DII Report ™️: Meet the Doctor of Home Runs, Lubbock Christian's Brevin McCool

The DII baseball player-of-the-year profiles continues with the Chaps' big-time slugger.

Last week, I started a look at some DII baseball players that I think have a real chance at winning the Tino Martinez Award as player of the year. We started with Regis’ Adam Paniagua, who is among the DII leaders in home runs and run production. Today, we shift our focus to the dude — and the way he’s hitting, that’s what he is — that is leading DII in home runs, Lubbock Christian’s Brevin McCool.

Brevin McCool by the numbers

McCool is just a small town boy, growing up in Hobbs, NM. As a high schooler he earned first team All-State honors, but when COVID hit, offers became scarce. He committed to Lubbock Christian and has improved each year.

Listed at 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, the corner infielder has been a model of consistency. He became a full-time starter in 2023 and hit over .375 with exactly 14 home runs in both 2023 and 2024 — increasing his run production in both seasons. Then came 2025.

McCool 2025 (through April 23)

.431 batting average * 1,572 OPS * 13 doubles * 28 home runs (1st in DII) * 77 RBI (3rd in DII) * 66 runs scored (6th in DII) * 1.034 slugging percentage (1st in DII)

Brevin McCool in his own words

Wayne Cavadi: Let's start where it all began and how you wound up at Lubbock Christian.

Brevin McCool: As I was looking for somewhere to go to school, I got caught up in the whole COVID ordeal. A lot of the options that I had on the table began to fall off. LCU was an option that was always there for me. I knew the coaching staff just from living close by. I actually committed after my senior year was over. That was pretty late. Based on all my options, weighing both academics and baseball and a good place to live, Lubbock always felt like home to me, so I felt like LCU was the right fit.

WC: It's certainly been working. If you're just looking at the stats, you've gotten better and better every year. Obviously, one of the big things that everybody could see this year is the power. But an impressive thing to me over the past two seasons is that you've walked more than you struck out. Let's nerd out a little bit and tell me as much as you can about your approach at the plate without giving too much away to opposing pitchers.

BM: I have never really seen myself — until probably the last year or two — as a power guy. I never hit more than, I think, four home runs in a year in high school. That's all I ever had in me. I didn't ever think that it would come to a point where I'd have the potential to be leading my conference or the nation in home runs — it's been a happy accident, if you will.

We've gotten to this point where my approach has always been keep myself in hitters' counts and be patient. I think that being able to really stick with that approach this year and not give away too many at-bats has really helped me do what I do. I feel like I'm at my best when I'm able to stick to my plan and not let the pitcher dictate the at-bat. So be aware of what I'm looking for in certain counts and not expanding outside of that gives me the best position to succeed.

And the low strikeouts — I've always been a hitter that's comfortable with two strikes. I don't make a lot of changes to my stance or anything with two strikes. I expand the zone of pitches that I may be looking for. And my goal is just always to hit something hard because I think the harder you hit the ball, the harder it is to get you out. It's worked for me. Everybody's approach is different in that case, but that's always been mine. Make sure I stick with my zone and then protect the plate and hit something hard late in counts.

WC: Two things came to my head as you were talking that I found interesting. First, you said you're comfortable in two strike counts, but there's certain hitters — if you go back to the Chuck Knoblauchs and the Derek Jeeters — that will work a count and love to see that nine pitch at bat, and there's other hitters that are aggressive right off the bat. Do you find yourself more aggressive or do you, like you were talking about, take what's given to you and you don't mind taking a few pitches?

BM: I've never minded taking a few pitches. I fall into a category that I think is unique, where I'm either going to be super aggressive and ambush early if I find something that I'm looking for, or it's going to be a long one. And that's just the role that I've grown into. If I don't get what I'm looking for early, I'm more than willing to stay in there as long as I can and make the pitcher work for it. The longer that he has to work at it, the more likely he is to make a mistake.

