{"id":5656,"date":"2008-08-21T20:06:44","date_gmt":"2008-08-21T20:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/sports\/former-wilson-standout-hicks-is-running-minor-league-baseball\/"},"modified":"2008-08-21T20:06:44","modified_gmt":"2008-08-21T20:06:44","slug":"former-wilson-standout-hicks-is-running-minor-league-baseball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/former-wilson-standout-hicks-is-running-minor-league-baseball","title":{"rendered":"Former Wilson Standout Hicks Is Running Minor League Baseball"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the past year and a half, there may not be another high school team in the nation that has been through as many ups and downs as the Wilson High baseball team.  After being crowned Nat-Champs in 2007, the team heavily favored to repeat uncharacteristically dropped early season games and had to play catch up to compete in the Moore League – let alone America.  Then they rallied to win League and earned a trip to the CIF Finals in Dodger Stadium, only to fall to Simi Valley.<\/p>\n

Then came the news that Long Beach’s PONY All-Star team was ravaging through the ranks at the Little League World Series, and many of the 13-14 year-olds would be enrolling at Wilson.  Would this be the kickstart to another insanely talented bunch for Coach Andy Hall to mold into a national contender?<\/p>\n

We won’t know that answer for two or three more years, but we do know that neither the ace pitcher nor the slugger who won the World Series – with a two-run walkoff homer – will join the squad this year (one will attend Fountain Valley and the other didn’t make the team<\/span>).<\/p>\n

Oy vey.<\/p>\n

So what in the world could make this whirlwind end on an undeniably positive note?  Last year’s standout Aaron Hicks tearing up the Minnesota Twins’ rookie system, and the club’s Assistant General Manager proclaiming Hicks better than Torii Hunter at the same age<\/a>.  Cue StarTribune.com:<\/p>\n

Well, Hicks has showed he is a step or two ahead of Hunter at this stage. In Hunter’s first professional season, 1993, he batted .190 in 28 games with four walks and 23 strikeouts in 100 at-bats. Hicks already had 25 walks — and 27 strikeouts — in 38 games. Hicks also had 11 stolen bases in 12 attempts.<\/span>

And it should be pointed out that while several first-round picks were still negotiating contracts with their clubs leading up to the Friday night deadline, Hicks signed relatively early this summer and is on his way as a pro.<\/span>

Hicks, 18, has a lot to learn and many breaking balls to conquer. But the Twins like what they have seen so far.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Must be music to Coach Hall’s ears.  He’s been called the most electrifying player in the ’08 draft, and some see him as a legitimate 30-30 threat once he reaches the bigs.  Enormous expectations for an 18-year-old, but the outfielder has whacked every curveball thrown at him so far and there’s no reason to think he’ll stop now.  I’m even rooting for the Twin, which I think means I’m risking confiscation of my White Sox fan club card. <\/p>\n

Just when we all thought that Wilson was entering an era of invincibility, they were struck with a disappointing season and now look vulnerable in the Moore League, even considering their trip to the CIF Finals last May.  It’s invaluable to be able to point to a kid like Aaron Hicks, doing things the right way and accelerating towards a professional career with no limits – the kind of thing that talented kids look for when choosing a high school program. 
<\/span>
Even after graduating, Hicks is doing his part to keep Wilson on top.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5656\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5656"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5656"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}