Nick Swiney's Scouting Report on Teammate Patrick Bailey

NC State pitching ace provides a scouting report on why his catcher, Wolfpack teammate Patrick Bailey, is considered the top player at his position in this week's Major League Baseball draft

Patrick Bailey is rated as the top catcher available in this week's Major League Baseball draft and is projected to be a top 15 pick.

The switch-hitting catcher led Wolfpack with six home runs, including two grand slams, while hitting .296 with 20 RBI in the 17 games that were played during the shortened 2020 season.

His strength, however, is his defensive ability -- especially the way he handles a pitching staff.

While there are any number of scouting reports available on the State star, who better to provide the skinny on him than his team's best pitcher.

So here is what left-handed ace Nick Swiney, himself a potential first round pick, had to say about his batterymate:

"There’s a reason why he’s most likely going to be a first rounder in the top-15 picks. A lot of people don’t really see it. He gets to know his pitchers really, really well. Behind the scenes in bullpen stuff, he really tries to form that relationship with them and get to know what their strengths are and what he’s going to call to put them in the best situation. Patrick and I now for two and a half years I was with him, we got to have a really, really good relationship.

"He knew he could tell me anything and it wouldn’t offend me, and I could tell him anything and it wouldn’t offend him. We both feed off of each other. That’s something appealing. He calls his own game in college. You don’t see that very often, which is really impressive on his part.

"He really know the game very well. He’s a very good defender back there, plus arm. That’s appealing. And he’s a switch-hitting catcher, which is also a plus. That’s really appealing to the scouts. I was fortunate enough to have him for two and a half years and it was a lot of fun." 

As respected as Bailey's ability as a receiver is among the scouts, there are still some questions about his offensive potential at the professional level.

It's one of the first things he's asked about in his conversations with teams since his college season ended on March 12. But Bailey said he's ready to make whatever adjustments are necessary to continue growing as a hitter.

"I think at certain levels you have to make adjustments to the style of play and the level of play," he said. "Obviously coming in from a really good high school and really good travel program, it helped me through that. There were still some adjustments that I had to make early on in school. I think I’ll definitely have to make adjustments at the next level, but that’s something I proved I was able to do at NC State."