When South Carolina native Dalton Reeves realized his Major League Baseball dreams weren’t going to come true, it was difficult at first to adjust to a new routine of life.
From the time he was 4 years old, baseball was a part of his life. It was a passion he held dearly along with the rest of his family; his father, brother and grandfather all played college baseball. As a power hitter, catcher and first baseman, Reeves enjoyed a career of ball at three different colleges, had short stints in the American Association of Professional Baseball and the Banana Ball Championship League with the Visitors before hanging up his cleats for good. At 24, MLB scouts thought he was too old to be a serious prospect.
“MLB officials, they’re looking for 17- to 18-year-olds or 20- to 21-year-olds,” Reeves said. “Twenty-four or 25 is when they want you in Triple-A, ready to go to (MLB). That’s the beginning of your prime.”
Reeves has found new solace in the sport by way of teaching the up-and-coming youth players who are looking to get better in their spare time. He first started his baseball lessons in Lexington, South Carolina, where his family lives, and continued them when he moved to Starkville with his fiancee around a year ago. Helping those interested in getting better at baseball has also brought a new and exciting way to stay active in a sport he holds dearly in his heart.
“I don’t really have any regrets in my career. I feel like I had a really solid career and am proud of my career,” Reeves said. “… So just kind of switching to staying in shape and lifting and being able to impact different kid’s lives is something that really helped me along the way.”
College, Banana ball
Reeves fell in love with hitting and playing catcher at an early age and turned out to be pretty good at the sport, thanks to coaching by his dad and the rest of his family. Despite having the skill, his physical frame out of high school was only developed to the height of 6-foot-1 and only Erskine College, a Division II school, offered him an opportunity to play at the next level.
No one knew then he would bloom to 6-foot-5.
He played two seasons at Erskine from 2019-2021 where he hit .352 with six home runs and 28 RBI before transferring to Presbyterian College for two seasons. As a member of the Blue Hose, he played in 96 games and produced 93 hits, including 18 homers. He finished his career in the SEC ranks at South Carolina, which was his favorite college team growing up, where he hit .294 with 11 home runs. While going to school there, he finished up his master’s degree in mental performance. He took a swing at the MLB draft, but that “didn’t really work out.” He then played for the Lincoln Saltdogs in the AAPB for about half a season before moving on from playing baseball.
“I decided it was probably about time for me to hang it up,” he said. “I felt like I was giving it all I could.”
But soon after came an opportunity to play in the same league as the Savannah Bananas, a traveling entertainment baseball organization that has taken a different spin on the sport with its in-game dances and other performances. He was offered a six-week stint to play on the Visitors, which acts as a developmental team for the Bananas. He said he had a blast playing there.
“It was really like being a kid again,” he said. “It’s really what baseball in its purest form is about, having fun and whatever you can do for the fan because it’s fans first. They give you a lot of freedom, and you can be who you are and you can create whatever kind of character you want on the field. It’s nuts. Any kind of talent you have, they’re going to figure out how to get that into a game.”
He got into the fold pretty quickly with the Firefighters and pitched two ideas for walk-up dances that made their way onto the field.
Behind all the dancing and the showboating is a real game of baseball, though. Like in any league, teams are desperately trying to win.
“The walk-ups, the fan interactions and the skits, that’s all scripted, but it’s impossible to script baseball and there is a lot of good talent,” Reeves said. “Everybody can play, and we’re trying to beat everybody.”
Next-gen hitters
It’s a unique baseball background that’s provided him with a ton of experience that he’s trying to teach to the local youth.
“I mainly do hitting lessons. That’s kind of my forte,” he said. “I also do some catching and fielding. … I wanted to take guys that know the basics and kind of enhance them and reach their next level of the game. … It’s the basic fundamentals of a swing. A lot of times kids are kind of arm-heavy so they are swinging with their arms. I try to teach them to get into their hips and their legs because that’s what drives a swing.”
Reeves is also the general manager of Planet Fitness in Starkville and dabbles in social media content creation. He operates a TikTok account that has more than 166,000 followers where he mainly produces baseball-themed content. He’s a fan of the Atlanta Braves, along with the rest of his family and is also a supporter of the Dallas Cowboys.
“Unfortunately,” he said. “We say it’s our year, we have a good year, then choke in the playoffs.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
