The Jeremy Hazelbaker "Regret Nothing" Scholarship
Jeremy Hazelbaker: Road to the Red Sox
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From the Cornfield to the Outfield
Jeremy Hazelbaker makes the transition from an Indiana farm to the Red Sox farm system.
By Amanda Richardson
[email protected]
April 24, 2012
SELMA, Ind.--The tiny town of Selma is a stereotypical Indiana town of cornfields and farms. Located just six miles east of Muncie, the almost 900 people who call Selma home are a close-knit community.
Such small town charm can be hard to leave behind. But, that’s just what Jeremy Hazelbaker has had to learn to do. The Boston Red Sox drafted Hazelbaker in 2009, during his junior year at Ball State University, and overnight his world changed.
“My support group, everything around me…when I had a game my whole family was there. It’s different now,” Hazelbaker said.
Now his world is consumed with baseball. And, as with any young adult’s first job there is an awakening to the ways of ‘the real world.’
“In college everything is set up for you. You’ve got your classes and baseball. Here it’s all baseball all the time. Eat, sleep and breathe baseball,” Hazelbaker said.
Life outside of baseball is different, too. New players have to adjust to a life on the road and no place to really call home. All of the comforts of a small town, or any town, are gone. Hazelbaker said the hardest part of playing professional baseball is not getting to be home.
“Now I’m gone eight months out of the year playing baseball and then the other four months I’m usually traveling or doing something else for training, so I’m gone most of the time and not getting to see any family, that’s tough.”
With his old support system gone, Hazelbaker has had to turn to a new support group, his teammates. As he puts it himself, “everybody here is going through the same thing...we kind of have each others backs.”
But, luckily for Hazelbaker his support group contains a familiar face. His former teammate at Ball State and good friend, Kolbrin Vitek is now also a Red Sox. They haven’t always been together, but this summer they are reunited in Portland, Maine, at the Double A Portland Sea Dogs.
“It’s fun having somebody that I have a past history with,” Hazelbaker said.
Even though he’s thousands of miles from home, Hazelbaker is ready to start his third season of professional ball. Despite the challenges and the changes Hazelbaker is still learning. But, he remains a Hoosier forever at heart.
“I’m a small town kid from Indiana. That’s my background, really, a small town kid coming from the middle of nowhere to all of this, and it’s different, but it’s awesome.”
[email protected]
April 24, 2012
SELMA, Ind.--The tiny town of Selma is a stereotypical Indiana town of cornfields and farms. Located just six miles east of Muncie, the almost 900 people who call Selma home are a close-knit community.
Such small town charm can be hard to leave behind. But, that’s just what Jeremy Hazelbaker has had to learn to do. The Boston Red Sox drafted Hazelbaker in 2009, during his junior year at Ball State University, and overnight his world changed.
“My support group, everything around me…when I had a game my whole family was there. It’s different now,” Hazelbaker said.
Now his world is consumed with baseball. And, as with any young adult’s first job there is an awakening to the ways of ‘the real world.’
“In college everything is set up for you. You’ve got your classes and baseball. Here it’s all baseball all the time. Eat, sleep and breathe baseball,” Hazelbaker said.
Life outside of baseball is different, too. New players have to adjust to a life on the road and no place to really call home. All of the comforts of a small town, or any town, are gone. Hazelbaker said the hardest part of playing professional baseball is not getting to be home.
“Now I’m gone eight months out of the year playing baseball and then the other four months I’m usually traveling or doing something else for training, so I’m gone most of the time and not getting to see any family, that’s tough.”
With his old support system gone, Hazelbaker has had to turn to a new support group, his teammates. As he puts it himself, “everybody here is going through the same thing...we kind of have each others backs.”
But, luckily for Hazelbaker his support group contains a familiar face. His former teammate at Ball State and good friend, Kolbrin Vitek is now also a Red Sox. They haven’t always been together, but this summer they are reunited in Portland, Maine, at the Double A Portland Sea Dogs.
“It’s fun having somebody that I have a past history with,” Hazelbaker said.
Even though he’s thousands of miles from home, Hazelbaker is ready to start his third season of professional ball. Despite the challenges and the changes Hazelbaker is still learning. But, he remains a Hoosier forever at heart.
“I’m a small town kid from Indiana. That’s my background, really, a small town kid coming from the middle of nowhere to all of this, and it’s different, but it’s awesome.”
Jeremy Hazelbaker on...
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...being away from home.
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...playing with good friend Kolbrin Vitek.
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...his favorite place to spend time in Muncie.
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