First-round draft prospect Colton Cowser is good with wood.

Last year, when COVID shut down just about everything, Cowser got into woodworking. His crown jewel was a gun cabinet that took him one week to build from scratch, working with a buddy from high school.

In a sense, Cowser has constructed his baseball career in a similar from-the-ground-up fashion. He went undrafted out of high school and had just one scholarship offer – from the Sam Houston Bearkats – which he accepted.

Cowser had the raw materials from which to become a prospect – good height at 6-3 and an ability to hit. But he was skinny and unpolished. Going from where he was when he graduated high school in 2018 to now at age 21 has taken a tremendous amount of sweat.

He has put in the work, chipping away at what were once weaknesses until he can now put some big numbers on display, including a .352/494/.696 slash line, 12 homers, 38 runs scored and 31 RBIs in 35 games. He is tied for fifth in the nation in homers, and he ranks first in the Southland Conference in long balls and runs scored.

“He has always had power potential, but this is happening sooner than most of us thought,” Bearkats hitting coach Shane Wedd said of Cowser, who now weighs 200 pounds with room to get to 225. “I thought this might happen later in his 20s, when he physically matured in pro ball.

“But he’s worked really hard in the weight room. He’s selective at the plate but aggressive when he needs to be.”

In the latest D1Baseball Top 100 college prospects list, Cowser ranks No. 6, making him a strong candidate for the top half of the first round. If that projection comes true, it would be a program record. As it stands, ex-major-league outfielder Glenn Wilson holds the Bearkats record for earliest draft selection, going 18th in 1977.

Cowser likely gets his athleticism from his mother, Anna, who played soccer at Texas A&M. She and Cowser’s dad, Dale, are both former high school soccer coaches.

Soccer wasn’t for Cowser, however. The only other sport he flirted with in high school was football, playing safety, outside linebacker and long-snapper through his sophomore year.

But baseball was his true love. Playing for Houston-area power Cypress Ranch, Cowser made All-State as a senior, batting .411 with 30 steals and 38 RBIs as he helped lead his school to the Class 6A state semifinals and a 32-8-2 record.

Bearkats coach Jay Sirianni was thrilled to sign Cowser, who bats left and throws right.

“He had come to one of our hitting camps, and we liked him,” Sirianni said. “He didn’t mishit balls. The barrel of his bat always found the ball, and we jumped all in on him.”

It helped that the Sam Houston campus is just 65 miles away from his home. It also helped that Cowser’s father went to school at Sam Houston.

Then again, Cowser didn’t have another viable option.

“Teams weren’t that high on me at the time, and I knew I had a lot of development I needed,” Cowser said. “I knew I could hit. But if I were going to take my game to the (pro) level, I had to go to college.

“Sam Houston is just one hour from home, and it was important to me that my family was able to come to my games. I also felt I had a good chance to play as a freshman and make an impact (at Sam Houston).”

Sure enough, Cowser became an immediate starter as a freshman in 2019, batting .361 with seven homers, 54 RBIs and nine steals in 56 games.

Following his freshman season, he made the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, earning MVP honors after hitting .438 in the Cuba Friendship Series.

“He tasted success that year, and he came back to us that fall even hungrier,” Sirianni said. “Playing with Team USA, he faced good pitching every night. His confidence soared.”

Last year, in the COVID-shortened season, Cowser hit just .256 with one homer in 14 games.

This year, Cowser has made improvements across the board, including a .494 on-base percentage and a .696 slugging percentage. With his added power, he has turned some of the doubles he used to get as a freshman and sophomore into homers.

Hitting has always been Cowser’s forte, but he is a much better athlete than some casual observers may realize. Cowser has stolen 12 bases in 14 attempts this year, for example.

Defensively, he has moved from the corners — which is where he played in high school and through his freshman season at Sam Houston — to center field, where he has four assists and only two errors this season.

“He has a good feel for reading swings,” Wedd said. “He knows what pitch is coming, and he gets good jumps, takes good angles. After one time through the batting order (to learn the hitters), he takes charge.”

And while Cowser has yet to scale a fence to steal a would-be homer as a collegian, the potential is there due to his impressive 38.5-inch vertical leap.

“The kid can jump,” Bearkats catcher Gavin Johnson said.

Cowser has also strengthened his throwing ability.

“I’ve put myself in good position to be a five-tool player if I’m not already,” Cowser said when asked about his all-around athleticism. “We had such a long offseason — about eight months. I took advantage of that time. I got into a long-toss program, took care of my arm, and those things stacked up.”

Sirianni said Cowser has not let the pressure of the upcoming draft get to him.

“That kid never has a bad day,” Sirianni said of Cowser. “It’s refreshing to see a kid who has a lot on his shoulders still come be-bopping in here with a big smile on his face every day.”

As a hitter, Sirianni said Cowser likes the ball more elevated than most lefties, which is a nuance scouts are learning about him.

“I have a good relationship with area scouts and crosscheckers,” Sirianni said. “Some of them say Colton will go really high in the draft, and then there are some doubters. But Colton is comfortable that he will fall where he will fall.”

The son of two educators — including his father who is the assistant principal at Cy Ranch — Cowser has a 3.8 grade-point average and is on schedule to graduate in just three years.

Cowser is majoring in construction management and has an interest in one day building custom homes, which should come naturally to him.

After all, he has already carved out the start of an impressive baseball career.

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