Springboro standout to sign with Mets, forgo college baseball

Ewing originally committed to Wright State then changed to Alabama. That commitment was up in the air after Tide head coach Brad Bohannon lost his job because of a gambling scandal. Ewing’s draft stock continued to rise enough to make him the 134th overall pick. He said about half the major-league teams were in contact with him and adviser Mark Harris of Jacksonville, Fla.

“Going into day one of the draft, I knew that I’d probably be drafted around the third or fourth, just depends who else gets picked ahead of me and who opts out of the draft,” he said. “But I knew I’d be around there.”

Ewing gathered with family and friends at the next-door home of teammate Nathan Ziemnik, a senior pitcher for the Panthers this past season.

“It was all smiles all around because everyone there has been supporting me through this whole process,” he said. “Everyone was just super happy.”

Ewing is the highest drafted high school player from Springboro and the first alum since outfielder Tony Campana was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 13th round in 2008 out of the University of Cincinnati. He was a part-time player in the majors for three teams from 2011-2014. The highest drafted Springboro alum was pitcher Mark Johnson out of Hawaii by Houston at No. 19 overall in 1996. He pitched in nine games for Detroit in 2000.

“I’m excited for him,” said longtime Springboro coach Mark Pelfrey said of Ewing. “He’s worked hard to get where he’s at, and I think he’s ready to go. His skill set is is really good, his hit tool is very special, he’s athletic, the tools are there. And he is very confident. In baseball, as big a tool as anything is just to believe that you’re good enough to make it.”

When Ewing signs he will report to the Mets’ Florida Complex League rookie team in Port St. Lucie. He has played in a lot of high-level summer tournaments in Florida and Georgia. He wants to play shortstop, however, he said what position he plays is not overly important.

“I’m definitely a hitter first,” he said. “I’ve seen the highest level of high school pitching through the summers, so velocity is not going to faze me, The main adjustment will be the breaking stuff at this level is definitely going to be a lot better. I’m going to have to be more consistent with my swing.”

Pelfrey said, “He’s always challenged himself in the summer, and when we played against better competition, he seemed to always perform better. From that regard, I think he feels he’s ready to go and be real competitive.”

Ewing began challenging himself as 3-year-old when he begged to play tee ball, and his mom was able to get him on a team. When Ewing was 7, Pelfrey saw him play for the first time in the same league his son was playing in.

“Even at that age he was a step above everybody around him both with what he could do and just his approach,” Pelfrey said. “You could tell at that age that he loved baseball and was going to continue to work at it and get better.”

The dream to play professional baseball came early for Ewing, but the reality of what it takes didn’t become obvious until high school.

“When I was younger I didn’t have a realistic view on what that would be,” he said. “But when I turned about 15 I understood what it actually took, what that actually means to play baseball for your job. I always loved baseball. It’s everything I always did. But I started getting serious when I got into high school.”