HBCU Swingman Traditional 2025
Returning for its third yr, The HBCU Swingman Traditional brings collectively high gamers from Traditionally Black Faculties and Universities (HBCUs) to compete underneath the nationwide highlight throughout MLB’s All-Star Week. This annual occasion isn’t nearly competitors; it’s about legacy. It’s about entry, alternative, and delight. It’s about proving that HBCU athletes belong on the largest phases, in entrance of scouts, followers, and media with delight and goal.
A premier showcase that has change into greater than only a baseball sport—it’s a motion. Because of the imaginative and prescient of baseball legend Ken Griffey Jr., the management of MLB Improvement, and the expertise of student-athletes like Elijah Pinckney, the Traditional continues to carve out a historic place on the intersection of sports activities, tradition, and training.
The world is watching, and these younger males are prepared.
For MLB Community commentator and former participant Harold Reynolds, who’s returned for his third consecutive yr, the Traditional is private. “The occasion is unimaginable, and to have it in Atlanta, the place you’ve got so many traditionally Black faculties—I believe it’s gonna be the perfect one but. I wouldn’t miss it,”
Reynolds mentioned. “The principle goal is to provide a few of these younger males the chance to be seen who most likely wouldn’t be. That’s what we’ve at all times been about.”
Greater than only a sport, the Swingman Traditional is a platform for progress, each skilled and private. “I need them to stroll away considering, that basically stirred one thing in my spirit,” Reynolds added. “The world is larger than your neighborhood…larger than baseball. Ultimately, it’s important to determine the place you’re stepping into life, and I hope that is a kind of forms of experiences for them.”
MLB’s Senior Vice President of Baseball Improvement, Del Matthews, believes the Traditional is a vital step towards fairness within the sport. “Numerous HBCU packages don’t have the identical sources as baseball packages at PWIs,” Matthews defined. “So after they get an opportunity to play at higher amenities, on the identical stage, they will showcase their talents and abilities.”
Now in its third yr, the occasion’s success has solely grown, due largely to a devoted workforce and Griffey Jr.’s imaginative and prescient. “We take quite a lot of delight on this and can proceed to provide underserved youngsters a chance to play baseball,” Matthews mentioned.
This chance is magnified by the delight and resilience rooted within the HBCU expertise. “While you go to an HBCU, you’re at all times attempting to show that you simply’re simply nearly as good,” Matthews mentioned. “That chip in your shoulder, that delight—we distinguish ourselves. This occasion lets these younger males come to baseball’s jewel occasion of the summer time and really feel like All-Stars.”
Amongst this yr’s standouts is Elijah Pinckney, a shortstop from Morehouse Faculty and the primary Division II participant to compete within the Traditional. “It’s tremendous cool, I’m tremendous grateful for the chance,” he mentioned, talking after apply. “However I at all times hold a degree head, at all times humble, like I’m off the sector. I’m simply prepared to exit right here and play.”
Pinckney, who additionally obtained the Affect Award for his character and management, described the second he was chosen as surreal. “With the ability to signify as a Morehouse Man is even higher,” he mentioned. Morehouse, he emphasised, has formed him far past baseball. “I noticed all of the exemplary seniors going into the world, and I believed, I will be greater than a baseball participant. I took that to coronary heart. Morehouse has developed me academically, professionally, personally, and naturally athletically.”
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