Cubs select a local kid
ScoutWalker will represent team during the draft
Rookie scout KeronnWalker will be among baseball royaltyMonday, when he represents the Cubs at the 2018 MLB Draft, joining his childhood idol, Hall of Famer Andre Dawson.
All 30 teams will have one or two representatives at the draft. The list of team reps includes three Hall of Famers, fiveMVPs and four Rookies of the Year. The White Sox will be represented by 2005 World Series heroes A. J. Pierzynski and Aaron Rowand.
Lukas McKnight, the Cubs’ assistant scouting director, informed Walker of the honor.
“It’s an honor, especially being from my hometown of Chicago,” Walker said. “This is going to be a great experience.”
Walker’s baseball journey capsulizes Major League Baseball’s aim of introducing the game to communities of color.
Walker, 39, was hired by the Cubs last offseason. He caught the eye of an MLB executive at one of the league’s “Breakthrough Series” camps. That executive referred him to the Cubs, who had an opening after the death of veteran scout Stan Zielinski.
“After talking to me and learning about my baseball background, the academy I started and about my knowledge of the game, they felt like I’d bring some value to the scouting team,” Walker said.
Walker, who grew up in Hyde Park, was a 43rd- round pick by the Kansas City Royals in 1999. He played professionally for six seasons, ending his playing career in 2004 after a stint with the independent Windy City Thunderbolts. He also coached the varsity baseball team at U- High from 2006 to 2013.
During that time, Walker founded the B. I. G. Baseball Academy, a nonprofit organization that teaches the game to players ages 4 to adult. It stands for Best Instruction Guaranteed.
One of the intangibles Walker looks for in players is the ability to rebound after making a mental error at a crucial time.
“I like to see a makeup,” he said. “I like to see if they are a great teammate or not. Any scout knows if you’re looking for a player to perform at the major- league level, of course you have to add the skill set, but they need to be able to handle the ups and down of the game.”
Many athletes from the black community who excelled at multiple sports — as Walker did in baseball and football — often pick football or basketball over baseball because of financial needs. Many college baseball programs offer only partial scholarships. Famously, White Sox Hall of Famer Frank Thomas played baseball at Auburn while on a football scholarship.
Baseball kept Walker centered while coping with his parents’ divorce. Walker’s mother, Ginni, a retired Chicago Public Schools teacher, was one of the founding members of the Hyde Park- Kenwood Little League.
“Baseball was a distraction for me,” he said. “I’d go to the park and play with my friends from sunup to sundown. There was nothing else. I just missed the video- game era. We only played video games when it was cold outside.”
Walker has a different take on how and why baseball seems to be unpopular in the black community. He believes it’s about year- round access to training.
Black participation in the majors, however, is trending upward, according to a USA Today report that said the number of black players on MLB rosters rose to 8.4 percent, the highest since 2012.
“These kids can now have yearround training,’’ Walker said. ‘‘ In the past, they didn’t play when it was cold outside. The kids who have access to baseball yearround aren’t necessarily better than city kids, they just have more reps.”