Grassroots to the Pros
With the 2025 baseball season upon us, Grassroots Baseball is embarking on an exciting project called GRASSROOTS TO THE PROS. Throughout the season we'll share early-day stories of Major League players - past and present – and their journeys to the highest level of baseball.
May 27 2025
Greg Maddux
Hall of Famer • P
As a pitcher who relied on precision and ball movement rather than overpowering velocity, Hall of Famer Greg Maddux would be an anomaly in the Major Leagues today. Given that he was the first pitcher in history to win four consecutive Cy Youngs, is the only pitcher in history to win 15 or more games 17 straight times, owns a record 18 Gold Gloves, and his 355 career victories rank eighth all-time, he would be welcome on ANY staff today.
Maddux was born in Texas but spent his grade school years in Spain, where his father was stationed with the Air Force. He first picked up a baseball on the Base in Torrejon de Ardoz when he was 5, and the next year Greg’s dad became his first coach, teaching him how to throw, and, how to enjoy the game. The Maddux family – including Greg’s older brother Mike who spent 15 years in the Majors and is the pitching coach for Bruce Bochy’s Texas Rangers - was on the move again, relocating to Las Vegas when Greg was 10.
Ralph Medar, a retired scout who developed young players, took the Maddux brothers under his wing. He taught Greg his pitching fundamentals: movement; location; the ability to change speeds; and velocity … In that order. Medar told the high school sophomore that he was going to need more than just velocity to get hitters out. “Movement and location will last longer than hard and straight.” His mantra proved prophetic.
Greg was drafted out of Valley High by the Cubs in the second round of the 1984 draft and was in the Majors two years later, joining the team when he was 20 and still looking quite youthful. As Greg recounted during his Hall of Fame Induction speech, “My first day in the big leagues, the starting pitchers were Nolan Ryan and Jamie Moyer. Twenty minutes before the game I was sitting on the bench, and my first manager, Gene Michael, thought I was the bat boy.”
Nicknamed “The Professor” because of his meticulous preparation and “Mad Dog”, which captured the intensity & competitiveness, Maddux spent 23 seasons in the Majors, longer than all but 20 players in history.
May 21 2025
Salvador Perez
Kansas City Royals • C
Salvador Perez is quietly building a Hall of Fame resume. The heart and soul of the Royals has spent his entire 14-year career in Kansas City where he’s earned nine All-Star Game selections, five Gold Gloves and five Silver Slugger awards. Appointed team captain in 2023, he’s taken two teams to the World Series and helped the 2015 club win the franchise’s second title, hitting .364 and being named Series MVP along the way.
The Venezuela native who made his Major League debut at 21 years of age did not have an easy upbringing. He was raised in Valencia by his mom and grandmother after his father left home when he was a toddler. The bedroom in his grandmother’s home had a dirt floor.
Salvy was playing baseball by age 6 and one of his teammate and opponents as a young boy was current Astros star, Jose Altuve. Two years later he knew he wanted to catch, and he set a goal of becoming a professional player by the time he was 14 years old. He wasn’t far off, signing with Kansas City – a place he had never even heard of – when he was 16.
“El Niño” (Spanish for “the kid”), as Eric Hosmer - his teammate of seven years - dubbed him in 2011 when both were rookies, wears his Royals uniform with pride and loves the impact he has had on aspiring ballplayers. As he once told writer Ian Kraft of Royal Rundown, “I love seeing kids wear my jersey. It means a lot to me. I love Kansas City. I want to stay here for the rest of my career.”
With regards to Cooperstown, Salvy said, “I want to be a Hall of Famer in Kansas City, and maybe a Hall of Famer in MLB, too. But, for now, I want to see my number right there next to Frank White and George Brett. That would make me smile.”
It’s needless to say, but he is well on his way. 🇻🇪
May 18 2025
Jacob Wilson
Athletics • SS
The Athletics’ Jacob Wilson has hit the ground running through the first quarter of the baseball season, sitting atop the leader board in both batting average and hits among ALL Major League shortstops. The A’s 23-year-old leadoff hitter also became the first rookie in American League history to notch 40 singles and 20 RBI in as few as 36 games. It was last accomplished by a rookie in the National League in 1957.
