FORT MYERS, Fla. – In June of 2013, at the 13u PG BCS Finals national championship, Houston Banditos founder/general manager/head coach Ray DeLeon approached a Perfect Game note-taker and pointed over to one of his top 13-year-old players.
“You better keep an eye on that dude,” DeLeon said, or words to that effect. “He’s going to be a good one before he’s done.” Interestingly enough, the PG note-taker took note and scribbled the kid’s name in his notebook: Hunter Watson.
Truth be told, this particular 13-year-old from Denison, Texas, was hard to miss. In June of 2013, Hunter Watson already wore 180 pounds on his 6-foot, 2-inch frame, and towered over most of the other 13-year-olds at the event. He was named to the all-tournament team at that 13u BCS Finals while helping the Banditos Black to a co-championship.
Three years later, the now 16-year-old, 6-foot-3, 205-pound Watson is back in Southwest Florida this weekend performing alongside about 180 of the country’s top rising high school juniors (class of 2018) at this year’s Perfect Game Junior National Showcase at jetBlue Park. DeLeon’s words of three years ago are ringing true as Watson entered the Jr. National as the nation’s No. 19-ranked prospect in his class.
“I’ve heard a lot about this event, the Junior National,” Watson said Saturday morning from jetBlue’s playing field. “A bunch of my buddies have been to it, and with the (MLB) draft Thursday night and last night, I know a lot of those guys (that were drafted) played in this Junior National. I expected a lot coming in and it’s awesome; it’s met my expectations.”
Watson made that comment after taking part in his batting practice session, his first activity in a long string of them over the next three days. A left-handed swinging, right-handed throwing third baseman, Watson has already verbally committed to Texas A&M University but still feels like he has every reason in the world to be here.
“He wanted to be at the Perfect Game (Junior National) and we felt it was very important for him to be here,” his mother, Adriana Watson, said Saturday morning. “He wants to get his ranking higher and he just wanted to come out here and show what he has and get recognized by other scouts, and just get better. He’s been off for almost a month from his high school team and we don’t start playing with (the Banditos) for another couple of weeks.”
It is difficult for any conversation that deals with Hunter Watson and baseball to not also include mention of DeLeon and the Houston Banditos. Denison is a little over an hour’s drive north of Dallas, and while Watson concedes that there are a lot of great ball players and a lot of great summer travel ball programs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, he decided to join forces with DeLeon and the Banditos down in Houston.
Watson has been on Houston Banditos or Houston Banditos Black rosters at 14 PG WWBA, PG BCS Finals or PG Super25 tournaments since that debut at the 13u PG BCS in 2013, and was named to the all-tournament team three times (PG Super25 events don’t name an all-tournament team).
“Ray really took me under his shoulder when I was about 12 (years old),” Watson said. “I wouldn’t be where I was at today with him, that’s for sure. Before I came down here, I was at his house (in Houston) for a week training with him, and that’s usually what I do over the summer. He’s had the biggest impact on me and has helped motivate me.”
Watson has been a two-year varsity starter on his Denison High School team and while the Yellow Jackets are coming off a 10-20 campaign this spring he said he has a lot of fun playing with his high school friends.
But he also eagerly anticipates the summer season and joining forces with the Banditos, who consistently challenge for PG national tournament championships. He was named to the all-tournament team at last year’s 15u Perfect World Series in Cartersville, Ga., where the Banditos claimed the championship with a 6-1-1 record. “The summer is great. You’re playing with all your buddies there on the Banditos and every one of those guys wants to go out there and win; they all want it,” Watson said.
Adriana Watson is here with her oldest son while her husband and Hunter’s dad, Cory Watson, is at a tournament in Colorado with one of Hunter’s younger brothers. She, too, appreciates what DeLeon and the Banditos have provided her son.
“I love Ray; he has done a great job with Hunter. He’s pitched him to people at the next level and he’s pitched him to the college coaches,” Adriana said. “People say, ‘Oh Ray, he’s so hard on (the players),’ but, nope. That’s what (Hunter) has to have and he has to be able to handle the college coaches. We love (DeLeon) and he’s done a great job of making him a better player; he just pushes him a lot.”
This is a baseball-loving family so it borders on ironic that it was a football experience that convinced Watson that Texas A&M was where he should continue his baseball and educational pursuits. Last fall, he attended the Alabama-A&M football game in College Station, and even though the Crimson Tide left town with a 41-23 victory over the Aggies, the young Watson kid from Denison had found his Shangri-La about a 4-hour drive south of his Denison home.
“I went to that game and it just really felt like home, seeing those (military) jets flying over the stadium,” he said. “And the (baseball) coaching staff is unbelievable there and it’s an awesome fan base, too. I just loved it there; I fell in love with it.”
He keeps a close eye on the PG No. 1-ranked Aggies baseball team, which is hosting No. 11 Texas Christian University in a tense NCAA Division I Super Regional this weekend with a trip to the College World Series in Omaha on the line. He especially likes keeping tabs on the Aggies’ Nick Banks, Mark Ecker and Jonathan Moroney, all former Houston Banditos’ players.
Watson said it was “pretty awesome” watching those former Banditos excel at the collegiate level while also taking note of the other young prospects filling the field at jetBlue Park on Saturday. Here is a collection of high school underclassmen all chasing dreams of their own while, sub-consciously, perhaps, pushing all the other guys right along with them.
And he hadn’t even mentioned all the former Banditos that are playing at other D-I schools or, even one step up, at the professional level. He watched the draft intently the first two nights and admitted that seeing those guys’ names called served as motivation. He’s committed to A&M and focused on making that commitment become a reality but if he is drafted in two years and the slot proves to be a dream-maker, he’ll try to make a professional career a reality as well.
“I’ve got a lot to work on but I’m excited to see what the future brings,” Watson said. “I’m excited to see how much I’ve progressed since I was 12 and I look to grow a lot more and just become a better baseball player. … I’m just soaking in this experience right now, and I’m going to have fun with it and hopefully get some wins with the (PG Jr. National) Gold team.”
Adriana Watson sat in her stadium seat down the third baseline at jetBlue Park as the sun – yes, the sun was shining Saturday morning – heated-up the humid Southwest Florida air, and watched her oldest son perform out on the field. Here sat a mom very comfortable and very content with her place in the sun.
“I just love coming out here and watching him play, and he’s gotten a lot better,” she said. “This is going to be a great experience for him to be out here and find out where he’s at and where all the other kids are at. I’ve enjoyed watching him ever since he was a 12-year-old, and just seeing him get better and better every year. We’re just enjoying it because it’s going by so fast.”