Wednesday was a great day for Lee Boyd and Buddy Wyers.
The New Hope High School baseball coach and the former West Point High baseball coach had plenty of stories to relate after learning former NHHS standout Will Golsan and former WPHS multi-sport standout Steffon Moore were selected on the third and final day of the annual Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft.
The Tampa Bay Rays selected Moore, a 6-foot-3, 185-pound left-handed junior pitcher from the University of West Alabama, with the 780th overall pick (26th round), while the Colorado Rockies chose Golsan, a 6-foot, 190-pound senior from Ole Miss, with the 786th pick (26th round).
“What set him apart was his work ethic,” Boyd said. “He would do anything to play. He was always in the cages. He played shortstop for us because he was the best we could put there. When he got to Ole Miss, he played every other position than shortstop.”
As a junior at New Hope High, Golsan hit a team-best .541 with 18 doubles, three home runs, and 21 RBIs. He also was 3-0 with a 0.81 earned run average and 44 strikeouts. His performance helped him earn Class 5A Player of the Year honors from the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA). As a senior, Golsan hit .398 with 19 RBIs, seven doubles, four triples and 42 runs scored. For his career, he was a .416 hitter with four home runs, 59 RBIs, 34 doubles, six triples, and 113 runs. He played an integral role in leading New Hope High to the program’s first back-to-back state titles (Class 5A) in 2013 and 2014.
Golsan said after the second championship that the 2014 new Hope team prided itself on being the hardest working team in the state. He brought that mind-set to Oxford and wound up playing in 237 games at virtually every position. This past season, Golsan, who was a team captain and started in center field, was a Senior CLASS Award candidate and hit .304 with 13 doubles, two triples and four home runs. He drove in 48 runs and was the team leader in two-out RBIs. Golsan also earned Southeastern Conference All-Tournament team honors after hitting over .400 to fuel the team’s conference title run.
“Will was just one of those guys who it seemed like every game he was extremely consistent,” Boyd said. “He was one of those guys who played really, really hard and had a competitiveness about him. … He was just a quiet leader. When one of your better players hustles and is one of your hardest workers it just rubs off on everybody else.”
Wyers, who coached Moore at West Point along with Blake Hutchison, the school’s current baseball coach, has similar memories of Moore, who went on to play two years at Itawamba Community College in Fulton before moving to West Alabama.
“The first thing about Steffon and most other kids that have some success is they are more than capable and well ahead of the curve from the shoulders up,” Wyers said. “Steffon was a very smart young man. Steffon made good grades, is a really good kid, and made good decisions and good choices. He never got in trouble.”
Moore was 4-5 with a 5.60 ERA in 13 games (10 starts) this past season at West Alabama. In 45 innings, he allowed 29 hits, walked 51 and struck out 76. At ICC, Moore was 9-5 in 23 games. At West Point, Moore caught 52 passes for 1,014 yards and 10 touchdowns in his football career. He went 1-1 with a 3.55 ERA In 14 games as a senior.
Wyers said he talked to Moore several times in the last few weeks and said Moore realized he had a chance to be selected. He said Moore continues to blossom as a pitcher and has raised his velocity from the mid-80s in high school to the low to mid-90s in college.
“There was no doubt he had some very, very, very good stuff when it came to pitching,” Wyers said. “In high school, probably his biggest fault was he threw a lot of pitches, which I think carried over some to college. There is no doubt he has the stuff to get on the mounds and get outs, even at the level going to.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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