Shortstop Dylan Cupp of Cedartown High is one of the most highly regarded 2023 MLB draft-eligible amateur players in the state of Georgia. Both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline rank Cupp among the top-70 players for this year’s draft. Considered one of the top defensive shortstops in his class, Cupp is committed to play college baseball at Mississippi State if he doesn’t sign out of the draft. 

He spoke with The Athletic via phone earlier this week. Here’s a lightly edited and condensed transcript of the conversation.

#HailState🐶 ‘23 SS Dylan Cupp

Gamer of gamers impressed me w/ his unreal competitiveness & confidence. Just plays well above a HS level in all facets. A handful of barrels to all fields at #GDC23. Advanced lower half sink & fluidity in, out of launch.@PBRGeorgia @ShooterHunt

— Justin Goetz (@JGoetzPBR) February 26, 2023

What are your earliest memories playing baseball?

I actually started when I was 2. I’d play with the 5-year-olds in T-ball. Very early. It was all I wanted to do. Kids would play with trucks and little toy cars and stuff. I always had the plastic tee and the ball and the bat. My dad would come home freakin’ dog tired from work at 7 o’clock and that’s what I’d beg him to do.

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I played football ’til I was 12. I played basketball when I was 8 and 9. But ever since middle school it’s just been baseball. Still to this day it’s all I really care to do. I will get away from it. I hunt, I fish, play a little guitar. I’m also really big into (helping) the special needs kids in our community. I started up a Miracle League for them that way they can feel like we feel. Because to them our high school team is like the Atlanta Braves. I wanted them to be able to feel that every week just like we do. It is awesome and it’s still something I look forward to and love to this day.

So you channeled your inspiration for the league from when you were a kid learning to play baseball?

When you’re playing T-ball and stuff, you don’t care. You’re just there, happy to put on a jersey and play in the dirt. It’s the same way for those kids. You can relate to those kids. Everybody can relate to those kids in some way. They’re the most innocent, salt-of-the-earth kids. It kind of puts you back to when you were little and your outlook on things was like theirs. It’s super humbling.

It’s really awesome. It’s super eye-opening. You can forget how lucky we are that we can get out of bed, little things like feed ourselves or have phone calls. They couldn’t have this phone call. It just really puts things in perspective. The good Lord blessed us with what we have.

Why is this so important to you?

Think about it. Justin Verlander, he’s 40, 41. He has a whole back half of life he has to live out. I don’t want to get (to the point that) I’m just a baseball player. I’m not just a baseball player. I want to be somebody that the community can be proud of and the community can lean on to make things happen and make Cedartown better and Polk County better. I use my platform that I’ve kind of earned through baseball to promote things that I really enjoy such as helping special needs kids. It’s the same way in school. The kids that don’t necessarily wear letterman jackets, or don’t play sports, I throw those kids just as much attention as I do my second baseman. Just giving everybody some type of joy because you don’t know what they go home to every day. That doesn’t scare me or worry me but that’s always on my mind. I don’t know what this kid goes home to every day, so I’m gonna make sure when he sees me that I am gonna be a bright spot in the day.

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What or who is your inspiration at shortstop?

I would say myself. I’ve inspired myself to do everything. I’m a self-motivated person. I can look in the mirror and just look at myself and not be satisfied. I’ll never be satisfied. I love the work. I love the pain and the suffering of working out and finding out what I am really capable of. … I inspire myself.

Nobody made me do what I do and nobody made me choose the path that I chose. I could have chosen the silky smooth, paved four-lane road. But I wanted to build my own. I wanted to take a shovel and dig my own. I knew I was going to hit boulders that are bigger than me and harder than me at the time. But it was like I’ll eventually get tougher and get harder (to the point) that those boulders won’t be able to stop me anymore and just keep making my path through life. I want to create my own thing, create my own journey, that’s one of a kind and unique.

How did you land at shortstop?

Every team I’ve ever been on, I’ve always been the shortstop. It was just how things played out. I’d say it’s more of a natural thing. I would say I remind myself of a mix of Derek Jeter and Cal Ripken Jr. I’ve been the leader of every team I’ve ever been on. I walked into our high school locker room my freshman year and was batting lead off, playing shortstop and I was the leader of the team. By just being the captain.

Cal Ripken was the ultimate Iron Man. You could not get him out of the lineup. … I’ve read his book and he said that it had nothing to do with that (the streak). It was the fact of if you took him out of the lineup, the team was not as good and he knew that. I’ve just brought that with me. Be real with yourself. You’re really good. You were blessed and you work hard for everything you have. You’re really good at a game and I hate losing more than anybody. So if I know that our best lineup is with me in there then I’m gonna show up every single day. I don’t care if I got a headache or my ankle hurts or I got blisters the size of four quarters put together on my foot. I gotta play. … I’ve been to places where I’ve seen kids less fortunate than me. And it would be an absolute shame to not take advantage of every situation I’m given considering their situations. I know they would give an arm and a leg just to play one inning in between those white lines. For me, it’s just being grateful for everything I have every day.

Have you always had that perspective?

