What do you think pushed you to get to where you are right now? How has this affected your success?
Ever since I was a kid I’ve always played sports and I have grown up around athletes, I’ve always seen my brothers playing sports so it just has been what I’ve always wanted to do. My brothers pushed me because I wanted to be like my family and play any form of sports and follow in their footsteps. This affected my success positively because I don’t know and have never done anything else and that pushed me to excel in my sport.
How long have you been playing baseball, what position do you play, and what challenges have you faced?
I have been playing baseball since I was like six or seven, I play Centerfield mostly but I play left and right as well and there are not any major challenges in the outfield especially cuz I’m fast so that is less challenging for me but hitting is like the number one challenge because it is about having a lot of confidence and being okay with failure so you have to be able to fail six out of ten times and still be okay with what you’re doing.
What are your personal and team goals for the baseball season this year? My personal goal is mainly just to get more exposure because I’m a sophomore so this is an important year to start getting myself out there. I want to hit well and have good stats but that’s mainly it for my personal goals. As far as team goals the team made it to the state championships so now I feel like that’s the standard. To get back to state.
Was there any moment where you felt the pressure of a big game and how did you handle it?
During the AP game in the bottom of the 7th inning, it was a tie game which is like an important game because they’re leading competitors. I had to lead off the inning and the important thing about leading off the inning is you want to get ahead with no outs and I had to get a hit. So when I got up I definitely felt the pressure. In the end, I got up to hit and then I scored because Adrian hit me in.
What do you have to say to incoming freshmen and sophomores who aim to be on varsity?
It’s not just about skill. Especially in this program, you want to have good personal statistics but a lot of what Coach Farner and the coaching staff want us to do is be good teammates and also follow his plan and be coachable. Being ready for a varsity team involves a lot of team chemistry and accountability.
In your opinion, what have you learned about yourself through playing baseball?
I have learned I have to be able to accept that I’m not always going to be perfect. I just have to be able to shake stuff off and move on to the next thing and not think about it too much.
If you could go back to freshman year what would you change?
Just how seriously I took it when I first started. I started on JV and I just thought I was better than that because I thought I was good enough to be on Varsity. But that attitude was what was holding me back from getting pulled up in the first place.
How do you balance school and baseball?
I play sports year-round so while I am at school I try to get as much done as I can. I don’t have a lot of homework so it’s kind of just practice games and school.
What do you think makes a great baseball player?
Being able to accept feelings of loss. A lot of people cannot; they’re just too stuck up on what they did in their past. Like after a bad play, they let it affect the rest of the game so I feel like a lot of it is just flushing out the bad stuff because it’s going to happen.
What motivates you to stay focused and try your hardest during practices and games?
I do not have any other plans for after high school so this is it. Baseball is all I got so that’s kind of my motivation. I don’t know what else I want to do but play baseball at the next level.
