MLBPlayers411: Wil Myers sports political endorsement

August 1st, 2016

By the roar of the home crowd, you'd think Wil Myers was the mayor of San Diego during All-Star Weekend.
The outfielder and first baseman from Thomasville, North Carolina, received a formal political endorsement, however, when he was just five years old playing tee-ball.
The mayor of Thomasville was at Myers' game when he turned to a stranger and said, "That boy right there is going to play in the Major Leagues one day,"
The stranger? Myers' father, Eric, of course.
"I just kind of smiled," said Eric. "I didn't tell him who I was, but he turned out to be right."
Myers attended Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point, where he pitched his team to a state title his junior year. In the first game of the best-of-three state championship, Myers pitched all seven innings in rare fashion. He pitched the first six as a starter before being moved to shortstop for the seventh. When his team's new pitcher started to struggle, Myers returned to the mound. He made the final three outs by inducing a double play and recording a strikeout.
"It was the highlight of my baseball career at that point," Myers said.
Myers committed to South Carolina during his junior year, but the Major Leagues had other plans for him. He was the 91st overall selection of the 2009 draft, taken by the Kansas City Royals as a catcher.
Eric Myers knew his son had a knack for the sport when he bought a plastic bat and ball for Wil at the age of three.
"He would just unload on the ball in the house at three years old!" said Eric.
In 2010, 15 years after the mayor of Thomasville predicted Myers' future, he was called up to play for the Tampa Bay Rays on none other than Father's Day.
Myers went on to become the 2013 AL Rookie of the Year despite only playing in 88 games. He was the first player to win the award to play in fewer than 100 games until Carlos Correa would accomplish the feat in 2015, playing 99 games.
In December 2014, Myers was traded to the San Diego Padres. The kid from North Carolina has now solidified his spot in the hearts of San Diego fans, becoming a first-time All-Star and even participating in the Home Run Derby in his home ballpark this season. And along the way, he helped a politician deliver on a "promise."
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More from #MLBPlayers411:

  • Growing up, Myers played baseball, basketball, football and soccer.
  • He holds an annual charity wiffle ball tournament during the offseason.
  • Myers' first home run was a grand slam at Yankee Stadium, making him the youngest player to do so since Ken Griffey Jr. in 1991 (22 years and 194 days).
  • In 2012, Myers joined Andruw Jones and Josh Beckett as the only players to be named Minor League Player of the Year by three different organizations: Baseball America, USA Today and Topps.
  • Myers' family was in attendance at his Triple-A Durham game the day he was called up. "He didn't come out of the dugout that next inning, and we got a little concerned," Eric recalled. "Then he called his mom and told her. It was pretty exciting, but we had to keep it quiet until we got outside the stadium!"
  • He has one younger brother, Beau, who plays on the Appalachian State baseball team. Beau threw to Wil during this year's Home Run Derby, hitting Wil with one of the pitches.