Ready to step up
BASEBALL: DYLAN CAMPBELL, SR., STRAKE JESUIT
His first conversation with a major league scout remains surreal for Strake Jesuit’s Dylan Campbell. With baseball presently shut down, the COVID-19 outbreak is even affecting this summer’s MLB draft, which will be shortened to five rounds. Campbell’s options are open, but the allure of playing college baseball at the University of Texas is strong.
“I thought I would have the option to play baseball at the next level, speaking of college,” Campbell said. “I didn’t really think I would be considered by MLB teams to be drafted.”
Campbell posted a .367 batting average as a junior for Strake Jesuit with 12 doubles, three home runs, three triples, 20 RBIs, 23 runs and a .473 on-base percentage.
The senior is one of the Houston area’s best high school shortstops, but Campbell also built a lofty reputation on Friday nights in the fall. He rushed for 1,569 yards and 21 touchdowns for Strake Jesuit’s football team during the 2019 season. Campbell prefers baseball, but give him any ball, and it seems he will find a way. He played basketball until his freshman year in high school.
Campbell enjoys watching Astros shortstop Carlos Correa and White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson. In Anderson, last year’s American League batting champion, Campbell sees a passion for the game he wants to emulate in everything he does.
“I think it’s great he has no problem in showing how he feels about the game and his emotions,” Campbell said. “That’s one of the parts of the game that you have to have — that swagger, that emotion part of the game. That really drives me to play the game. And also, him being a black shortstop in MLB is really impactful to me.”
Campbell parallels Strake’s football success — a 10-win season and regional semifinal berth — with what he thought the baseball team would achieve this spring without the coronavirus outbreak.
Strake Jesuit made the UIL baseball playoffs last season for the first time since the 2016 team’s regional semifinal run. Campbell believes this year’s team had the opportunity for similar triumphs.
Campbell also was supposed to play in a summer league. That, too, is canceled.
Instead, he eagerly awaits his freshman season at Texas. And regardless if it is in the near or distant future, an MLB dream has a chance to be realized.