STARKVILLE — Starkville Academy’s Kyle Faver is the kind of player that puts in the extra work. Coach Brooks Roberts saw it all the time.
“On Saturdays, I’m driving by to turn the sprinklers on or something and he’s out there hitting,” Roberts said. “His work ethic is very contagious, that’s what I’m going to remember most about him.”
For three years as a starter, that drive made the Starkville Academy baseball program better; now that drive is what got him an opportunity to play for Blue Mountain College. Favor signed with the Toppers Friday.
“I’m really excited about the opportunity to see what I can do at the next level,” Faver said. “I really enjoyed high school sports and sports is all I’ve ever known, so I’m really excited to play at the next level.
“It’s always been my goal to play college baseball. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I’m blessed that I get to play at Blue Mountain.”
Through his dedication to the sport, Faver developed a skill that Roberts sees as the clear reason he was granted a chance to play in college — the same skill that earned him a starting spot as a sophomore.
“Really good at the plate, that’s what jumps out when you first watch him: kid can hit,” Roberts said. “He can hit 95 (miles per hour), he can hit 65; he can hit a curveball, he can hit a changeup; inside, outside, it doesn’t matter.
“He can figure (a defensive position) out later. If you can hit, someone will get you.”
Faver thinks he will play in the outfield for Blue Mountain, another skill he flashed to this exact coaching staff before he signed.
Faver said he played for a member of the Blue Mountain coaching staff over the summer, his first exposure to the school and he left the summer with a promise that the school was looking at him. He visited campus roughly a month ago, when he got a scholarship offer, and decided last week that it was the place for him.
He joins a signing class not lacking on local talent, as high school teammate Will Holley and the Oak Hill Academy duo of Collins Brown and Dylan Scott signed last week. Comfort should be easy to find in the locker room, leaving just comfort on the field for Faver to attain; Roberts doesn’t see that as being a problem.
“I think he’ll have no problem hitting at the next level. There’s going to be an adjustment period, there always is, but that adjustment period is not going to take very long,” Roberts said. “He’s a smart kid, he knows how people want to pitch him and he knows how to get people to defer to him, to give him his pitches.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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