CHICAGO -- An especially rewarding day took place for the Shomon family Nov. 20.
It had nothing to do with swing decisions or turning around a 100 mph fastball – nothing in relation to Derek Shomon’s new position as White Sox Major League hitting coach.
Micah Shomon, who turns 3 in March, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy about 1 1/2 years after his birth. He is developmentally delayed but very much on track and hitting benchmarks relative to his development, as described by his father, going through a great deal of therapy with Derek and his wife, Keriann, right by Micah’s side.
Speech has grown much better for Micah, who also uses American Sign Language and an iPad they call his talker.
If Micah is having trouble saying exactly what he wants to eat or who he wants to FaceTime, as examples, Keriann has programmed a bunch of buttons he can push to fully express his feelings. He is verbal, which brings the story back to this significant Thursday.
Micah had used one word at a time and a couple of weeks ago put together two words. But in the middle of that night, he was able to form a three-word sentence.
“He was verbalizing, ‘Mama, water please.’ Which was huge,” Derek said. “Keriann was super pumped about that. We were celebrating with him in the kitchen.
“So, yes, definite progress, for sure. He’s working his little tail off, and our therapists are super happy with his progress. They actually want Keriann to get involved in putting together a packet for new parents of children with CP. That’s a testament to her hard work, but really cool.”
Cerebral palsy, as the Shomon family understood it from early on, could range from something such as a hitch in Micah’s run not even noticed when he’s older to the far end of the spectrum, where there’s paralysis to a side of the body in some cases. Micah’s left-side ability was affected, but they see much more activity out of his left hand in terms of utilizing it and in general movement overall.
Micah loves watching baseball and started to hit off a tee last year. Now Micah’s love will be intertwined with dad’s return to his hometown team.
Derek grew up a White Sox fan and graduated in 2008 from Glenbrook South High School in the heart of Cubs country within Chicago’s northern suburbs. He vividly recalls Oct. 26, 2005, the day the White Sox beat Houston, 1-0, to complete a World Series championship. Full of confidence, Derek showed up at school ahead of Game 4 wearing a White Sox long-sleeve white shirt and breakaway White Sox pants.
Don’t forget the broom and dustpan brought along to mark the impending sweep.
“You know, I certainly wasn’t concerned about making it to class on time,” Derek said. “I was concerned to make sure everybody who saw me that was a Cubs fan, they saw me with my broom and dustpan walking through the hallways. I went against the grain.”
The White Sox fan became a White Sox coach after going through an extensive two-week October interview process, beginning with a 45-minute phone conversation with White Sox director of hitting Ryan Fuller. Derek accepted the job following an in-person meeting with general manager Chris Getz at Rate Field. There was that “Oh, wow” moment as Derek made the long drive back to his home in Hampshire, Ill., as he called his loved ones to share the news.
There was a big hug for Keriann upon returning home. Then he went out and picked up food. It marked a level-headed approach focused upon, “What’s next?” and, “How do we maximize the offseason?”
“She knows me, and we celebrated for a minute,” Derek said. “I told her I didn’t want to do anything crazy. Just let’s get our bearings about us and get ready to get to work.”
Derek will look for a place in Chicago to alleviate those 60-mile in-season commutes, but this new employment locale brings much more time with his wife and son. Even when he was working with the independent-ball Schaumburg Boomers, where he began as a bullpen catcher 14 seasons ago, there were extended stretches of being hours away on the road.
“It’s an unbelievable opportunity to know there are periods where I don’t have to wait multiple weeks, sometimes months, to see them. That part is super exciting,” Derek said. “Not everybody gets to do this, gets to have baseball as their job. That’s something I have fought for. I made a decision long ago as I was figuring out my way.
“I knew I wanted baseball as a career. It is very cool to have it as a job, to have it as a career and be able to provide for my family.”