By Perry A. Farrell
SMSB Editor-in-Chief
Mar’Juan Wells was the first to arrive on the last day of the baseball camp sponsored by Sound Mind Sound Body and Detroit Public Schools Friday at Detroit Martin Luther King High School.
Wells is a senior center fielder-left fielder on the East English Village baseball team.
Not many of his high school teammates came to the camp, but many members of his travel squad – the Detroit Stars – were on hand to work on their game and meet college coaches.
“East English isn’t a big baseball school but coming here has helped me mentally going into my senior year,’’ said Wells. “Getting me ready as far as options for college and my interest as far as what’s my best fit for college. It has helped me with what coaches are looking for. Physically, the camp has helped me develop my tools to make me better as I go through this journey.
“I’ve liked baseball since playing in the PAL (Police Athletic League) since I was 10 or 11. I’ve put the most effort into baseball. I’ve tried to become the best player I can. Even watching my older teammates has helped. I thought I could be just as good as them. My coaches gave me an opportunity to play baseball.’’
An average of 30 players has attended the camp.
Wells said he has had lengthy discussions with Lawrence Tech and Hope College. These are conversations that wouldn’t have taken place if SMSB and DPS hadn’t combined on the camp.
“I talked to a couple of coaches privately about the recruiting process going into my senior year,’’ said Wells.
“The coaches I talked to told me what they’d be looking for as far as the class of 2022: character, running on and off the field and things like that. I feel like they made me mentally prepared for that.’’
Chad Rosekelly played at Michigan State and is on the staff at Eastern Michigan.
“We want to recruit in the inner city,’’ said Rosekelly. “Coming to a camp like this helps us get the jump on schools like Central, Eastern, and maybe Michigan or Michigan State. “At Eastern Michigan, we want to recruit in-state as much as possible. Getting to see these guys and winning the war between Central or Western… That’s our goal; to get those guys if we want them, find a way to get them, and compete against those other schools. If I can get out, I definitely enjoy doing it, especially with the camps.’’
Jason Kin of Concordia College used the last day to come and evaluate talent.
“I’ve already heard some good things about the talent that’s here at the camp,’’ said Kin. “The biggest thing is the diversity aspect of it. Being able to see kids from all sorts of areas. I think it’s important for us at Concordia to go down that path. When you want to win nationally as well as locally. We want to take a look at players from Detroit to help our program and get them into our school.
“A camp like this gives us a head start with kids and give us a head start on what it takes to get accepted into our college.
“It helps because even if we find two or three kids we’re interested in, it helps us narrow down what it takes to get them into Concordia.’’
The players were given free shoes courtesy of Adidas. Players from DEPSA, Renaissance, and Cass Tech were on hand for the clinic along with King.
This week’s players of the week were: Alejandro Perez from Cass Tech (10th), Isaiah Yanish from King High (10th), Cameron Bowers from Mumford (12th), Landen Kendrick from Cass Tech (10th), and Drake Kimbro from Cass Tech (11th).