News or Stats some of LSU's 2009 baseball recruits

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Slade Heathcott - OF - Texas HS

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anyone want to give a run-down on this kid?

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Two "New" Left Handed Hitting Sluggers

David Rawnsley
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Texarkana (TX) OF/LHP Slade Heathcott has reappeared on the scout’s radar long before he was expected to this spring.


Heathcott injured is knee playing football during the fall and had ACL reconstruction done by the famed Dr. James Andrews in mid-November. He’s back on the baseball field, though, and even had two home runs in a game last week.


The difference, however, is that Heathcott is only playing outfield and has not been cleared to pitch. In fact, scouts say that Heathcott may not pitch all spring and that he doesn’t even want to pitch if he’s cleared.


Where that complicates things for scouts is that Heathcott was an Aflac All-American selection as a left handed pitcher last summer. He was up to 92 mph at the Aflac Game and consistently showed a plus curveball all summer. While Heathcott did play some outfield at various events, including the PG National Showcase and the Area Code Games, it was more of a secondary position at that point.


Heathcott grades out very well as an outfielder. He is a 6.7 runner with a full out, aggressive running style and reportedly ran 4.22 to first base last week even with a full knee brace and noticeable limp. His arm strength is an obvious plus and he has upper level raw bat speed.


Heathcott is signed with Louisiana State. Interestingly, LSU is one of the few schools that doesn’t issue a press release after the early signing period in November. Such a press release would have listed Heathcott as either a LHP or an OF depending on what he was recruited to play. The current LSU team does not have any two-way players, although star RF Blake Dean was a 90 mph left handed pitcher in high school.

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