The year was 2013, I had just turned 13 the previous October. It was now February of 2013. I had been practicing with my friend and training alone for months. I was getting ready for baseball tryouts, which were at the end of February. I had been doing everything I could to prepare for tryouts because I really wanted to make the team. So, on the day of tryouts I went out and got breakfast and went for a run with my friend that morning. I was so ready to get out of my last class so I could get to the field for tryouts. Once I got to the field and was getting ready to take infield. I was pumped, but not long after being on the field with the rest of the guys…… I realized I was way in over my head if I thought I had any chance of being on the team. By the end of tryouts I was ready to go home and eat all the ice cream I could. I was so humiliated.

My mom tried to cheer me up, but it was useless. I knew I had made a fool out of myself. I was so disappointed in myself. But something good came out of it. It angered me and gave me the drive and will I needed to keep going and try that much harder to make it my freshman year of high school. So, after that day I began training hard and going to practicing with a team that had players much older than me also they were better. But I thought that practicing with them would greatly improve my skills. Well, as baseball tryouts came my freshman year, I still felt I wasn’t good enough. On the day of tryouts I walked to the field with a bit of a chip on my shoulder, but I knew that I was going to go out there and give it all I had. I went out there and did the best I could.

Once we were done and we got changed and Coach Boyd came out, who really encouraged me and gave me confidence, he began to announce all of the players who had made the team. Once I heard my name I began to cry great tears of joy. When I told my mom the good news, she hugged me tightly and told me she was very proud of me. When the season began I sat the bench most of the season, but near the end I began playing more. We didn’t go to the championship but we had an extraordinary season.


After that my confidence was through the roof. I continued to play and I ended up making it all 4 years of high school. But I really wanted to play college baseball, but I didn’t know what to do to get noticed or to get scouts at our games. And that’s where Coach Boyd really helped me. He was the one that really kept me interested in baseball, and wanting to keep playing.

Finally, scouts began to come to my games and talk to me about attending their college. But, something odd happened during the last game of my senior year. I was approached by another scout, but this wasn’t a college scout trying to get me to attend that particular college, it was a major league scout. He was from the Atlanta Braves. They had the first pick in the draft that year. So, he asked me what I thought about skipping college and signing a minor league contract. He said I would sign the contract and go to their Double-A team in Mississippi, I told him that I’d think about it and call him back within the next couple of days. Boy was I in for a surprise, when I woke up the next morning I had 8 voicemails from major league teams trying to get me to sign with them.

So, I thought about the decision of who I would sign with. I had narrowed it down to Atlanta and Los Angeles. As I thought about it, I got to thinking that I would rather play in the Braves minor league system. Also, I thought that it’d be beneficial to me if I played in Atlanta instead of a big city like LA. Well, when draft day came the Braves did what they said they would do and chose me for the first pick in the 2018 MLB draft. When I woke up the next morning I packed my bags and headed to Mississippi to meet my new teammates.

I played in Mississippi for six weeks, and then I got that feeling again that I was way in over my head. But I talked to the manager and the hitting coach and they helped me get out of my slump and helped me continue to progress as a player. That was a big moment in my career, because I realized that I could overcome any problem I had in my career with hard work and dedication. Anyways, I played in Mississippi for another year and a half, then after spring training of 2020 I got a call from my agent telling me that I had been called up to Triple-A Gwinnett.

I played with Gwinnett for 2 months and I was doing the best I had in my career, and I knew that I was so close to reaching my dream. I was leading the league in steal, RBI’s (runs batted in), and batting average. I was the starting shortstop and I hadn’t made any errors in the 2 months I had been with the team. Then, the unthinkable happened….. I was covering second on a double-play ball to the second baseman. When the base runner tried to break up the double-play, he slid into my leg and fractured my ankle. I went to the trainer and then to a local doctor, he gave me a cast and crunches. He told me I couldn’t play for 2 months.

After I got off the DL (disabled list), I picked up right where I left off. I was hitting better than I had before the injury. I couldn’t run as much as I did before, but I could still run and play. Honestly, I being on the field was enough for me. Well, I was so close to fulfilling my dream but yet it seemed so far away. I continued playing and getting my leg back to the way it was before. My team was playing just as well as I was, and we made it to the playoffs.

We played hard during the Postseason, we played so well we made it to the World Series against the Charlotte Knights. I knew that I had something to prove against them. I mean that’s where I came from, and one of the players from the middle school team that made it when I didn’t was the closer for the Knights. I hated him all through school. I felt that now was my time to prove myself and show him that he was better once but he isn’t now. I played okay in the first 6 games, they had won three and we also won 3. The entire series came to the bottom of the ninth inning. There were 2 outs, and you know who was up. The score was tied 3-3.

Ironically enough they brought their closer in, that made the at-bat that much sweeter. He started the at-bat by throwing me two balls. But then he made a huge mistake, he threw me a curveball thigh-high on the inner part of the plate. As soon as I saw it I knew it…. “Crack!”. I looked up and I saw the ball sail over the left-field fence and we had won the World Series.


After the game and the celebration was over, we were changing into our regular clothes and we were all beginning to leave. But our manager, Dale stopped me and said “Kid, you’ve got a future. You’re going places. Hopefully, next year after spring training you’ll be with big guys in Atlanta. It has been an honor managing you and this team. You’re an amazing player, just don’t give up. Believe in yourself just like everyone else does.” What he said that day changed my life forever.

After the World Series win I was on cloud nine. But I kept working during the offseason. When spring training came, I was ready. During spring training I was playing at the top of my game. I was hitting and stealing like crazy. The major league manager told me I had a good shot at making the major league club. I didn’t believe him, because I had heard the same thing from my mother in middle school. That brought back the memory of my failure, it also brought back the drive and will to win I had back. So I played harder than I’d ever played before.

At last, we had finished our last game of spring training. I started walking to my locker praying that I had a green slip in my locker that meant I had made the major league club. Once I reached my locker I said one last prayer and opened it….. Out fell the green slip. I had finally made the big league roster.

Opening day came a few days later. I woke up the day of opening day and headed straight to the park to get some extra hitting practice in. The game started at 7:00 pm. The announcer began announcing the team, and then came my name. “Batting second playing shortstop, the speedy rookie from North Carolina, number 3 Darin Guffey”. I felt chills run down my spine. The top of the first inning went by rather quickly. Now it was our turn to bat. Our leadoff man, Bryce Harper led off with a deep double. Then, I came up to bat. The first pitch I saw I hit deep to the warning track and ended up on second with a double. On the very next pitch I stole third.

That was it. That was the moment that I realized it. I realized that I had done it. I realized that I had finally reached my goal. I realized that my childhood dream I had, had come true. I was playing major league baseball, and I was here to stay.