On October 1-3, senior baseball player Stephen Hernandez will be competing in the New Balance Future Stars Series Main Event (NBFSS) at Fenway Park, the stadium of the Red Sox. Forty up-and-coming baseball players were selected to participate in the Future Stars National Team Event at Fenway Park. Hernandez was selected through the National Combine, an event where former Major League Players, coaches, and scouts assessed skills and strengths as an athlete. Players from all over the nation came together for the combine and were put through different trials, such as “hitting, fielding and pitching [drills],” said Hernandez. From there the top forty players are selected to compete at Fenway Park. 

On the day of the game at Fenway park, the players who were selected will play “three separate games that will be televised,” said Hernandez. These games will take place, one game a day, over the three day period when the event is taking place. 

“[He] has a lot of talent,” said varsity baseball coach Damien Tippett, “he also has been working hard over the past sixteen months.”  On top of that Hernandez is a left handed pitcher which is uncommon in baseball, which makes him even more appealing to scouts and future athletic programs. “He works his tail off every single day and he’s committed to being the best he can be,” teammate Luke Hinze said.

Hernandez is “out there everyday for sixth hour and doing some volunteer work as well,”coach Tippett said. Hernandez continues daily training in baseball locker, in order to prepare and better himself not only for the event but also for the coming season in the spring.

This event will feature many star high school players from all across the country, including two players he knows, “Brandon Compton out of Buckeye Union and Luke Muller out of Desert Mountain,” said Hernandez. He will be pitching at the event and will be representing not only himself but also his club teams, the Socal Giants and Mirichi Athletics, along with representing the school. He believes he was selected to compete because, “I put on a good performance at the combine,” said Hernandez.

He is hoping “to get a couple MLB scouts, and get [his] name out there so [he] can get drafted out of high school,” said Hernandez. Hernandez was being scouted by many different schools, but ultimately committed to Arizona State University on August 5 of this year.

New Balance Future Starts Series Main Event can be watched on Oct. 1-3 on the MLB Network as well as on the programs website found here.