Fresh Fish impressive in exhibition game Sunday

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/05/2015 (3805 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Thing is, Goldeyes manager Rick Forney isn’t paying much attention to hitting, not yet, not while training camp is young and littered with rusty bats.

Still, there’s no bad time to make a big first impression — so Sunday was a good one for rookies Ben Bostick and Brady Wilson.

The freshest Fish in camp helped lead the attack as the Goldeyes opened their exhibition schedule with a 9-1 win over the University of Winnipeg Wesmen. Bostick smacked a pair of two-RBI singles in as many at-bats; Wilson stole a couple of bases and cranked a fourth-inning RBI triple.

That’s a good show for two guys who have only just begun to get their feet wet in the professional grind. Infielder Bostick is a true rookie, who last year played in Ontario’s amateur Intercounty Baseball League, while outfielder Wilson forked over $2,500 for a chance to get scouted out of a slapdash Texas summer league.

They had a good start. But things are about to get tougher, and they’ll have to prove they can keep up. “The two young kids… certainly had good days,” Forney said. “Once we start moving to Tuesday and Wednesday (games against Fargo) and facing some league competition, we’ll see if they can produce against that kind of player.”

All the same, one can understand why Wilson would be wearing a big grin after a fine first outing against the Wesmen. He’s just 23 years old and chasing a dream.

“For me, it’s just a blessing to get back into the game,” Wilson said. “Especially for Rick, giving me the opportunity to come up here. I know it’s very, very good competition, and there are a lot of good ballplayers up here. So I’m very thankful to him.”

It’s all the more special, that it almost didn’t happen. A few years ago, the Maryland outfielder was an NCAA Division I standout at West Virginia University, and heard rumours he might get tapped late in the major league draft. But his name went uncalled, and to his surprise, his phone never rang for a free-agent deal.

Frustrated, he decided to walk away from baseball, finish his coaching degree and get a job in sales. The real world was an eye opener. “When I’m 30 years old, and I have a family, what am I going to regret the most?” Wilson said. “And it’s going to be, at least not giving it a legitimate shot.”

With that driving him, Wilson packed his stuff for that Texas summer league, and managed to snag a late-season contract with the United League’s Rio Grande Valley team. He did well there, batting .319 in 19 games with two doubles, two triples, four RBI and four stolen bases. His hometown newspaper in Frederick, Md., wrote a little article about his pro debut, and that story caught the eye of a neighbour from the next town over — a certain Rick Forney.

That’s how it came to be that last fall, as Wilson was driving to Indianapolis to try out for the Frontier League, he got a text asking if he wanted to come to training camp in Winnipeg. Wilson, who has heard good things about the club from 2014 Goldeyes star and fellow WVU alum Tyler Kuhn, was elated.

“I told him right away, ‘I’m going to turn around right now,’ ” Wilson said. “There was no doubt in my mind about coming here. He didn’t even have to sugarcoat it, or tell me how great it was. That was definitely a blessing for me.”

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca