This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

With Father’s Day coming up Sunday, I’m handing over most of this newsletter to Rays shortstop Taylor Walls, who recently took some time to share his experience as a relatively new baseball dad. Walls and his wife, Hallie, welcomed a daughter, Sutton, last April -- about a month before Walls made his Major League debut with the Rays.

Sutton is a regular at the ballpark these days, joining Hallie at Tropicana Field (often walking up and down the tunnel outside the home clubhouse immediately after games) and on the road. Approaching his second Father’s Day since Sutton was born, here’s what Walls shared about his first full year as a father and a big leaguer.

My wife loves coming to games, and we love bringing Sutton everywhere we go. I don't know that there's been one day where we haven't been with her -- or even four hours, for that matter. She's with us pretty much every second of the day. Hallie tries to get on as many road trips as possible, so she's always with us.

And pretty much since the day Sutton was born, she’s been on a journey.

Luckily, the Triple-A season was pushed back last year for a month. She was born about a week before the season started, which actually worked out perfect. But three or four days after she was born, I had to go to Durham, then fly to Memphis because we opened the season there. My wife ended up with her mom, drove to Virginia where she's from, and they stayed there for that week until I was done playing in Memphis -- and then they met me back in Durham after that first series.

So just the first two weeks she was alive: She was born in Tampa, then she went to Virginia, then Virginia to Durham. Then, about a week and a half later, from Durham to St. Pete when I got called up. She got the baseball travel life down in a hurry.

I don't really think it changed my outlook on baseball, but being a dad definitely changes your priorities. You know that you have something you feel like you have to protect every second of the day. She’s so special to me and my wife. You never know you can have that much love and affection toward something in this world until it happens.

I mean, as soon as I get home, everything that happens here at the ballpark kind of goes away. That is a very nice thing. If I go 0-for-4 with four strikeouts today, regardless, she's going to be grinning when I walk in. That's special. It's very nice. Comforting. Beneficial as a player, too, because now you're not carrying stuff off the field and back home.

Hopefully, I can create memories with her as she’s watching me play or traveling to different cities. Hopefully, those are things that she'll be able to remember when she grows up, and we'll have those memories together.

It's special. It gives you a different outlook on life, a different reasoning for why you're here, a different sense to wake up in the morning and kind of go about your business in a different way because everything you do doesn't just affect you anymore. It definitely changes your perspective and mindset toward … well, pretty much everything.