A little known fact about me is that I love baseball! Spring Training is going to start in February and I decided to create a baseball team full of our favorite country music artists that I think could win the World Series.
Pitcher: Brett Young - Brett was a stud in high school and was a .405 hitter and had a 3.46 career ERA, and he lead his team to the state championship. When he graduated he ended up getting two pro offers, one from the Tampa Bay Rays and the other from the Minnesota Twins. Instead of signing a pro offer he chose to take his talents to Ole Miss. However, Brett did suffer a career ending elbow injury after playing at Ole Miss and Fresno State. But give me a healthy Brett Young as the ace of this team!
Catcher: Morgan Wallen - Okay, so I needed an artist at catcher since there isn't many. But Morgan was a really good pitcher in high school, so good, that he got multiple college offers, but right before his senior year started he blew out his arm. I know he was a pitcher but pitchers can be good catchers as well. Plus, just imagine a pop up behind home plate and he rips his mask off and his mullet in flowing in the summer wind and he catches it to end the inning!
1st Base: Garth Brooks - Garth in his hay day played the corner infield/corner outfield. For this team, Garth gets the nod at 1st Base. Garth really good at baseball, how good? He was offered a minor league contract with the San Diego Padres in 1999 and invited to spring training. He also was in spring training with the Mets in 2000, although he went 0-17 with 4 walks. He then went to spring training with the Royals and actually got a hit!
2nd Base: Eric Church - While I don't know much about the Chief's baseball background, I do know he was good at basketball and I know a lot of basketball players who usually play 2nd base or the outfield and for this team, The Chief will play 2nd!
Shortstop: Jameson Rodgers - All my research has shown me was that he played baseball in high school and then played at Northwest Mississippi Community College, then was recruited as an infielder by Crichton College in Memphis. but instead finished at the University of Southern Mississippi.
3rd Base: Jason Aldean - I honestly don't know what position in high school that Jason played. I'm going to be honest I googled photos of him playing baseball and there's one where he is playing the infield, and he's a Braves fan so I decided to put him at 3rd base like Atlanta Braves great Chipper Jones. But what I do know is that he was a great left-handed leadoff hitter. He was an all-district leadoff hitter in high school, he did have some offers to play in college, but when the Braves didn't draft him, he decided to go into music full-time.
Left Field: Kenny Chesney - I know, I know, Kenny is more of a football guy. But in high school he also played baseball and while I don't know much about his baseball career, as a football player he was a wide receiver which means he has great hands and good at catching which the Left Field usually has the best glove in the outfield, so Kenny is our left fielder.
Center Field: Chris Lane - In college Chris Lane spent all 4 years roaming the outfield at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Chris was a .303 career hitter in 192 games from 2004-2007. With years of experience, Chris Lane is the captain of the outfield and playing center field!
Right Field: Brian Kelley - He pitched for Florida State from 2005-2006 and while he didn't get much playing time he did go 1 for 1 with a base hit and an RBI. Brian wanted to move back home and he did so, attending Daytona State College where he played baseball his Junior and Senior year. While there he struck out 109 batters while walking 75 batters in 144.3 innings. Usually right fielders have the strongest arms in the outfield, which means instead of pitching Brian will play right field.
Relief Pitcher: Scotty McCreery - He was a heck of a pitcher in high school, probably could have had multiple college offers and probably could have went pro. But when you compete on American Idol and win the whole thing you have to put your baseball dreams on hold and go with your music dreams. When it does come to baseball, in his sophomore year, Scotty had a 1.07 ERA and a 6-1 record and his coach said he was a very effective pitcher, so he'll come in to relieve Brett.
Closer: Charley Pride - While Charley Pride did pass away in 2020, believe it or not Charley pitched in the Negro League before playing on the Boise Yankees farm team. He spent the next several years playing on minor league teams across the country until he released his first single in 1966. Now, if you were to have Charley in his prime he would be our closer for sure!
Could you imagine having all these guys in their prime on the same baseball team? Sure it would be talented musically, but I believe if they just played baseball they could win a World Series!