FORT MYERS, Fla. – Keep all the tired clichés buried deep down in a shoe closet somewhere, or well in the back of the sock drawer, if that’s where they’re stored.
Forget the “dynamite comes in small packages” mantra or any references like “sparkplug” or “firecracker” or those words or phrases that might indicate an infusion of energy but simultaneously infer an aura of smallness. There is no Mighty Mouse; never has been and never will be.
Hunter Stovall has heard every “You’re too small” putdown that can be uttered ever since he first walked out onto a baseball or football field in his hometown of Pelham, Ala. He most assuredly heard it when he took the field for the ASA 14u squad as a 5-foot-8, 140-pound catcher and middle-infielder at the 2011 Perfect Game-East Cobb Invitational.
Now a 5-foot-10, 170-pound catcher/middle-infielder who starred this summer for the elite Dulin Dodgers organization, Stovall still hears it. He doesn’t like the talk and he’ll never embrace it, but he has learned to feed off of it and become a better ballplayer because of it.
“I’m small; I’ve heard that my entire life,” Stovall told PG during a conversation at Terry Park Saturday morning. “I love it when people say, ‘He can’t do this because he’s too little’ or ‘He can’t do that because he’s too little.’ I love proving people wrong, and that’s motivation to me, people saying that, so I get out there and I’m like, ‘All right, people are saying this and I’m going to show them what’s up.’”
Stovall – a senior at Pelham High School ranked No. 310 nationally in the class of 2015 (the No. 30 catching prospect) and No. 5 (No. 1 catcher) in the state of Alabama – was at Terry Park taking part in the 18th annual Perfect Game World Showcase.
The World Showcase runs simultaneously with the PG World Uncommitted Showcase and PG National Underclass East Showcase Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 3-4).
Despite having already committed to Mississippi State – he made that commitment in January 2013, about halfway through his sophomore year in high school – Stovall felt it was important for him to be here this weekend at an event that is heavily populated with members of the MLB scouting community.
“I wanted to be here for the exposure to the scouts and also just playing against great competition,” he said. “All these kids out here, I mean this is the World (Showcase) so these are supposed to be the best players from around the world, and that’s what drags me here. I want to be out here with the best competition and see how I stand with some of these guys.”
Stovall got a taste of that in June when he participated in the Perfect Game National Showcase held in June at JetBlue Park here in Fort Myers. He was included on the event’s Top Prospect Team, again holding his own against the bigger and more highly touted players.
“That experience was unbelievable,” he said. “Playing with some of the guys on my (showcase) team from around the country and getting that exposure, definitely – that place was unreal. And, of course, being in Fort Myers is always nice.”
It was while playing in tournament events with the Dulin Dodgers that Stovall’s talents really shined through. He was named to the all-tournament team at the PG WWBA 17u National Championship – a tournament in which the Dodgers finished 8-1-0 while advancing to the third round of the playoffs – after hitting .478 with three triples, two home runs, eight RBI and seven runs at the event.
What made that experience all the more fantastic for Stovall were his peers that were also his Dodgers’ teammates. Shortstop Luke Alexander, left-hander/first baseman Trysten Barlow, outfielder/right-hander Brant Blaylock, right-hander/first baseman Gray Fenter, right-hander/infielder Keegan James, third baseman/right-hander Austin Riley and left-hander Ethan Small – each one from the class of 2015 – were all committed to Mississippi State, just like Stovall.
“It was awesome playing with the Dodgers,” he said. “You had seven other Mississippi State commits from my class (2015) play on that team and I got to know them all. That makes it a lot better down the road when I go to play with them, and we had a really good team. We had unbelievable pitching and really everything all around, and I’m glad I got to play with them; let’s just say that.”
Pelham, Ala., is a suburb of Birmingham teeming with about 22,000 contented souls and located smack-dab in the state’s center. Clemson head football coach Debo Swinney ranks among the community’s more notable former residents.
Stovall played football – he was a quarterback and cornerback – right through his sophomore year in high school and said he got some looks in that sport from SEC powers Auburn and Arkansas. It must be that whole “dynamite in small packages” thing that follows Stovall where ever he goes.
Playing baseball, he spent his elementary school days as a middle-infielder and didn’t start catching until about five years ago when he graduated into middle school. He continues to play the infield and has even been moved into the outfield on occasion, but it is at catcher where he has earned his stripes.
