San Diego Union-Tribune

THAT NEED TO SUCCEED

Padres prospect Trammell comes from family where working hard is expected

- BY JEFF SANDERS

“I’m never really satisf ied. I’m always working toward something.” Taylor Trammell • On his baseball work ethic

WPEORIA, Ariz. alter Trammell spent more than nine years in the Navy as a linguist. After a stretch in the private sector, he wound up at the post office in 1993 and has been there ever since.

He clocks in at 4:30 a.m. for each shift. More often than not, he stays longer than eight hours.

Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

At 59 years old, Walter Trammell is eligible for early retirement later this year and nothing would please his youngest son more than to finally see his father fish whenever he likes.

It’s an ongoing conversati­on Padres prospect Taylor Trammell won’t win anytime soon.

“Oh, he tries,” Walter Trammell said with a laugh, “but I’m a worker.”

All the Trammells are.

The youngest son in a blue-collar family, Taylor Trammell was the Reds’ first-round pick the same year he was Georgia’s high school football player of the year. He has been an all-star in the Florida State and Southern leagues. He’s twice been invited to All-star Futures Games in big-league stadiums and was the MVP in one of them. His ceiling as an athletic defender with plate patience and room to grow into some power has Trammell ranked among the top 30 prospects in all of baseball. Impressive stuff, to be sure. Of course, the way Trammell was raised, the 22-year-old outfielder knows he ain’t done nothing

 ?? K.C. ALFRED U-T ?? Young Padres outfielder Taylor Trammell, bunting during a spring training workout Thursday, has an outlook that is labor intensive.
K.C. ALFRED U-T Young Padres outfielder Taylor Trammell, bunting during a spring training workout Thursday, has an outlook that is labor intensive.

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