Aaron Invitational sport a ‘blessing’ for 44 highschool stars

ATLANTA — Before the Braves’ 8-6 victory towards the Brewers on Sunday at Truist Park, Atlanta heart fielder Michael Harris II met and spoke with the 2023 Hank Aaron Invitational class.

Harris wished the 44 gamers good luck and instructed them to have enjoyable, benefit from the second and hold working. It was a dreamlike second for the highschool children to fulfill final 12 months’s National League Rookie of the Year, who skilled this system in 2018.

“It was really cool seeing him before the game, especially him being a man of color and last year’s Rookie of the Year,” mentioned Bruce Wyche, who performs outfielder at Union Grove (Ga.) High School and dedicated to North Carolina A&T State University. “At first, it was surreal, but then the way he was interacting with us just goes to show he’s just another human being.”

Harris was among the many many esteemed friends that attended the Hank Aaron Invitational showcase sport. The 44 gamers stood out amongst greater than 200 individuals and have been drafted to 2 groups — Team Hank Aaron and Team Jackie Robinson — for the annual occasion.

Team Aaron received the seven-inning showcase sport, 4-3, which concluded “Hank Aaron Week.” The occasion gave the excessive schoolers an opportunity to show their abilities after two weeks of competitors, teaching and analysis on the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach.

“It’s just been a blessing, and it’s an honor to have ‘Hank Aaron’ across [my] chest knowing the type of player he was,” Lewisburg (Miss.) High School outfielder Sam Richardson mentioned.

After two scoreless innings, the sport turned a back-and-forth showdown. Team Aaron scored two runs within the third, because of Louisville commit Dennis Butler’s RBI triple and LSU commit David Hogg’s RBI single.

Team Robinson rallied with a two-run fifth inning. Fort Myers (Fla.) High School infielder Madrid Tucker plated Jadyn Fielder, son of six-time All-Star Prince Fielder, on a fielder’s selection and Trinity Christian Academy (Fla.) catcher Erik Soto hit an RBI single in his first plate look.

Team Aaron responded with a run by Summer Creek (Texas) High School outfielder Donovan Jordan, who scored on a wild pitch to take the lead within the backside of the fifth. Team Robinson countered with one other run, with North Carolina A&T commit Trey Lawrence hitting an RBI double within the high of the sixth.

The last run got here from Team Aaron’s Keenan Jabeth within the sixth. The Florida International University commit hit the go-ahead single to brief and beat out the throw to first.

“It was an amazing game,” Jabeth mentioned. “It went down to the wire. … It’s really a blessing to be out here with all this talent.”

The Hank Aaron Invitational has produced greater than 55 gamers which have been chosen prior to now 5 MLB Drafts. Some gamers embrace: Dillon Head (Padres), George Lombard (Yankees), Termarr Johnson (Pirates), Elijah Green (Nationals), Justin Crawford (Phillies) and Cam Collier (Reds).

There are greater than 200 alumni of this system which are enjoying baseball professionally in Minor League methods or in faculty.

“That’s the ultimate goal for these guys,” Team Aaron hitting coach and former Braves heart fielder Marquis Grissom mentioned. “They’re just like [when we were] kids. We had aspirations and dreams to make it to the Major Leagues and hopefully all of these guys can.”

“Hank Aaron Week” was full of many initiatives — “Cultural Day,” luncheons and volunteer initiatives — that honored the life and legacy of Aaron, and Sunday’s contest was the right method to cap it off.

“Anything related to Hank Aaron is near and dear to us because we love Hank,” Braves senior director of alumni relations Greg McMichael mentioned. “We know what kind of human being he was and what kind of great player he was. So to be able to showcase him and highlight some of the things that he’d done over his career — in his life — just kind of allows us to retell that story.”