It doesn’t happen often on the Redhawks baseball team; less frequently than a leap year.
But when the team takes to the field for their first game on Saturday against Haltom and Irving, one of the nine starters will be freshman Griffin Jenkins.
First playing baseball in second grade, Jenkins has been working on his skills on the diamond for eight years making it easy for head coach Scott Mcgarrh to put Jenkins on the varsity starting lineup.
“It is not often that freshmen make the varsity team,” McGarrh said. “In my 19 years here, we’ve had six freshmen and all of them were starters, so in order for freshmen to make the varsity team, obviously they have to have a little bit of talent, but they have to be a kid that’s going to start or impact the game immediately.”
From early mornings to late nights, Jenkins has put in a lot of work to get to where he is today.
“I didn’t expect to make varsity as a freshman because of how uncommon it is for a varsity team,” Jenkins said. “I work really hard, a lot of early mornings, a lot of late nights, just practicing and working every day. My journey to varsity was tough, I had to put in a lot of hard work. Being surrounded by good teammates helped me a lot.”
Jenkins brings more competition within the Redhawks but according to sophomore Alex Ortiz, it will help the team.
“I didn’t really like it because I didn’t want a lot of competition but now it’s working out well,” Ortiz said. “I think Griffin can help the team and lineup with some hitting in right field and once he strengthens his defense he’ll help us tremendously”
For McGarrh, Jenkins’s previous experience in baseball has propelled him to the varsity team in his first year of high school.
“What made me think Griffin was ready for varsity was his physicality, maturity, work ethic,” McGarrh said. “Griffin’s work ethic is one of his biggest strengths, along with his desire to be great, and love for the game. It’s something that not many people have anymore. And you can tell that he has love for the game. When you’re the first one there and the last one to leave, that kind of tells your teammates you’re here to grind, cause it’s not easy.”
Ready for his first varsity season, Jenkins has both personal and team goals.
“My personal goals for the season are probably just to do good but more specifically I want a 300+ batting average,” Jenkins said. “As for the team, my goal is to make the playoffs which I think we can do because we have a strong group of guys.”
