A look at Lakeside High Alum’s journey to baseball minors

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Every kid who picks up a bat or a glove dreams about one day hearing their name called and making it to the big leagues.

After years of climbing the ranks, Lakeside High School and the University of Georgia Alum Will Childers has gone from right down the road in Evans to playing minor league baseball for the Carolina Mudcats.

In June, during his second outing after being promoted, Childers had the chance to take the mound against his hometown team the Augusta GreenJackets.

Between dealing with multiple major injuries throughout his college career and going undrafted, the process of getting to the minors didn’t go as he originally planned.

But when it was all said and done, he ended up g with the Milwaukee Brewers- the team that once upon a time drafted his dad.

“Growing up, my buddies, once I started playing well were like, ‘What team do you want to get drafted by?’ I was kind of like, ‘The Braves’ you know, but I’ve always kind of said the Brewers would be cool,” said Childers. “So, for it to work out the way it did was pretty awesome. I really wanted to hear my name called, but I also understood I hadn’t really pitched in three years, two back-to-back elbow surgeries, and the Brewers called they sounded really hopeful and made a case that they believed in me, which I believe they do.”

Recently, there had many rule changes to America’s favorite pastime, including the pitch clock, which impacts the way pitchers like Childers approach the game every time they step on the mound.

“I’d say like nine times out of ten, I’m a fan of it, but there are sometimes for sure, where there’s a runner on base, like, you’ll shake a sign, shake a sign, and then the next thing you know, you look up and there’s two second left on the clock. So, you’ve got to either hurry up or step off, but overall, I think it’s definitely more catered to the offensive game. With a limited amount of pickoffs, bigger bases like you said for stolen bases and whatnot,” said Childers.

Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.