Like father like son, Wilson became the 12th player from Thousand Oaks (CA) High School to make the majors, following in the footsteps of his dad Jack who played shortstop for 12 seasons – primarily for the Pirates - and also graduated from Thousand Oaks.
Jacob has fond childhood memories of going to nearby Dodger Stadium to watch batting practice from the field when his dad’s teams came to town, and to Spring Training. “I remember going to the Spring Training fields every day and going to the back fields and hitting with him,” Jacob told MLB.com writer Jesús Cano. “Watching him do all his work while I just sit to the side watching him. It was pretty cool growing up and seeing him be able to do all of that.”
After his retirement, Jack returned to Thousand Oaks High School to coach Jacob, later becoming an assistant coach at Grand Valley University where Jacob played college baseball and moved from third base to shortstop. “He’s loved it (the game) from the time we can remember from when he was little,” said Jack. “Him getting to see and getting to watch me go through my career and go to all the stadiums, and him falling in love with the game, and to see him getting to do what I got to do and living the dream, it’s just pretty cool.”
In 2023 the A’s selected Jacob with the sixth pick overall in the MLB Draft. A year later he was wearing an Oakland A’s uniform, as Jacob and Jack became the 270th father-son combination to play in the majors.
Shot with the new Sony A1ii + Sony 50-150mm f/2.0 GM lens.
April 14 2025
Aaron Judge
New York Yankees • OF
Long before Aaron Judge was swatting home runs at a Ruthian pace (both Babe Ruth and he had 321 homers through their first 1,000 games in pinstripes), he played Little League in Linden, CA, his hometown in the San Joaquin Valley.
It was there that the Yankee phenom hit his first over-the-fence home run. His dad was there to see it, and the ball can still be found in his childhood bedroom.
Being both the biggest kid on the field and following in his dad’s recreational softball footsteps, the slugger primarily played first base. As an eight-year-old, he was already modeling his crouched batting stance after his childhood hero, Giants shortstop Rich Aurilia.
The affable outfielder’s favorite memories from his grassroots days include playing with his friends and getting a hot dog and a Pepsi after games. As he told MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, “Our concession stand was right there, and everyone was running, even if we lost the game. I used to love sliding practice and all the fun things we would do. We had some pretty good teams back then, so it definitely got me ready for the big leagues.”
His advice to kids playing today is to work hard and soak up and to enjoy the experiences. “You might be in the World Series in 20 years, who knows?”
Aaron would know as this photo of him from last year’s World Series will attest, 23 years after putting on his Little League uniform with a smile and a dream.
April 10 2025
Johnny Bench
Hall of Famer • C
“One day, when I was about 4 years old, my dad and I were watching The Game of the Week on television, and the announcer said, ‘Now batting, the next superstar, the switch-hitting center fielder from Oklahoma, Mickey Mantle.’ I looked at my dad and said, ‘You can be from Oklahoma and play in the major leagues? That’s what I want to do.’ ”
April 6 2025
Jung-Hoo Lee
San Francisco Giants • OF
The Giants are off to a 7-1 record - their best start in 22 years - thanks in part to center-fielder and middle-of-the order hitter Jung-Hoo Lee. The superstar outfielder hit .340 over seven seasons in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) before signing with San Francisco prior to the 2024 season.
Like father like son, Lee was an MVP in the KBO, 28 years after his father Jong-Beom Lee earned the honor after stealing a league record 84 bases. Jong-Beom’s nickname was “Son of Wind,” and when his son arrived in the US he introduced himself to Giants fans as “The Grandson of Wind.”
Though raised in Korea, Lee was born in Nagoya, Japan – not far from where his hero Ichiro Suzuki grew up - when his father was playing for the Chunichi Dragons. Lee followed Ichiro’s career closely, emulating his batting style and wearing #51 out of respect to his Hall of Fame hero. Like Ichiro, in grade school Lee announced his future plans to play professional baseball.