Dakota is from Dunlap TN, about 30 miles NW of Chattanooga. He is a very competitive player and is a good athlete, he plays CF in school ball when not pitching though he may go into the infield next year with several graduating, covered a lot of ground in center. College coaches might be more interested in his travel ball work, but his HS stats have been updated through the postseason. They can be found at Chattanooga Times Free Press, preps, prep statistics: 4-3 pitching record, 3 saves, 46 IP, 24 hits, 19 BB, 1.22 ERA, 74 K (11.3 per seven inning average), 0.93 WHIP. He and a senior who will likely pitch juco usually saw the toughest opponents on the schedule, and Dakota had some bad luck at times, really had just 1 bad outing on the year which raised his ERA a bit-and the coach isn't the type to inflate or deflate numbers to make his guys look better. Against maybe the best opponent on the schedule he and the team were leading, he'd allowed 1 hit but a monsoon hit all at once and the lead and game were wiped out. The team had 2 other senior pitchers, before one was lost due to injury late, so there was no need to overwork anyone. The season ended this past Saturday.
Batting, he hit .485, 5th in a roughly 75-school media coverage area (Southeast TN and North Georgia), 42 RBIs (currently first though teams that go further in the postseason may have players surpassing that), 15 doubles (tied for second), 5 triples (first), 2 HR and 9 stolen bases. Those stats are for teams which submit their numbers to the paper, most of the strong teams do so.
Dakota also showed his ability in basketball, averaging 11 points and 7 rebounds on a 29-4 team that just missed the state tournament. He earned postseason tournament honors and played unselfish ball on a team with 4 seniors in their main 6, at least 3 who will go on to play various sports in college. He has one of the best long range shots I've seen in a while and isn't afraid to mix it up inside either.
No I'm not a relative, lol, but I am a friend of his father and mother and I'm pleased to see him move on to a high level. Just giving the fans there some of his athletic background.
Dakota's older brother Hunter (senior) may be one to watch later if he takes the junior college route. A Division I college coach recently was taking quite a few notes on him during a game while there primarily to see Dakota. In 100 AB, he hit .520 (first among players with a minimum number of AB), stole 55 bases (first by a wide margin, and those are not "he got to second via wild pitch so give him a steal" numbers like for some teams), hit 7 HR, 11 doubles, 2 triples and drove in 27, also walked 26 times.
The Chattanooga area doesn't produce as many players as some areas but generates its fair share when including players from both sides of the state line. Several senior and junior pitchers have signed with or committed to Division I programs now (Tennessee, Alabama, Clemson, others) with Dakota being the latest.