LUT WILLIAMS BCSP Editor
Fifty (50) NCAA Div. I black college all- star baseball players will descend on Globe Life Field, home of the World Series Champion Texas Rangers, this Friday (July 12) for the 2nd HBCU Swingman Classic.
The all-star game, the brainstorm of Baseball Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr., is part of a four-day experience for the players that coincides with Major League Baseball’s All- Star week that culminates with Monday’s (July 15) All-Star game.
The Classic is a collaboration between Griffey, Major League Baseball, the Youth Development Foundation and the MLB Player’s Association (MLBPA) and is being presented by main sponsor, T-Mobile.
Over four days, the players will be provided opportunities to develop leadership and mentorship skills and eventually get a chance to show their skills on the diamond Friday (MLB Network, 7:00 p.m. CT/8:00 p.m. ET) before scouts and a national television audience on pro baseball’s biggest stage. The game will also be carried on MLB.tv, MLB.com, and the MLB app. Former Major Leaguer Harold Reynolds and David Sims will call the game.
“This is a celebration of HBCUs and black baseball at the collegiate level,” said Del Matthews, Vice President of Baseball Development for Major League Baseball. “It’s an opportunity to educate our fans about HBCU baseball, past, present and future.
“And hats off to Ken Griffey Jr., who allows us to use his name and brand to promote HBCU baseball – another impactful legacy for him and what he’s doing off the field to encourage the next generation of players coming through the game.”
Matthews, who played baseball at Texas Southern (1998-2000) and in the minor leagues, is the son of 17-year MLB veteran and all-star outfielder Gary Matthews Sr. and the brother of all-star outfielder Gary Matthews Jr., who had a 10-year MLB career. Two- time Major League all-star and World Series champion Dusty Baker, who also won a World Series (2022) with Houston during a 25-year
managerial career, is his godfather.
“Baseball is all our family has known,” said
Matthews. “I feel fortunate and blessed to go to work everyday doing something I know and love very well.”
For Kyle Walker and Cameron Bufford of Grambling State and catcher Canyon Brown of North Carolina A&T, the Classic is another opportunity before scouts and a national television audience to prove they are ready for professional baseball.
Walker, Bufford and Brown were the only HBCU products among 300 top high school and college prospects invited to the June 18- 23 MLB Draft Combine held at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. The Combine gave those players a chance to boost their stock headed into this year’s MLB Draft which begins on Monday (July 15).
Walker, a second baseman, stuffed the stat sheet for 2024 SWAC champion Grambling. The 5-9, 185-pound New Orleans native hit .381 on the season, third in the SWAC, and never hit below .370 during his four years playing for the G-Men. He was also tied for third in home runs (11) in the SWAC, was second in runs scored (72), tied for second in hits (77) and was third in total bases (122).
Bufford, a 6-3, 195-pound slugger from South Holland, Illinois, manned third base for the Tigers and finished his career as the all- time home run king at Grambling. He clouted double-digit home runs in each of his four seasons including ten this season to finish with 46 in his career. He drove in 219 runs and had a career .325 batting average.
Brown played catcher for the Aggies for the past three seasons. The Ormond Beach, Fla. native hit .322 this season and batted .292 with 18 home runs and 117 RBIs during his career. This season he had career-highs of 65 hits, 41 runs scored and 50 runs driven in.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff senior catcher Edwin DeLaCruz, who led the SWAC with a .428 batting average and was the league’s Hitter of the Year, is also on the Classic roster. He finished seventh in Div. I batting. Florida A&M junior outfielder Janmikell Bastardo tied for third in the nation with eight triples.
FAMU junior righthander Caleb Granger (10-2, 2.87 ERA), the SWAC Pitcher of the Year, and Grambling junior righthander Mason Martinez (12-3, 85Ks in 114 innings), who led the nation with five complete games, are the top pitching prospects in the game.
Thirty-six (36) of the fifty players selected for the Classic played in the SWAC. Any player in good standing with their university, regardless of classification including draft-eligible seniors were in the pool to be selected for the Classic.
“Four players from last year’s Classic were drafted in the 2023 Draft,” Matthews said. “This is going to show that these kids can play the game. We’re just trying to let kids know that there’s an opportunity for you to play college baseball, and if you have success and work hard, all you need is an opportunity.”
Major League Baseball has also sponsored the Andre Dawson Classic since 2008 where eight HBCUs play in a tournament at the beginning of the season, Matthews said.
“We have had conversations about how we (MLB) can impact (HBCUs), and now with NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) deals available for student-athletes, there are discussions and brainstormings on ways of how we can continue to help the HBCUs. But certainly through our foundations and non-profit arms of the league we’re trying to help the HBCUs to the extent that we can.
“So we’re doing our part hosting the HBCU Swingman Classic and providing another opportunity on television, at a major league facility at the all-star game for players of color to get into the game and have success.”
Griffey Jr., Hall of Famer Dave Winfield and former two-time Major League all-star and Florida A&M product Vince Coleman are expected to be on hand and in the dugouts for the Classic. Griffey was part of a selection committee for the Classic that included representatives from Major League teams and the MLBPA.
Coleman is an HBCU success story and blazed a path that many of these current players would like to emulate.
He was drafted in the 10th round of the 1982 MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals and went on to a productive 13-year MLB career, his first six with the Cards. He posted over 100 stolen bases in his first three seasons and led the majors in steals for six consecutive seasons. He was a unanimous choice as the 1985 National League Rookie of the Year.