WC: I want to follow up on the power numbers. I find it interesting — you weren’t a power hitter in high school. Then the last two years, boom, a model of consistency. You had 18 to 20 doubles each year and 14 home runs each year. Then this year, obviously, you're on pace to best those numbers. What do you see ultimately as the difference? Is it just getting older and stronger, or is it changes to your strategy that have made you become one of the best power hitters in DII?

BM: I don't think there's been any major changes to my approach or anything like that. I have gotten a little bit stronger, a little bit more physical, which I think has helped with just being consistent over the course of the season and squaring up more balls. But I think really, going back to what I said earlier, just being able to stick with my approach has been a big thing, staying focused in all situations, all times of the game, and not letting the pitcher dictate my bats. I think as I get more experienced, I realize that the at-bat can go two ways. Either the pitcher is going to dictate the pace and what I'm going to do, or I'm going to dictate the pace and I'm going to swing at what I'm looking for. And so I just think whenever I'm in that second mindset, I'm able to be a lot more successful.

WC: As far as metrics goes, everyone loves exit velocity and all that stuff. How much of a role do metrics play in your preparation and your training, and how much is still good old-fashioned video and just watching pitchers pitch and knowing what they have?

WC: At LCU, we don't have access to a ton of those metrics. Every now and then, I've used exit velocities and launch angles in certain scenarios just to try and hone in my ball flight and make sure that I'm giving myself the biggest margin for error that I possibly can. I think that's been a big thing since I've been in college is being able to be early on a pitch or be late on a pitch, and still get quality contact and put a ball in play somewhere that I have the ability to do damage. That's been a big thing for me that technology has played a role in.

But without daily access to that stuff, a lot of it just goes back to good old fashioned video and checking my balance in the box, making sure that my head's not moving too much. I think those are two of my biggest things. The more still your head is when you're in the box, the more ability you have to see the pitch. I think that's always a big tell for me. When I'm inconsistent, I usually have a little bit more head movement than I should.

WC: Outside of a fastball right down the middle that you're waiting on, what's a pitch that you like to groove?

BM: For some reason, I've always enjoyed hitting breakers down in the zone. To be honest with you, it's not something that I typically go up there looking for, but it's something that every now and then I find myself reacting to. It's usually whenever I square one of those up, it's just a nice satisfying low line drive ball flight. I think it's fun to watch as I'm running the first base.

WC: Who is a player or maybe players that you've modeled your game after growing up?

BM: That's a really good question. I've never been a huge MLB fan. I always tend to follow players, whoever's hot, watch highlights, that sort of thing. But there's never really been one player that I model my game after.

I really like the guys that tend to be aggressive and play the game hard — guys like Harrison Bader that go and compete every day no matter where they're at. But he's more of a speed guy. I'm sure you can tell by the numbers, that's not necessarily the key point in my game.

It's a mixture of elements of several different players. I like watching guys that work counts. I like watching guys that will do damage on pitches up in the zone. So I think Pete Alonso, he's really good at attacking what he wants.

WC: I like that. Kind of a mega-player. You've spent your whole career in DII and in the era of the transfer portal, that's a special thing. What has made Division II such a special place for you?

BM: I think the ability to be at a school that truly values academics along with athletics. I think in my position, I came in with a lot of academic hours. I wanted to go to a school where I was able to get a good education and have a relationship with my professors. I think being in DII has allowed me to truly find the best blend of giving my all in the field and being able to devote time in the classroom as well and really embody what it means to be a student-athlete.

WC: I love to hear that. Last question for you: What's next? Are there pro dreams or —you talk about the academic — so obviously you're studying for a future career. What's next for you?

BM: I would absolutely love an opportunity to play professional baseball. That's been a dream of mine as long as I can remember. I would be remiss to turn down an opportunity to do so since that's always been my dream. But, I've been accepted to Texas Tech medical school for the upcoming fall. That's been a process that I've been going through for about the last two years, the applications, taking my admission tests. It was surely a challenge doing all that during baseball, but I got it done to the best of my ability and was fortunate enough to be accepted this past fall to start in August. I will be on the track to becoming a physician if nothing happens with baseball.