the class of 2015. Though he fell in love with Kentucky as soon as he visited the campus, Cottam had a chip on his shoulder because, despite being his home state's university, Tennessee didn't recruit him.  

Cottam was solid in his first two seasons with Kentucky, hitting .278 in 40 games as a freshman and .319 with 7 home runs in 55 games as a sophomore. He had a breakout season his junior year when he hit .352 with 19 home runs and a 1.105 OPS in 56 games. He earned All-SEC First-Team honors and was named a semi-finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy. Later that year he went on to hit .236 with 3 home runs and a .668 OPS in 32 games between low-A Lowell and full-season A Greenville before his season was cut short by a meniscus tear.

Cottam continued to show potential at the plate in 2019 hitting .255 with 8 home runs and a .787 OPS in 87 games between Greenville and high-A Salem. While he was an organization all-star, he had his struggles behind the plate. His framing metrics were below average and he only threw out 19% of base stealers.

While it remains to be seen whether or not Cottam will stay behind the plate, his bat and in-game power are expected to play as he continues to develop. But for now, Cottam will remain at catcher and is expected to share the responsibility with prospect Roldani Baldwin in Salem for at least the beginning of the season.