York County's Brett Kinneman is the hottest thing in college baseball, could go pro

It was a discordant snapshot to the most promising of seasons to come.

To the hottest hitting in all of college baseball.

Who would believe it now? Brett Kinneman started 0-for-8 at the plate in 2018.

Eight at-bats, eight outs.

And then, just like that, everything he had worked for since those PIAA title-winning times at West York showed itself in a rush of success even he could never have predicted.

The junior left fielder at North Carolina State began the most torrid hitting display in the country, one that may only now be simmering a bit.

He still leads the nation with 32 RBIs and 76 total bases.

He's tied for the lead with 11 home runs.

All of it has helped pushed the Wolfpack (18-3) to a Top 15 ranking and their best baseball start in 19 years in the powerful Atlantic Coast Conference.

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"Hitting comes down to timing, and that's really been good for me the last three or four weeks," Kinneman said. "And to be honest with you, the wind's been blowing out a little bit. I've just been ... fortunate enough to get some lift on some balls."

He credits his stunning start to cleaning up his swing and "trying to do the little things better" since ending a solid but unspectacular sophomore season.

Watch, another York County native on the national stage (story continues below):

His hitting approach has been aimed at "contact rather than always swinging to hit the ball 500 feet, which has helped me."

The results have earned him national notoriety as the ACC season deepens and the Major League Baseball Draft approaches (June 4-6).

Twice, he was named Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week. Then came National Player of the Month honors by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

At the heart of it is this stunning display: During a 16-game stretch, Kinneman batted .456 (31-of-68) and hit 10 of his home runs — matching his season total from all of last year.

Overall, the left-handed hitter owns .371 average for the Wolfpack — .407 if you take out that 0-for-8 anomaly to start things.

His father, Greg Kinneman, coaches the Dallastown High baseball team, which played for a state title last year.

"I think Brett has always been a power hitter," his father said. "You're seeing the maturing process of a hitter where the bat speed and the power have always been there."

But his plate discipline needed to improve. "Now he's working counts where he can get his pitch," his father said. "When he's getting that pitch, he's making the most of it."

Only in last weekend's impressive three-game sweep of Clemson did Kinneman cool a bit. After homering on his first swing of the series, he managed only one more hit.

His headlining start leads nicely toward the MLB Draft, where he may decide to go pro and forego his final season of college baseball.

"Yeah, it's close and a dream I've always had," he said. "But I also have a dream to win an ACC title and go to Omaha (to the College World Series), and that's certainly more important now.

"I just have to kind of block out that noise a little bit."