JW: First of all, anytime you’re on that list, you’re going to be proud. You’re gonna feel a sense of pride. There’s so many good memories from that year and that city. My host family (in Dayton), Michelle, John, Corey, Kyle, and Molly. There was just a really good time spent there, and it was a very impactful year for me, not just on the field, but away from it as well.
Q: What memories do you have of playing on the field in front of Dayton fans?
JW: It’s your first time playing in front of 8,000 people a night, and that’s a lot, especially for a minor league stadium and it was always loud. The fans were always in it. It was really cool. I remember making the all-star game. That was a goal of mine that year. And competing in the Home Run Derby, and actually winning the Home Run Derby. That was really cool. So there’s a ton of great memories.
Q: Most of your teammates from the Dragons that season have since moved on in their lives. A few are still in the Major Leagues. What do you remember about the team?
JW: I remember watching Seth Mejias-Brean. He had an outstanding year (Mejias-Brean won the Reds Minor League Player of the Year in 2013 based on his year in Dayton and briefly reached the Major Leagues). Sal Romano was there. Robert Stevenson. There were a lot of really good players there. And I just remember I really had a good time.
Q: The Home Run Derby was held before the Midwest League All-Star Game, which was played that year in Dayton, so you were a hometown player. You started in left field in the all-star game, but you won the Home Run Derby. You went on a roll, hitting one ball after another over the right field fence. Do you have very clear memories of that?
JW: Yeah, I do. Obviously it was at my home field. I remember I went to bed extra early the night before. I was thinking, ‘I want to win this.’ And I remember the guys I was facing had some serious power, and I remember the wind was kind of blowing out to right. So I was like, ‘man. I might have a shot to win this,’ and then I remember beforehand talking to George Foster (the Reds legend was on the field as a dignitary) and that was super cool. It was a personal thing, because my whole youth amateur career, I heard about how I couldn’t hit home runs. And even to this day, I’m not a home run hitter, so maybe they were right. But in that moment, I was saying, ‘I’m gonna win this Home Run Derby.’ I wanted to win that, and I won. So that was pretty cool.
Q: What other memories do you have from your time in Dayton?
JW: I think it was the first time I realized how long of a regular season this really is. My first realization of wow, this is pro life. It’s a grind. You can’t get caught up in a hot or cold streak. It was my first taste of an extended slump. You’re facing guys that are in their athletic prime. Everyone was always older than me, so they were always, you know, a little bit stronger, a little bit faster, so I always had to catch up, and that was my first year of learning that. And it was big for me because I kind of realized, you know, you could come back from anything. You just gotta keep going. I would go to the field. I’d do all this stuff at the field, and then I’d go straight home. I was 19 years old, you know, I wasn’t really doing anything other than baseball. I really want to give my host family some love. They helped me out a lot that year. Actually, in Dayton, my grandfather passed away, so they helped me through that which was big for me. Kind of processing that and dealing with that as a 19 year old. So I’m grateful for them. Playing in Dayton, it’s a special place. I’ve always said it. It’s a really cool stop on the Minor League journey, and it’s cool to be attached to Dragons history.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP