EMERSON,
Ga. – Across the spectrum at this year’s 16u WWBA National
Championship you can find talent on almost every field. Some people
were born with this talent, natural ability and size, and some have
had to rely on hard work. Some are not as fortunate, and were
welcomed into life already having a physical ailment that they would
have to battle against if they didn’t want to be limited by it.
That
is the story of young Elliot Mast.
Elliot
was born with a club foot, and it more than likely would have taken
away his ability to play the sport that he loves; baseball. His
parents decided to have him go through with an operation that would
correct his foot through the service of the Children’s Hospital of
Pittsburgh when he was just a child. The operation was successful,
and Mast has been able to chase his dream of playing baseball.
So
far it has turned out pretty well for him, as he continues to chase
his dream of playing baseball, and yet another, thanks to his
6-foot-3 frame, powerful bat and 87-89 mph fastball.
Although
Mast has the characteristics of your everyday college baseball
prospect, he is way different than your average 16-year old amateur
baseball player. Mast has turned his success in baseball into a way
to raise money for childrens hospitals in an effort to give back to
them because of the experience that he had whilst going through the
correction of his club foot. Mast is a member of the Flood City Elite
2017, a participant in this year’s 16u WWBA National Championship,
and he has made the long trip from Altoona, Pa., with two goals in
mind: to win some baseball games and to continue his charitable
efforts through his foundation “For The Kids!,” or FTK for short.
Many
people know Mast for his energy on the field, and his caring
personality off the field. His goal with this FTK charity is to
inspire the youth. Dealt with that kind of disability at birth, one
could easily throw away all aspirations to chase athletic greatness,
but Mast wants to show kids that they can do anything they put their
mind to if they believe in themselves and work hard enough. While in
Georgia for the 16u WWBA National Championship, Mast plans to visit
Children’s Miracle Network Hospital and Children’s Healthcare of
Atlanta between games to talk with kids and offer encouragement.
Mast
started FTK back in February of 2010 when he was only 11 years old.
Most little leaguers aren’t focused on much besides baseball and
what’s on television, but even at such a young age, Mast’s
selfless disposition pushed him to sign an agreement that would
partner him up with the Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital Foundation
in order to raise awareness and donations. Since his 2010 Little
League Season, Mast – who is now 16 years old – has raised more
than $19,000 for the Pittsburgh Children’s Hospital Child life
program.
Mast
has used various social media outlets to spread his message as far as
it can go. He has made multiple YouTube videos, Facebook posts and
pages, and tweets about FTK. He is always trying to do everything
that he can to help his cause, despite that he is in the midst of a
very important part of his recruiting process.
“My
dad helps me with a lot of the charity stuff, so whenever I have to
put in work for baseball, I can go do that knowing that everything
with FTK will be alright,” Mast said. “Balancing baseball and the
charity; it merges pretty well. There are never really any conflicts,
and I’ve been able to do well enough to gain a decent amount of
attention from colleges.”
In
a sense, Mast uses this charity as motivation to play even harder on
the field. For every home run, base hit and strikeout that Mast
records he will raise money for the children’s hospital. It is
certainly a noble way to go about playing the game of baseball, and
he has been fortunate enough to get some key contributors to join his
cause.
On
top of using social media efforts, Mast has also garnered support
from many professional athletes, minor league teams and different
corporations. Some of those supporters include the Altoona Curve,
Pittsburgh Steeler Troy Polamalu, Cubs Pitcher Paul Maholm, EvoShield, Jaeger Sports, Phoenix Bats and Honda. Mast is thrilled with the amount of support that
he has received with FTK and is grateful to everyone who has helped
him with this journey of giving back to children’s hospitals.
“It’s
awesome,” Mast said of the support. “Being able to get support
from older folks, and especially when they’re celebrities and
athletes. It’s just great to see that people can give to a little
kid for such a small cause. Seeing people care and do that kind of
stuff is amazing.”
When
it comes to college ball, Mast is a couple of years away from setting
foot on campus, but he already has a pretty good idea of where he
wants to go.
“I’d
like to go somewhere down south,” Mast added. “I’ve gotten a
couple of offers from schools like Virginia Tech, Pitt and VCU. I really
liked VCU. I’m just looking for good coaches, a strong program (and
a) winning season. I just want a good group of guys to play ball
with. It’s also nice to be down south, compared to the coldness up
north.”
Mast
is always looking for a way to step his game up, and plans to work
tirelessly over the next couple of years in order to be the best ball
player that he can be. Even while he is working to better himself, he
will also be striving to raise as much money as he can for as long as
he can.
In
terms of both baseball and his FTK charity, the sky is the limit for
Mast.
“I’ve
been working on my speed and explosiveness,” Mast said of his own
personal achievements. “I’ve just recently started seeing the
ball well, so that’s nice. It’s awesome to be down here as well,
and compete against the best competition in the country. While
working on my baseball skills, I also just want to continue to raise
as much money as I can. We’re at 20 (thousand) right now over the
past four years, and we’re going to keep on going for as long as we
can.”
Thus
far, Elliot has been fully immersed into the 16u WWBA National
Championship tournament and is ready to turn some heads as his team
heads into the halfway point of pool play tomorrow. On Sunday night
they took the field against the Texas Blackhawks with their mind set
on playing winning baseball, as they hope to put their record at 2-1,
which would put them right up there with other top teams in their
pool.
They
were successful in their efforts and defeated the Blackhawks 4-0
behind the arm of Corey Storm. They have already dropped one game, so
it is imperative they win everything from here on out if they want to
have a chance of advancing to the playoffs. As part of Flood City
Eite's success Mast has been playing well, and even hit a home run in
one of their early games. He hopes that his team can pick the bats up
and score runs early and often.
“We
just need to play hard,” Mast said of his team's chances in the
tournament. “We have good pitching, but we have to get the bats
swinging. We’ve played with each other for a long time so once we
get that going, we should be alright.”