Jackie is a former travel ball teammate of my son's with the Richmond Braves 2008 team. Before that, he was on travel teams that played against ours in the early years in central Virginia.
It blows my mind to see someone you've known since he was 9 getting the big (and well deserved) star treatment. Happily, Jackie is a kid you can count on to keep his head on straight.
The first time I ever saw him play, he was his 9u team's CATCHER, just because he could handle the job and had their team's best arm. But he could always hit, and run too. It was only a matter of time before he gravitated to his natural position. I remember Jeff Roberts asking me if I knew of a premium outfielder for the Braves, and I told him there was one playing on his brother's JV team if they would just move him off SS (where they had him then) to where he belonged.
Wonder if I could get residuals?