“This, this is the first one,” Brady Yates said as he moves his hands in a circular motion near his head.
He has some moves at the plate, third base, on the mound.
“And then just the practice moves…just going around,” he says now as he moves his arms in a circular motion near his chest.
Those dance moves only happen at practice or in celebration and there’s lot’s to be celebrating early this season. The Glendale Junior won game one with a walk-off grand slam.
“Got a little slider right there and swung it and it went over and that was the best feeling I ever experienced. Nothing has ever been like that,” Yates said.
“He has hit three grand slams because of those guys getting on base in front of him,” Glendale Head Baseball Coach Jim Julian said. “Obviously he has been swinging the bat pretty well.”
Pretty well may be an understatement, Yates is settling into his junior year as the No. 2 Missouri prospect in his class.
Going into Thursday, he has six of the Falcons’ seven home runs, a batting average of nearly .600 and a slugging percentage of about 1.600. His mentality at the plate is exactly where it needs to be.
“Kill the ball,” Yates said. “I mean obviously hit through the ball. Punch through the ball. Can’t get too pull happy. I only hit home runs when I’m not trying to hit home runs, but I mean after seeing the ball go over a couple of times it’s so relieving,” Yates said.
Just as relieving as him verbally committing to his future home.
“October 28, I remember the date. I had my Missouri State visit,” Yates said. “Went into it and I didn’t think I was going to commit and the day went so great. Then Coach [Joey] Hawkins went up to me and I just let him know that this is where I wanted to be committing and that was my decision. The weight was just relieved off me.”
But before he moves on to being a Missouri State Baseball Bear, Yates still has plenty of moves to show as a Glendale Falcon.
