June 10th, 2024
Rick Farlow
ATLANTA -- Fifty high school baseball players participated in a once-in-a-lifetime experience this weekend at Truist Park.
The Braves hosted their third annual Native American All-Star Baseball Showcase, and on Saturday, 50 top high school baseball players of Native American descent went through a pro-style workout on the field at Truist Park.
Saturday’s workout was followed by a home run derby. On Sunday, the players were split into two 25-man teams for a seven-inning All-Star contest.
The pro-style workout, executed by the Marquis Grissom Baseball Association, gave players a chance to work on fielding and take batting practice on the Braves’ home field. The workout ran for about an hour before the home run derby began.
Based on batting practice performance, a select few players participated in the home run derby following the workout.
Greg McMichael was a Brave for five of his eight MLB seasons, helping Atlanta to its 1995 World Series title. McMichael is now the Braves’ senior director of alumni relations & growing the game and is heavily involved in the Native American All-Star Baseball Showcase, which began in 2022.
“This is very unique because we’re the only ones that do it,” McMichael said. “I’m really proud of the fact that we have given 50 young men an opportunity to come and play on a big league field to get some exposure from some great coaches and mentors.”
Twenty-plus tribal affiliations from 16 states and Canada were represented. Michael Stopp is the Executive Director of the Native American Athletic Foundation, and the foundation has partnered with the Braves in spearheading the event’s planning and execution. Stopp also acts as an advisor to Braves president and CEO Derek Schiller about Native issues.
“The Braves have been great partners with Indian Country,” Stopp said. “This was the brainchild that came out of that working group. This is our third iteration. It gets better every year. The kids always have a great time and they learn.
“One of the best things they do is not just the professional clinic they had [Saturday], but talking to recruiters and scouts and understanding how their thought processes work. Then, playing in a Major League stadium, they love it.”
The student-athletes received Major League coaching during the showcase as five Braves alumni -- Grissom, Johnny Estrada, Terry Pendleton, Terry Harper and Jerome Walton -- were tabbed as coaches for the weekend.
“I love that, from an alumni perspective, we have guys that want to give back in that way,” McMichael said. “Marquis’ group is working with us. We’ve done it all three years. ... We have a really healthy relationship with all of our alumni.”
Stopp explained the player selection process.
“We work with Greg and his office here at the Braves,” Stopp said. “We really get started in January putting together the logistics. We do a lot of marketing through Facebook, through tribal news sources to get the word out. Then [the players] do an application process on the Braves’ website. Then our mentor coaches go through the film and the players to determine who really are the star players.”
Saturday wasn’t just a learning experience for the student-athletes. During the workout, about 10 mentor coaches participated in an hour-long question-and-answer session with former players McMichael and Collin McHugh, former Emory University head baseball coach Mike Twardoski and Braves scout Alan Butts.
“We try to do something just for the mentors because they volunteer their time to come here and be a part of this,” McMichael said. “They’re not getting paid. They want to see these young people get better. We’re kind of aligned in that because they are the ones who helped us start this. We wanted to do something just for them.”
“That is the other thing that I love so much about what Greg puts together here,” Stopp said. “[We] have that time where he really does pay attention and invests into our mentor coaches, who are the ones who are going back [to their communities]. Maybe the kids who didn’t get picked for this game, [the mentor coaches] are still going back and investing in the kids for next year and years after that. We want to get as much experience and exposure as we can to Native coaches as we do with Native players.”
Following the home run derby, student-athletes and their families gathered for lunch and a question-and-answer session with former players, coaches and scouts.
