As a parent having children in sports is so much fun. Watching them develop and grow is very special and goes by quickly. One day they are playing tee ball or running together in a group of four year olds chasing a soccer ball, or just getting started with swim lessons before they develop into a state swim champion.
Then there are always the “first”. The first hit, the first par, the first goal, or the first disappointment, all part of the process and incredible range of emotions we experience as our kids play sports. When they are young it seems like it will last forever, but before you know it, they are playing in their last high school or college game.
The Sporting Times contacted Judy Green and asked her if she would share her thoughts about watching her Son, Hunter Green achieve his dream to become a Major League Baseball player and how it all get started.
The Sporting Times would like to thank Mrs. Green for her time, insight and contribution.
A Mother’s Perspective
Every parent has hopes and dreams for their children beginning on the day they are born. There are a lot of “What Ifs” and “Wouldn’t it be great If” that you talk about, dream about, but never think it could be a reality, until it happens. Our family has been living a dream come true for the past couple of weeks that started in the making for the past several years. Dreams like this do not happen overnight. It is a long hard road of sacrafices that begins at an early age.
My son, Hunter Green, was like every other kid, he loved to be outside with some type of ball in his hands. He didn’t care if it was a baseball, basketball, or football; he just had to be playing some type of ball. With having an older sister, Lindsey playing softball, he was at the ballparks beginning at an early age. As soon as we got there, he was looking around trying to find other kids to play baseball with, definitely not sitting in the stands watching the game! As both our kids got older, the weekends at the Green house became divided as the kids both played travel ball. On Friday afternoons my husband, Greg, would go with Hunter and I would go with Lindsey to different states and meet back home on Sunday nights. Then do it all over again the next weekend; switching kids. That way, we both never missed seeing them play….just not at the same time!
Hunter loved all sports. At one time he played baseball in the Spring/Summer, football in the fall, and basketball in the winter. There was never any down time because the day one sport ended, he was at the next sport the next day. He gave up football and basketball when he started high school. That was about the time he realized the one sport that he loved the most, BASEBALL! It became year around for him attending camps, showcases, playing on travel ball teams, and using the off time to work his hardest on getting bigger, faster, stronger, and work on his pitches. He knew if he continued to devote all his time to baseball, that just maybe, he could play at a Division I school. That was his goal. When he was 14 years old, he was asked to play for a team of 18 and older guys. He would be the youngest kid ever asked to play for this team, but they told him, if we didn’t think you could do it, then we wouldn’t ask you. They called him “puppy”, but it wasn’t long before he proved he could play with the BIG DOGS, but they still called him puppy!
He started playing for Warren East High School baseball team as an 8th grader. By the time he was a freshman, he was given Varsity time. He was surrounded by older players who always encouraged him and pushed him to his potential. At the end of his sophomore season as a Raider, he had his 1st Division I scholarship offer and he was only 14 years old. That was a goal that we had all dreamed about and was coming true. Other college coaches started to come and watch him play and before we knew it, he had offers from many Division I schools, but he narrowed them down to his top 4 being WKU, UK, U of L, and Ole Miss. From that point forward, things began to move a little faster. We had no idea where this road was leading, but we did know it was moving to higher levels and expectations quickly.
The summer between Hunter’s junior and senior year of high school was incredible. He was invited to some of the most elite events for high school players to be seen by MLB scouts. He attended the Perfect Game National Showcase in Minneapolis, MN, East Coast Professional Showcase in Dayton, OH, Team USA in Cary, NC, World Wood Bat Tournament in Marietta, GA, Under Armour Showcase at Wrigley Field in Chicago, IL and the grand finale of showcases in Jupiter, FL that is attended by thousands of scouts, cross checkers, General Managers, and MLB owners. These events brought lots of attention to Hunter and he was put on the radar for many MLB teams to watch over the next few months. Greg and I saw our son grow up and mature right before our eyes in 3 short months. Hunter flew for the 1st time alone to a couple of events, stayed with a host family, was gone from home for weeks at a time, learned how to get up on his own, and even learned how to do his own laundry! After that summer, we knew that “IF” he was given the opportunity to play at the next level, he was going to be okay. He was ready.
Hunter started receiving lots of questionnaires from MLB teams and we were told that some would want to visit during his senior year. That was how you knew who was interested because a team would not draft you without doing a home visit. These visits are from your area scout to get to know you and your family. It tells them about your “make-up” which is actually a bigger factor over talent when they are considering you for the draft. Boy, have we learned a lot! Greg says we could write a book on this process! We began to “dream” about how many scouts would come visit Hunter. We all made a guess and said we hoped for 10 visits. Out of 30 MLB clubs, we had 23 scouts to visit and the remaining 7 to either do phone interviews or questionnaires. We never dreamed this in our wildness dreams! For me, this was the moment that I thought to myself, this “COULD” really happen! So, I started doing a lot of praying for his health and safety and for this opportunity to be available for him if it was God’s plan. I knew if we trusted in HIM, then what was meant to be, would be.
