GLENDALE, Ariz. – While proud Wichita, Kan., baseball mom Irma Cohens took in the whole scene at the sun-splashed Camelback Ranch MLB spring training complex here last weekend, she smiled broadly and thought back not all that many years into the past to when her son, Isaiah Cohens, was just starting his amateur baseball career.
“It’s so exciting,” she said of watching Isaiah perform at the two-day Perfect Game National Underclass West Showcase. “I tell his coach that I still feel like I’m following around a little-leaguer, so I’m trying to get used to all of this. Honestly, I’m just trying to get used to this next level of ball. You don’t think about that when they’re 7 or 8 years old, and then here you are, trying to get to the next level.”
Isaiah Cohens is a 5-foot-10, 150-pound middle-infielder and outfielder who is also a 15-year-old sophomore at Wichita’s Goddard High School. The National Underclass West Showcase was his Perfect Game debut, and he made it as the No. 350-ranked national prospect in the class of 2019.
Based on that ranking, the PG scouting department was obviously familiar with Cohens, but the young prospect felt he could benefit by a trip to the Arizona desert in early December, just as long as he went into the event with the proper mindset.
“I try to go with the flow,” Cohens said. “I try not to think too much about it and just kind of try to soak it in a little bit. You don’t want to put too much pressure on yourself and you don’t want to be nervous because everybody else is in the same situation. … I’m trying to stay focused, but I want to have fun at the same time.”
Irma Cohens, who works in the hearing healthcare industry in the Wichita area, had some simple advice for her son:
“Just play the game and do what you do and don’t think too much about it,” she said. “Everything that you know is just your natural instinct, so don’t try to do anything special or anything different than what you just do naturally.”
Cohens performed well during the showcase’s Saturday morning workout session, running a 6.91-second 60-yard dash (short of the event-best of 6.74-seconds and far superior to the event average of 7.54-seconds) with an event-best 1.53-second 10-yard split.
He was also singled-out for his work in the middle-infielder, with a PG scout noting that Cohens “almost made the defensive play of the showcase with an attempt on a ground ball up the middle that he showed great range on. He has the tools to stay in the infield at the next level.” On Tuesday, he was named to the exclusive Top Propsect List at the event.
At the plate, Cohens is a switch-hitter, something he just started doing within the last year. A natural right-hander, he feels like he’s starting to pick up on it fairly well, and while he is feeling more and more comfortable hitting from the left-side he admits that the left-handed power is still lacking.
The “next level” is a lot more in focus for Cohens than it is for most high school sophomores in that he has already verbally committed to Wichita State University. He said he’s watched Shockers’ head coach Todd Butler work with his players up close and loves the fact that he will be able to play college baseball in what amounts to his own backyard.
“They have a lot of kids that are committing that are from states and states away, and they don’t have many (hometown) fans; I just thought it would be cool to stay in my hometown,” Cohens said. “They’re rebuilding their program right now with Coach Butler because when he came into the program he didn’t have the team that he could hand-pick. I wanted to stay home because I have family, friends and supporters who will come out and watch us play.”
His mother added: “Initially he was looking at colleges out of state, so I think for us it was just so exciting (that he decided to stay home). He has a lot of local support and he’ll be able to continue with his current coaches over the next couple of years, as well. We can watch him play and anything he needs is just a 10-minute drive home.”
Cohens credits the presence of local coaches Billy Hall and Bryan James – both former standouts at Wichita State who played for legendary Shockers’ coach Gene Stephenson – in the Wichita community for aiding in his development. Cohens played this past summer and fall for the Arsenal Stars 17u/18u squad coached by Hall, who was an all-American at WSU and played 14 seasons in various minor and independent leagues.
“I really didn’t think about playing college ball until around my freshman year (in high school); it just never went through my head,” Cohens said. “But because of coaches like Billy Hall and Bryan James, they’ve developed me like crazy over the past couple of years and I’m a completely different player; I’ve been able to think about (playing college baseball) more.
“There was a time when I really didn’t really like baseball all that much … and the minute I came over to their team, they got me to love baseball again.”
Playing for Hall with the Arsenal Stars has allowed Cohens to measure himself against other top-notch prospects not only in his age-group but in older groups, as well. By attending the PG National Underclass West Showcase – the PG West Uncommitted Showcase ran simultaneously at Camelback Ranch last weekend, as well – also provided him with an opportunity to play with and against other top prospects, and an opportunity to just sit back and watch how they go about their business.
“It’s really fun meeting new people,” he said. “It was really easy with these guys on my team (PG White) because within 5 minutes of when I got here everybody was already talking to me, and that was nice. When you’re out here, even if you don’t know (the other players), you’ve got to have a lot of energy; that’s what makes it fun. …
“I love being out here. Even though I’ve committed to Wichita State already, I still feel it’s important to get out and become comfortable in this kind of environment.”
Individual players find their own levels of comfort at a PG showcase event, and at first glance Cohens seemed to find his while performing during his PG showcase debut. He came into the National Underclass West wanting to establish a foundation while also showing an eagerness to see how his workout numbers stacked up with the prospects in attendance who don’t call the state of Kansas home.
“Midwest talent is different from Southern, East Coast, West Coast (talent), so I just want to see where I stand with players from those regions,” he said.
What Irma Cohens found most enjoyable about the experience was watching the way her son interacted with all those other kids from points near and far – attendees included players from Canada, New York, Minnesota, Illinois, Georgia and Hawaii, along with those from the Western states.
She appreciates how the event allowed Isaiah to measure his skills and compare his talents against those kids from varying spots sprinkled across North America. She now fully realizes her son isn’t a little-leaguer anymore.
“His coaches, they just have high aspirations for him, and their recommendations was to get him involved with this (PG National Underclass West),” Irma Cohens said. “We looked at several different showcases and just didn’t know which direction to take and his coach recommended that being at the level that he’s at, if he really wants to get exposure, Perfect Game is the place to be at.”