I’ve never looked at baseball as just a game. It’s always been like, “What can it teach me?” What can I learn from failure, what can I learn from adversity, what can I learn from success? It’s a hard game. In order to be successful, you gotta know what success is and use your failure in order to prevent it from happening again. It’s just something that I’ve always loved to do. And I’ve always had that perspective of somebody else would love to be here right now. I don’t get to play this game forever. I’m 18 now. Just say I play ’til I’m 40. I’m almost halfway done. … When I look at it from that perspective, I’m gonna take advantage of every single game, every single opportunity of practice that I get to enjoy this, because it is what I love.

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When did you first realize that you were that Cal Ripken Jr. figure, that you felt you had to be in the lineup to make your team better?

I would say 12 is probably when I really started getting in that mindset. But when I started understanding it and learning it from Cal and going deeper with it, I would say like 14 and 15 years old. When I was 15, I played over 120 games in a summer. It’s a lot. I was like, I’m not gonna miss one. I’m gonna play every inning, every pitch. I’m not gonna take one pitch off. That’s when I really took it to heart and was like I need to be here for my team. … I take huge pride in my intangibles. I personally believe that’s the strongest point in my game, is the leadership, is the holding each other accountable, just being the captain of the team, being the coach on the field, in the game. Doing things like that. I feel like that’s what makes me super important to a team, to a program, to an organization. And that doesn’t stop on the field. It’s off the field, too.

Describe yourself as a baseball player and as a prospect?

What I just said. He has something that you can’t teach. That’d be what I’d write in bold. He has something that you can’t teach. There’s certain parts to a game — intensity, commanding the field — there’s parts that people don’t really see from the outside. But you play with somebody and there’s something different. He brings a sense of comfort, he brings a sense of urgency to everything he does and to his teammates. And he does a really good job of holding everybody together even when it looks like the ship’s sinking. He’s a comfort role that ultimately helps your team win. He helps you win more games. By having Dylan Cupp on your team, you will win more games. I’ve had coaches tell me that. … It’s a huge compliment and I take huge pride in it. Everybody sees the hitting and the fielding. Yes, I can pick it — I’m a really good shortstop. Yes, I can swing it. But to me, it’s the things that people don’t always see that are the most important.

Did you ever doubt you had the ability to make it this far?

Never, no. I always just told myself, like, dude — and excuse my language, but you’re a bad ass, dude. When you’re in a slump, go back and think about everything you’ve accomplished. You won a gold medal (with Team USA in the 2022 WBSC U-18 World Cup, a team for which he hit a walk-off single to clinch a spot in the gold medal game). You went to a Final Four with your high school team, you went to the Elite Eight before that, you won two regional championships, you’ve won Player of the Year. You’re a bad ass, dude, don’t forget that. I’ve never doubted myself. Now, have I been unsatisfied? Of course. I’m never gonna be satisfied. But there’s a big difference between being unsatisfied and being doubtful. And I’ve never been doubtful.

I think I know the answer to this question but has anyone ever said something negative about you that you’ve used as fuel?

When it comes to other people’s opinions, I couldn’t care less. Will I listen to your opinion and learn from your opinion? Yes. But I’m not gonna sit there and dwell on your opinion. … At the end of the day, everybody has an opinion. If I wanna sit here and listen to every single person’s opinion, I would absolutely be mind-screwed. I’d have millions, trillions of opinions if everybody had an opinion of me. I think it’s important to pick and choose.

What did you do in your offseason to prepare for this season? Did you do anything differently?

I would say the way I went about things was more intense.

Did you end up adding strength to your frame?

At the end of (Team) USA, the day that we won the gold medal, I was 170 pounds. Right now, if I weighed in, I’d be about 188. So I put on 18 pounds since September. It’s the right 18 pounds. It’s not squishy 18 pounds. It’s really good muscle. I’m not slower. I look really good. I’m just stronger. I can tell the difference when I play. When I swing, I can tell the difference. I’m happy with it. Of course, I’m not satisfied, but I am happy with it.

Is that the first time that you’ve been able to pack that much muscle on?

That’s the most muscle I’ve ever put on, most weight that I’ve ever put on, in that span of time. I think the next closest would be maybe like 10 pounds. I was 173 at the end of my sophomore summer and the first game of high school (the next year), I was 183. But we play so much in the summer that you lose it. It’s like starting all over again. You try to eat and keep working out to try to maintain it, but it’s hard. It’s hard. It’s a grind to get it back but you still feel so much better when you do.

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One of the reports about your summer was that you swung and missed a little much. Did you make any adjustments to your bat path to correct for that?

I went through a little spell late in the summer where baseball just got me. It happens. It’s one of those things where that’s why (the swing and miss) was pointed out, because I don’t swing and miss. That’s like one of the things (I take pride in). So it was weird. That’s the most I’ve ever swung and missed in my life. … I made some adjustments. We’ve played six games and I’m probably batting .530 right now in the high school season. I’ve made some adjustments. We’re continuing to get the mental game stronger. I’d say I made some adjustments, but nothing huge. You wouldn’t be able to look at me and tell the difference. But it’s a subtle change that’s made a good difference for me.

So the high swing and miss rate wasn’t something that was all that alarming to you?

I wasn’t freaking out about it. I understood. I didn’t struggle all summer. I really didn’t struggle the summer before. So it’s like, “Man, this is your first time struggling. Get hard and freakin’ figure it out.” I eventually did. And now during the offseason I got to really dial it in and pay really close attention to detail to what it really was. I got it figured out and everything feels really good.

(Top photo of Cupp: Courtesy Team USA)