According to Enid High Baseball Coach, Brad Gore, his teams have three goals entering into the season- win district, win regionals, win state. And last year’s Enid High team almost accomplished all three, falling in the state championship game to Bixby. This year’s team is back, led by at least six contributing seniors (McCage Hartling, Cooper Jarnigan, Bennett Percival, Seth Carlson, Dax Goeke, and Karter Simon), but another senior has reached a level that Gore has not seen in his over 30-year career.
“Garrett Shull is just different,” says Gore, “I could tell when he was taking lessons from me in around 5th grade that he just had something extra. He kept working hard, working on his game and when he came out with the high school team before 9th grade, he hit some balls at David Allen where you just knew.”
Shull plays Center Field and Third Base for the Plainsmen, and it’s easy to tell when he’s playing as there might be twenty pro scouts in the stands to watch him play. “He (Shull) is a 5 tool player,” says Gore, “While his power gets a lot of publicity, he’s also a great fielder, can hit for average, is fast and can really throw the ball. He might be the best player I have ever coached. He’s definitely the only one that will likely be drafted in the first few rounds.”
Shull was born in Missouri, but he grew up in Enid as his dad is in the Air Force stationed at Vance Air Force Base. “My dad played football in High School and went on to get a degree in Sports Science,” said Shull, so he’s always been interested in sports. “I had a bat and a ball in my hand since I could walk and have always loved baseball. I tried other sports like basketball, just for fun, but baseball has always been what I did.” Shull played EJRT for the Enid Astros and Plainsmen, where his dad was an assistant coach and has really helped his development. “Since my dad has a sports science degree, he has been my hitting coach my whole life, and he’s put a lot of work into helping me get better.”
Shull knew that baseball might end up being a career option between 8th and 9th grade when he came out and started practicing with the High School team. “I grew up watching these guys play and really looked up to them. I knew that summer I could play with them, and as an incoming freshman, that was pretty cool,” he said.
Clearly Gore did too. Because of COVID, there were not a lot of scouts or college coaches coming out, so he recorded Shull hitting and sent it to his friend Josh Holliday at Oklahoma State. What he saw must have impressed him, because not long after, Shull got a call from Coach Holliday and was offered a scholarship to play baseball at OSU. “I was probably shaking when I called Coach Holliday,” said Shull, “I had been to the new stadium (O’Brate), and it was amazing. I just felt really blessed to be offered a scholarship.”
While many Cowboy fans would love to see Shull in Orange and Black, the dozens of scouts that have been out to watch him play the last couple of years show that he will likely have a big decision to make – college or pro baseball. According to mlb.com he’s the 51st ranked overall (and 15th ranked high school) prospect. Shull has dreamed of playing pro baseball but says that his decision will come down to what makes sense for his future. “Either college at OSU or sign in the draft, I have great options. Really though, I am focused on the (high school) season and making one last run to try and win state. I know that I’ll succeed if the team succeeds, and I’ve been playing with a lot of these guys for a long time. If I can relax and just have fun, good things will happen.” And while Shull is one of the most talented players Enid has ever had, he will have a lot of help this year. Almost every senior will be moving on to play at the next level too at colleges and juco’s all over the country. But before that, they are all focused on trying to win districts, win regionals, and win state.
