Carson Pomeroy, a 2021 graduate of Lee’s Summit High School, had a breakout year in 2019. His performance that year helped him to develop as a player, culminating in an offer from State Fair Community College and an invitation to play on an elite travel team for the 2020 fall season. The speedy centerfielder shares his exciting story along with his plans for the 2021 season.
You’ve had an exciting year despite all the delays and complications with COVID. What can you share about your successes in 2020?
While 2020 has brought really exciting news for me, I feel like those opportunities were created in 2019. From the very beginning of the 2019 season, I was having one of those years. I hit great, both for average and power, and made plays in the field. By the end of the 2019 summer season, I had played well enough to be selected to two different all-tournament teams and was named by Pastime Tournaments as the top overall hitting performance of the summer. The Pastime selection was a crowning achievement because it was against competition from across the country based on results from hundreds of tournaments and thousands of players of all age groups.
That’s an impressive accomplishment. Great work and congratulations. Did you get any attention from those awards?
I did. I was invited to play on the Pastime Blue Chip Showcase team. Pastime selects ‘Blue Chip’ players based on their performance at tournaments throughout the year. They bring together the top performers at each position to form a showcase team. It’s a great recruiting achievement because the team had a private workout for college coaches and then played in a tournament together.
Playing with the Blue Chip team fired me up for the 2020 season. I spent the offseason working on all aspects of my game, with a focus on improving speed. I was already pretty quick, but I knew dropping a few tenths off my 60-yard dash time would push me to elite levels. All the work paid off. In August, I recorded a 6.65 second 60 at the Fort Scott showcase. Two days later, the coach for the Central Scout Team reached out and offered me a spot on the fall team.
Do you know if the Central Scout Team coach saw you at the showcase or if they found you some other way?
The coach mentioned that he saw my tweet announcing my PR in the 60. That tweet along with all the others on my profile showed him enough about how I play the game for him to offer me the spot.
(Check out Carson Pomeroy’s Twitter profile: pomeroy_carson. It’s a great example of how to use Twitter for recruiting.)
It’s great to hear that social media worked for you. It’s proven to be an important tool with all the restrictions in 2020. How was the experience with the Central Scout Team?
Amazing! The coaches did a great job of pulling together a team of really good dudes. The team played in 4 different fall showcases: the Labor Day Tournament at Creekside; the Perfect Game WWBA 2020 South Qualifier in Houston, Texas; the Perfect Game WWBA Kernels Foundation Championship in Marion, Iowa; and, the Perfect Game WWBA Southeast Qualifier in Marietta, Georgia. It seemed each time we played that several guys made an All-Tournament team. They are that good. It was so much fun to travel to the big events and to take the field with a team of elite-level players like that.
That is exciting and had to be a game-changing experience for you. How do you feel you play with the team?
Getting to see how those guys prepared and played the game had an immediate impact on me. And, I’m very happy with my performance. The game in Houston was by far my best performance. For the weekend, we only got to play 3 games because we finished 1-1 in pool play, which pushed us out of the championship bracket to a consolation game. But, even on a short weekend, I was able to put up good stats (AVG: .375, OPS: 1.045, SB: 3). That earned me a spot on the All-Tournament Team for hitting.
My best story of the weekend was from the first game. We were visitors, and I was leading off against a solid team out of Houston. My first at-bat I hit a double over the centerfielder. I ended up scoring our first run of the game. That at-bat set the tone for the team that game and we were on top from start to finish.
After a summer like that, what’s next for you?
I’m really looking forward to my senior year at Lee’s Summit High School. I’ve loved playing for Coach Mellody and I look forward to helping the team this year. We have a great senior class and we’re all focused on winning a state championship. After that, I’ll be 100% focused on preparing to play at State Fair Community College.
Can you share your recruiting experience with State Fair?
When I started the recruiting process, I made a list of schools I was interested in, including State Fair Community College. I scheduled a campus tour at SFCC and emailed the coaching staff the week before to let them know I would be on campus and to ask if I could meet with them while I was there. The recruiting coordinator emailed me back, saying that he saw my FieldLevel profile and asked if I could come out the next day for a private workout. I was all over that offer! I had a great workout, so much so they made an offer that day. I liked everything about the baseball program but asked for some time to think it over. I wanted to visit the other schools on my list before making a decision. I went back to SFCC for a showcase a few weeks later and had a great time. I really enjoyed working with the coaching staff and knew that it was the right place for me. I verbally committed that afternoon.
We’re excited to watch you this year and to see you playing at the next level. Congratulations! In closing, what advice would you give to a young IE player?
You have to work hard. It doesn’t matter how good you think you are, you can always get better. So, set a goal (mine was to drop my 60 time) and then put in the work to make it happen. And, as our coaches always say, you never know who’s watching. Take advantage of every opportunity. Good things will happen if you do.