Covey Morrow:  
       3A Pitching Prospect








Over the past four years, 3A baseball has certainly had its share of pitchers who have received attention from pro scouts. In 2004, there was Homer Bailey from La Grange. In 2006 there was Kevin Angelle from Bridge City and Brandon Belt from Lufkin Hudson. This past year, 3A had Brandon Workman from Bowie and Will Middlebrooks from Texarkana Liberty-Eylau.

In 2008, the 3A pitcher getting the most attention is a young 6’5", 195 lb, lhp, from Yoakum, named Covey Morrow.

Covey has been a lifelong resident of the Yoakum community. He grew up there playing in the local little leagues. As a young boy, baseball seemed to come easy to him and he was often pulled up to play with the older boys. "I really liked that," said Covey. "It gave me a big challenge and was definitely more exciting."

When he entered high school, Covey made the Yoakum varsity team as a freshman. The Bulldogs had a very strong team that year going 31-4. They marched through Region IV on the way to the state tournament, but lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to Lubbock Cooper in the state semifinals. Covey was able to get some valuable experience on the mound that year as the youngest player on the team.

He began getting noticed his sophomore year when he finished the season with a 6-0 record and a 1.15 ERA. He was also the area strike out leader with 93 K’s in 54 innings. He was selected to the TWSA Honorable Mention All-State team in recognition of his pitching accomplishments.

It was after his sophomore year that Covey got connected with the Houston Kyle Chapman league. This league attracts many of the outstanding high school baseball players in the Greater Houston area. It gives players opportunities to develop and showcase their skills in select and highly competitive league and tournament play in front of college coaches and professional scouts. Covey was able to pitch in some of the best select tournaments in Texas and also played in tournaments in Georgia and Florida with the Houston KC team. And he had some impressive outings against the strong competition.

In his junior year at Yoakum, Covey continued to pitch well and led the Bulldogs to an 8-0 district record. Yoakum advanced to regional quarterfinals and met up with Falfurrias. They lost a hard fought contest to the Jerseys in three games. The Game One loss was the first loss of Covey’s high school pitching career as he struggled with a middle finger injury during that game.

Covey had an outstanding junior season though, as he finished with an 8-1 record and a 0.86 ERA. He also struck out 110 batters in 69 innings. He was named the 29-3A MVP and was also again named to the TSWA All-State team as a 3rd team pitcher.

Covey was looking forward to another summer season with Houston Kyle Chapman. Some pro scouts were also looking forward to seeing how the tall lefty had matured as a pitcher. It was going to be a great summer for Covey with a chance to demonstrate to college coaches and to the pro scouts what he could do. But to everyone’s surpise, the middle finger injury that came up during the Falfurrias game would not go away. After several attempts at pitching, Covey and his family finally decided that he needed to take the summer off to take care of the finger injury.

After battling with the injury during the Fall, he was taken to a doctor where they discovered that he had a wart under the skin of his finger which was causing the blisters and the pain. The doctor and Covey’s family set out a course of treatment. He recently went through a "freeze" treatment which really looks hopeful. But it may still delay his first pitching start until mid-March.

Before the injury, Covey was being heavily recruited by a number of Division I colleges. After the injury, most of those colleges became concerned and backed off some. Blinn Junior College, however, pursued Covey aggressively. "They made me a 100% offer back in July," Covey explained. "Coach McIntyre showed so much interest in me even though I was hurt. I was sold on him and his program."

In November, Covey signed a letter of intent with Blinn Junior College in the early signing process.

The 2008 baseball season begins with a question mark for Covey. Doctors feel sure they can take care of the problem. They are just trying to find the right treatment that will work for him. There are many in Yoakum who will be eagerly waiting for their tall lefty to get back on the mound. And with the unique talent this kid has shown, even his opponents are wishing him the best. If he can get started quickly you can bet that there will be some scouts out there checking on the progress of this left hander who has shown some much potential in his young career.