EMERSON,
Ga. – Wil Myers is no stranger to Perfect Game events, having
played in multiple with the North Carolina based team, the Dirtbags.
Obviously, he experienced great success with these events, having
been drafted in the third round by the Kansas City Royals and then
going on to win a Rookie of the Year award in 2013 with the Tampa Bay
Rays.
But
Myers’s affiliation with travel ball would not end after his name
was called in the draft. In 2013, what was formerly known as Yak
baseball, became WM9 baseball. Nomar Garciaparra’s GBG baseball
joined forces with WM9 during the beginning of its formation, but as
of late WM9 has been trying to do their own thing. This weekend,
multiple WM9 teams are competing in the WWBA Memorial Day at
Lakepoint tournament in hopes of taking the right steps towards elite
status among all travel ball programs in the country.
The
idea to start his own travel ball program came to Myers when he was
playing in the minor leagues, and once he finished his rookie year,
he decided it was time to take the idea that he had always envisioned
in his mind and make it a reality by forming WM9. WM9 offers teams
ranging from the age groups of 8u to 17u, with two teams for every
age group, and their signature team is the 15u team who is ranked in
the top 25 among all 15u travel ball teams.
Their
focus is to teach the kids sound baseball fundamentals; such as
aggressive base running, conservative pitch counts, and giving 100
percent effort at all times. WM9 holds their camps and team practices
at High Point batting center, which is owned by WM9 14u coach Chris
Smith and his brother, Scott.
“We
have a great coaching staff who is teaching the kids the necessary
fundamentals of the game, but also teaching them life lessons at the
same time,” said Chris Smith. “We do our best to try to help
these kids find their way through travel ball, high school ball,
college ball, and hopefully beyond, such as Wil has done.”
Even
though Wil Myers is an elite Major League baseball player with an
extremely limited amount of time on his schedule, he is still able to
find the time to come to the camps and individual team practices and
personally teach these kids the brand of baseball that he and his
coaching staff believe in. Myers also helps with sponsors, and
supplying their players with top notch baseball equipment; such as
Max Bat, his particular wood bat of choice.
“These
kids look up to him,” continued Smith. “To the parents, kids and
everyone involved, it’s really special to see someone in the big
leagues care as much as he does. His commitment to bettering these
kids as athletes and young men is something that you don’t see
every day from someone who is as busy as he is.”
The
rare thing about having Myers so involved with the program is that he
is able to take his knowledge and experience in the pros and provide
these young players with unmatched insight. Myers is constantly
learning new strategies and methods to better himself as a ball
player, and he passes that new found knowledge to his players as he
learns it himself.
WM9
is not only focused on teaching these kids the most effective way to
play the game, they are also committed to teaching these kids how to
be benefactors to society. WM9 checks report cards during the school
year every nine weeks to ensure that their players are excelling in
class, not just on the field. Academia is something that WM9 puts a
lot of emphasis on, as well as giving back to the community.
“We
try to teach the kids about the importance of helping out and
volunteering around the community,” said Coach Smith. “Playing
good baseball is always the goal, but it is also extremely important
that these kids learn how to exhibit good character.”
Although
WM9 has experienced recent success as of late in multiple different
state and national tournaments, one of the program’s, and Smith's,
main desires is to achieve consistent success at Perfect Game events.
“Accomplishment
wise, we’ve won our fair share of state tournaments and have
received some accolades that we’re proud of, but these big Perfect
Game tournaments are what we really gear up for. We want to do more
in tournaments like the one in Jupiter and Fort Myers (Fla.), so I
guess you could say our best accomplishments are yet to come.”
Winning
this weekend’s Memorial Day tournament at Lakepoint would be a
fantast achievement, and they are certainly an intriguing program to
watch for.