Hudson Valley Has Prospect Blooming For New York Yankees
Some athletes are like fine wines or bourbons, depending on your preference. They take time to develop. Minor league baseball is stocked with players that organizations hope will develop like a fine cabernet or single malt bourbon. Ballclubs begin touting some of these young players on they day they sign their contract. However, most of them are never mentioned.
Even the most rabid New York Yankees fan, probably doesn't know Will Warren. They don't know what position he plays or even what level of the farm system he plays for. However, if Warren keeps developing at the pace he is now, they will soon.
Will Warren plays for the Pinstripes single-A affiliate, Hudson Valley Renegades and quite possibly could be on his way to double-A Somerset in the next few weeks. This is his first professional season out of Southeastern Louisiana University. It wasn't such an easy path for the 22 year old. According to Mike Ashmore, correspondent for poughkeepsiejournal.com, it took an awakening in his junior year, while playing in the New England Collegiate Baseball League to get the young prospect on track.
“I started working my tail off,” Warren told Ashmore. “Mentally, it was about thinking this was all actually a possibility, a dream, I guess. But it really changed the way I went about the way I worked on my game...The Yankees are tough with moving guys through, there’s a lot of talent in our organization.” People are noticing his progress.
How has this 6-2, 175 pound first year professional progressed so quickly? Warren told Mike Ashmore "I’ve changed a lot in that small amount of time, and I’ve learned a lot from talking to older guys...I always want to be a student of the game. You’re not waiting around, it’s more like, be present, be where your feet are.” That is a pretty good advice coming from a young player. It is certainly cornerstone for a successful pro baseball player. Will Warren is a name to watch out for at the Stadium, maybe sooner than anyone expected.