We knew that everything that Hunter had done up to his senior season was to get his name out there and be seen by as many college coaches, scouts, and higher ups in the MLB clubs. Depending on how well he had done in his senior season would decide if he would be considered for the MLB draft. His 1st start on the mound was a day we will never forget. It started out 35 degrees, windy, turned to rain, sleet, and then snow. There were 35 scouts in attendance with radar guns pointed at him every pitch. I think Greg and I threw every pitch with him that night as we were all so nervous. That was only the beginning of the scouts attending every performance on the mound. He had anywhere from 15-40 scouts at every outing. Before long, they were just fans in the stands with RADAR GUNS! Because they had visited our home and came to all the games, Greg, Hunter, Lindsey, and I became friends with many of the scouts. They would come find us at games to give us hugs and congratulate us on Hunter’s performances. We made lifelong friends with many of them.
Hunter graduated on Saturday, May 25th from WEHS at 12:30 and was on a plane to Texas at 5:30 for a workout with the Texas Rangers on Sunday. We picked him up on Sunday night and were in Atlanta, GA on Monday for a workout with the Braves on Tuesday. He threw a bullpen for the Tampa Bay Rays at the Hot Rod Stadium on Friday and was suppose to be in Minnesota on Monday for another workout, but his advisor suggested he shut it down and give his arm some rest. For the 1st time in several months, we felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off our shoulders. Hunter had done everything he could do and now it was just waiting to see what would happen. He always kept a positive attitude. He had committed to play baseball at UK. He told everyone, if the draft doesn’t work out, then I get to play baseball for UK in the SEC. I am in a WIN/WIN situation. As parents, you are proud of you children for many reasons, but for Greg and me, it wasn’t always about his performance on the field, but how he handled himself with the media, his teammates, coaches, scouts or whoever he talked with. He remained humble through the whole process and never liked all the attention he was getting. He had to keep Greg and I grounded most of the time and not let us share things that we wanted to shout to everyone! He never told anyone about the scout visits unless someone asked. He would have a scout visit and as soon as they left, he would go hunting or fishing. He never got caught up in the process. We asked him what he wanted to do on draft day…have family and friends over, have a party, go somewhere, etc??? He chose to stay at home with Greg, Lindsey, his girlfriend, close friend, Matt Hightower, and myself. The media asked if they could come and sit with us during the draft, he told them thanks for wanting to come, but he wasn’t expecting or assuming anything and that if he was fortunate enough to be selected on day 1 of the draft, then they could come after his name was called, but not before. Those are the things that make you proud as parents.
The days leading up to the draft was fun and exciting, but also very nervous. The one thing we learned was to NEVER pay attention to any mock drafts. We knew he had been ranked with some of the top 50 prospects in the country and was featured on MLB network a couple of times prior to the draft. To Hunter, that was an honor to be ranked with the best in the country. It didn’t mean anymore than that because it’s all speculation. We had done a pretty good job of keeping things low key until the week before the draft. It seemed like everyone was seeing him ranked as a 1st rounder and all the talk was more about that than him just having the opportunity to be considered for the draft. He always told everyone, it’s not about the pick or round, but about the opportunity to play the game I love. We knew things that we could not share with anyone about where he might go, but nothing is for sure until you hear you name called. As we sat on our back porch watching the draft, the tension began to build as we watched great players who Hunter got to know over the past summer names NOT being called. During the draft, we received a call from the area scout from the Angels asking Hunter that if he was still available at pick #59, if he would sign with them. Since they didn’t have a 1st round pick, Hunter would be the #1 pick of the draft for the Angels. He immediately said YES! Of course, you still can’t count on it until you hear you name called. So, when we heard “The Angels have selected Hunter Green as the 59th pick in the 2013 Major League Baseball draft”, we all jumped up screaming and hugging him. Before we knew it, our driveway was filled with family, friends, and media guys to celebrate the dream come true! We thought all the celebrations were over until the next week when we received a call from Hunter’s baseball coach Wes Sanford telling us that Hunter had been named 2013 Mr. Kentucky Baseball. We were in shock! We hadn’t even thought about this honor.
Finally, the day had come we had all been waiting for….the day he would sign his contract to play professional baseball. The Angels flew Greg, Lindsey, Hunter, and I to Los Angeles, CA. We were handed Angels shirts, taken to our hotel where everyone had their own rooms, and Hunter got to meet all the players and got to have photos taken with several of them. We found out that the Angels had 3 Mr. Kentucky Baseball recipients. Scott Downs-PRP-1994, Joe Blanton-Franklin Simpson-1999 and Hunter Green-WEHS-2013. The person he was the most inspired by meeting was Josh Hamilton. He didn’t talk baseball, but about choices and decisions and the people you choose to hang around. They spent about 20 minutes together and the last thing Josh said to Hunter, was, “Do You Love Jesus?” Hunter pulled out his cross necklace that he wears every day and said, “Yes I do.” Josh smiled and told him, you are going to be okay. We sat in the General Manger’s suite with all the higher ups and spent time with the owner and his wife and watched the Angels play against the Pirates. We were treated like family. It was an amazing weekend!
So, finally after many years of wondering and dreaming about the “What If” and “Wouldn’t it be great IF” has finally came true for our family. It has come with lots of sacrifices, hard work, comittement, faith, and prayers as a family and support, encouragement and love from coaches, family and friends. Hunter would not be where he is today without those things. As he will tell you, I didn’t get here alone!