Stovall was unable to join the Dodgers at the scouting extravaganza known as the PG WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla., at the end of October because he was scheduled to take his ACT college entrance exam that weekend. He did well on his ACT – which cinched his commitment to Mississippi State – but he did miss out on being seen by hundreds of MLB-affiliated scouts.
The experience of the PG National Showcase and its seemingly limitless exposure opportunities was already in Stovall’s back pocket of course, but when he received the invitation to the PG World Showcase, his father, Eric Stovall, thought it was too good to pass up. He looked at it as one more opportunity for Hunter to get in front of a decision-maker who he might be able to impress.
“We don’t want to leave any stones unturned; we don’t want to look back and have regrets,” Eric told PG on Saturday. “Whether he gets drafted or not doesn’t really matter … but just the fact that the (pro) guys want to look at him is a good thing. I don’t want to look back and he doesn’t want to look back one day and say we didn’t take advantage of every opportunity we had.”
The decision to sign with Mississippi State came somewhat out of the blue as the Stovall family seemed linked in many ways to nearby Auburn University (Eric Stovall and Hunter’s mother, Selina, are both Jacksonville State grads).
Hunter’s first cousin, Tyler Stovall, had accepted a full-ride scholarship to Auburn back in 2008 but gave it up when the Atlanta Braves made him a second-round pick in the 2008 MLB First-Year Player Draft. Tyler has since left baseball and returned to Auburn to pursue his degree.
Hunter Stovall grew up an Auburn fan and even made a couple of visits there before deciding to look elsewhere.
“So, I took some visits to Mississippi State and the coaches, they definitely grabbed my attention, and the atmosphere with the players – they just come up to you and talked to you, they didn’t have to be told to,” he said, a tone of excitement rising in his voice. “The coaches, they make you feel like you’re wanted, they make you feel like you’re loved, in a sense. They show how much they want you and they still do to this day.”
That doesn’t mean it’s a certainty that Stovall will end up in Starkville, Miss., in the fall of 2015. He has some other thoughts swimming around in his head.
“I am thinking about the (MLB amateur) draft; it’s always been my dream to play in the major leagues,” he said. “If it happens, it happens and if it doesn’t I’m going to Mississippi State. But it’s always in my mind and that’s always what I’m playing for; it’s always been my dream.”
Stovall’s immediate mission at hand as time ran out on Saturday’s 14-hour session at the PG World Showcase was to make the most of the one game he had remaining at the event Sunday morning. It was important, to Stovall’s way of thinking, to not change his approach as Day 1 moved into Day 2, to keep a level head and let his talent carry the day.
“You can’t really come into these things being scared or feeling inferior, because you’ll get dominated with all this talent,” he said. “You’ve got to come in thinking that you’re going to go out here and you’re better than everybody out here and you’ve got to have the right mindset to come out here. You can’t be nervous and you’ve got to go out there and play and do what you do.
“I hope I come away with more knowledge of the game, added exposure; just some looks. I’ll just enjoy the unbelievable feeling of getting to play with all these great players,” Stovall concluded.
“I just want to him have fun down here,” Eric Stovall added. “All the pressure is off him; he doesn’t have to perform outstandingly anymore. Just to have fun, meet kids, do the best he can at what he’s doing, and just enjoy himself.”
But in the end, there’s still the talk about Hunter’s physical size, or lack thereof, although no one has ever questioned the size of his heart. But go ahead, if you must. Go ahead and question what lies inside that 5-foot-10-inch, 170-pound body, but do so at your own risk.
“That is the one thing that has fueled his fire for the past three years,” Hunter Stovall’s father, Eric, said. “He’s played against all the guys that everybody says are top-ranked, and he’s out-performed them in most every tournament. He’s a little guy, but he’s got power with a wood bat, he’s fast; he’s got all the tools and the intangibles except size.”
Eric said that he’s heard from pro scouts that Hunter won’t be a catcher if he makes it to that level – they suggest second base might be his calling – but the fact is his son really doesn’t care where he plays as long as he’s out on the field.
“It is one of those things where he feels like he’s got to prove something,” the father said. “He just loves the game – he absolutely eats and sleeps and drinks it – he’s just that type of kid. He loves baseball, he loves every aspect about baseball. … That’s the dream he has had since he was 3 years old. He wants to play baseball in the major leagues.”
If there is a lesson to be learned here, it is never sell Hunter Stovall short.