HIGH POINT — There’s a new Sultan of Swat in town, and he’s still in middle school.
Ryan Hendricks, a member of the High Point Pony Baseball Club’s 13-and-under team, has qualified for Major League Baseball’s Junior Home Run Derby, which will be held next month during All-Star Weekend at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. He’s one of only eight sluggers from across the country who will be competing in MLB’s 14-and-under division of the homer-hitting competition.
“Oh my gosh, he’s so excited,” says Ryan’s mother, Amanda Hendricks, of Jamestown. “He came in the living room the other night with his hands on his forehead, and he said, ‘I just can’t stop thinking about it.’ He’s really excited.”
Ryan qualified for the Junior Home Run Derby by winning a local competition at the Greensboro Grasshoppers’ stadium and then winning the regional qualifier held Saturday at the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers’ stadium.
The format for the competition is similar to the regular MLB Home Run Derby. With a pitching machine delivering the pitches — and an outfield fence set up at an age-appropriate distance — each batter is given three minutes to hit as many home runs as possible. Ryan’s best round was 14 homers in three minutes, according to his Pony team coach, Phillip Merritt.
Ryan, a 13-year-old rising eighth-grader who is homeschooled, began playing T-ball at age 4 or 5.
“He’s just always loved the game,” his mother says. “When he was younger, he played other sports, too, but all the others have gone by the wayside now — baseball is his favorite sport.”
Merritt, who has coached Ryan for several years, says he’s deserving of the opportunity to compete on such a big stage.
“He bats cleanup for us, and he’s just an incredible baseball player,” Merritt says. “He’s a natural leader, and he loves baseball inside and out. He’s the guy who is always asking how he can improve. Even after the all-star tryouts when he made the team, he’s the guy who called and asked me what he could improve on.”
Ryan and his mother will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles in mid-July. He’ll compete during the day on July 18, and that night he’ll get to watch the major leaguers compete in their Home Run Derby.
Ryan’s High Point Pony teammates are hoping to go to Los Angeles, too, to cheer him on as he competes. Their coaches and families are soliciting donations to raise approximately $24,000 — in a short window of time — to make the trip possible.
“We just thought it would be an awesome experience for the boys to send them with Ryan, to celebrate and support him out there,” Merritt says. “It’s an ambitious goal, for sure, but it would be a really cool experience and a chance to make some memories that will stick with them forever.”