How Elk City's Kash Mayfield became one of top high school prospects in MLB Draft

NOBLE — Over 20 men with ball caps and sunglasses holding notebooks ascended onto Noble High School’s baseball stadium on a balmy day in early May.

Leaning back on a bus near the bullpen in foul territory, most of the Major League Baseball scouts in attendance intently watched as the slender 6-foot-4 left-handed Elk City High School ace warmed up. Little leaguers and high schoolers who had played in the game before also observed in awe, with many phoning others about what they saw.

It was the Class 4A state tournament and the Kash Mayfield Show had rolled into the town of over 6,000 people near Norman. Mayfield, one of the top high school prospects in Sunday's MLB Draft , wowed. He fanned 18 batters and lit up the radar gun throughout the night.

“That guy is a stud pitcher,” said Chickasha’s Travis Owen, the opposing assistant coach, “He’s big time.”

OU baseball coach Skip Johnson even hopped in his truck to watch the Oklahoma State signee simply because he’s a fan of good baseball. Elk City’s team broadcasters raved about the magical season they had a front-row seat for, which included Mayfield striking out 18 in a seven-inning perfect game.

Mayfield is projected to hear his name called No. 23 overall by the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday night, according to the USA Today mock draft released Friday.

Mayfield was a late bloomer when it comes to first-round prospects. He exploded onto the scene this past season, boasting a 0.16 ERA and striking out 115 in 44 innings. Mayfield allowed four hits, one earned run and walked eight, while opposing batters hit .030 against him.

Mayfield was named to The Oklahoman’s All-State first team last season and was the Oklahoma Gatorade state player of the year the past two seasons.

Mayfield’s work ethic and humbleness allowed him to get this far, two qualities he’ll bring to whichever organization takes a gamble on him.

He attended the MLB Draft Combine in Phoenix where he interacted with 20 clubs, with the Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres being the teams he had the most contact with. The Padres hold the No. 25 overall selection in the first round, while Diamondbacks pick No. 29.

“It'll be huge,” Mayfield said. “This is something I've worked for ever since I was little. It's been a goal and a dream ever since I started playing baseball. It'll be a huge achievement but the job's not done so after that sets in, then I have a job I'm doing.”

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‘This guy is a dude’

When he’s not driving over 100 miles from Elk City to Oklahoma City to sharpen his pitching repertoire with trainer Alex Marney or crisscrossing the country for camps, Mayfield tries to clear his mind.

He’s recently picked up golf with former teammates. Though hunting and fishing are not activities he particularly enjoys, he finds peace in the stillness when his cousins talk him into it.

Mayfield started playing regional travel ball with Oklahoma Elite at age 11 before joining USA Prime based in Plano, Texas. Jenni and Monty Mayfield, Kash’s parents, remembered the moment everything shifted from traveling for games across Oklahoma and Texas to realizing this could be something their son does for a career.

At age 14, Mayfield flew to Hoover, Alabama, for an enjoyable week at the WWBA national championships.

“I thought I was just going out there to help pitch,” he said.

The family flew home with Mayfield’s name on the MVP trophy for top pitcher at the tournament and a slew of college interest.

Two weeks later, Team Elite called with an invitation for Mayfield to pitch at the USA complex in Charlotte, North Carolina. From then on, the floodgates were open.

“It opened my eyes. That (tournament in Hoover) was the one where he started getting attention,” Monty said. “That was the first time we had come into contact with anything like that.”

It’s been a wild ride the last several months for Mayfield. How he mentally approached them was key.

“At the beginning, it was very stressful and a lot of pressure on me,” Mayfield said of the attention he receives. “Because at the time, it was new for a lot of guys to come watch me like that.”

Young athletes, particularly teenagers who receive college or professional interest at a young age, deal with excessive stress and pressure to perform. According to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics from January, about 70% of kids drop out of organized sports by age 13 and “professionalization of youth sports” is a factor.

“I’ll be honest, it was pretty nerve-wracking, especially early,” Monty said.

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Added Jenni: “We’ve kind of gotten used to it now. We’ve had a chance to visit with several of them in our home or on the phone and they’re just guys. So getting to know them and seeing behind the scenes, we feel a little bit more comfortable.”

Despite the traveling circus that follows his every move, Mayfield’s love for the game only increased with the attention.

When Mayfield first started working with Marney at Pitching Wrx, his hard work stood out to everyone in the facility.

But Mayfield rarely spoke. Sometimes Marney would coach Mayfield through an entire session without any conversation.

