The Little League World Series and the regional qualifiers leading up to it have become staples of the late summer sports calendar thanks to ESPN’s coverage of the event. It’s a respite from the monotony of the interminable MLB regular season, as we watch kids take the diamond and, on occasion, impress everyone with their skills.
Those that like the Little League World Series will usually tell you about there being a purity to the game that comes from kids playing the game they love, with the joy they get out of playing the game and even minor successes makes up for the quality of play. However, every few years there’s a dominant player that pops up and everyone takes notice, even those of us that aren’t normally all that intrigued by Little League baseball action.
This year, that player appears to be Jayce Blalock out of Georgia who hits the ball like a Little League Giancarlo Stanton. That is to say, he mashes baseballs. Blalock showed off that power in a regional game against South Carolina where he deposited a grand slam into the trees a good 150 feet beyond the fence in left field (which guesstimates to a 375-foot home run).
https://twitter.com/LittleLeague/status/894305579975548928
The best part is the announcers recounting the tale Blalock’s coaches told them about him being able to reach the trees, which they didn’t believe, and then he sent one out there on the next pitch. That ball would’ve been out of most every MLB ballpark, and not a cheap homer, either.
I hope Blalock’s squad makes it to Williamsport for the World Series and he has a chance to destroy baseballs on the big stage — I also hope he doesn’t get the Barry Bonds treatment from teams and just end up getting intentionally walked all the time. Blalock could be the hitting version of Danny Almonte. Someone so dominant that they become a national phenomenon out of the Little League World Series, but hopefully without an birth certificate scandal.