The quietness is deceiving, however. Marney said Mayfield is one of the best leaders he’s been around and refers to him as a “silent assassin.”

The professionalism he’s shown amid his rise in popularity has been admirable to those who know him best and it's translated to his game.

“As I settled in through this past season and let my confidence and competitiveness get into it,” Mayfield said, “all that worry just went away and I sat in there and did my thing. (All of a sudden), it was cool to have them there to watch me and talk to them.”

Unlike veteran college players entering the draft with several years of experience adapting to the grind and scrutiny, Mayfield was forced to grow up before graduating high school.

The maturity he’s shown throughout the process — including the risky decision to take last summer off to rest — has transformed the game he loves to play into a potential career.

“He did great with it honestly, especially for how quickly it happened for him,” said Marney, who has trained several current professional baseball players. “Because he was on the radars of the scouts and stuff but it really didn't happen until like Feb. 1 where it was like, ‘Oh (expletive), this guy is a dude. We’ve got to get out there and see him.’

“He went from not playing summer ball to not doing much in the fall, to all of a sudden having 25 to 30 scouts at his games. I don't think anyone could have handled it much better than he did.”

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‘Going to do some really cool things’

Entering his senior season at Elk City, Mayfield approached Marney with two specific goals in mind.

First, he wanted to work throughout the fall to get his fastball up to 95 mph, which he completed, and he wanted to become a first-round draft pick. Marney’s main objective during the process was strengthening Mayfield’s shoulder while managing the workload and providing ample time to recover.

“There were a couple of small things mechanically that we toyed with that ended up being pretty fruitful for him,” Marney said. “Strengthening the shoulder, a little bit of weight gain, some minor mechanical adjustments and it just all timed up for him.

“It became pretty special.”

Marney remembers thinking how unique Mayfield’s motion was when he first saw him pitch. Mayfield deceives hitters with his unique arm angle, turn step, leg lift and landing on the mound.

Anyone who watches Mayfield pitch points to his walk as a quirk. It almost seems like a limp.

“Are Kash’s legs OK?” one crosschecker scout texted Marney after one of his outings. “I noticed he was limping a little bit after he ran the bases.”

“No, that’s just his pimp limp,” Marney texted back, referring to the name Monty coined for Kash’s distinctive trudge.

Outside of mechanical adjustments to get the fastball velocity up, Marney says the most significant difference he’s seen in Mayfield is his confidence.

That’s something Mayfield credits to Marney. The duo went from hours of workouts where they barely spoke to developing a deep trust.

Marney works with 15-20 professional affiliated players and was instrumental in developing former Heritage Hall standout Jackson Jobe , who was selected third overall by the Detroit Tigers in the 2021 MLB Draft. Seeing Marney’s work with other players translate to college and professional successes gave Mayfield confidence in the work they were doing.

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Picking the brains of those pro players when he rolls into town on the weekends for training has also become critical to Mayfield’s development.

In the final weeks leading up to the draft, Marney had Mayfield on a light schedule. He wasn’t throwing a ton and was focused on preparing his body for the next level, whether that be in the pros or collegiately with the Cowboys in Stillwater.

“He’s truly a small-town kid that is going to do some really cool things,” Marney said.

Despite a brilliant performance by Mayfield, Elk City lost that game in Noble in early May a routine popup that would’ve sent the game to the ninth hit the third baseman’s glove and fell out, costing the Elks a spot in the state semifinals. Mayfield, who wasn’t on the mound for the finish, was filled with emotion as he embraced his high school coaches and teammates, disappointed he couldn’t deliver a state championship.

For Elk City pitching coach Taylor Varnell, the moment celebrated Mayfield’s high school career and what is ahead.

“If you take his career, it’s one of the greatest ever in the state of Oklahoma,” said Varnell, who spent time in the Chicago White Sox farm system. “Coming from someone who’s played a lot of baseball, he’s very unique. His mixture of athleticism, his arm and just the head on his shoulders is something you don’t see, especially from a high school kid and there’s a lot to be said about that.

“It’s really been a treat watching him.”

He’s put in the work, now it’s time to play ball.

“I’m just going to go out there and do what I do,” Mayfield said.

2024 MLB Draft

• When: Sunday-Tuesday
• Where: Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas
• TV: MLB Network, ESPN (first round, 6 p.m. Sunday)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How Elk City's Kash Mayfield became one of top high school prospects in MLB Draft