CLEVELAND — Before they took the field at Progressive Friday evening, Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor and outfielder Myles Straw spent their morning surprising a group of young baseball players at the Jim Thome All-Star Complex in Cleveland.
The Cleveland Guardians RBI teams—a program funded by Cleveland Guardians Charities and made up of Senior Softball (ages 14-18), Senior Baseball (ages 16-18) and Junior Baseball (ages 13-15)—are getting ready to play in the RBI Regional Tournament in Chicago.
But first, on Friday, the junior baseball team took on the MAF Gators, a travel baseball team based out of Medina. As the kids prepared for the game, they were treated to a special surprise.
Naylor and Straw surprised the kids at their game, meeting with them and taking pictures after the day had wrapped. But taking pictures and signing autographs wasn't all the two Guardians did on Friday. The two also acted as base coaches for the team.
Acting as the first base coach, Naylor coached all the kids as they were at the plate and once they made it on base—even getting them to steal second on a few occasions.
Today the #Guardians surprised the Junior RBI team at their game today with some special base coaches—Myles Straw coaching third and Josh Naylor coaching first.
— Camryn Justice (@camijustice) July 15, 2022
Naylor got his kid to steal second and was loving the hustle. 👇🏽 pic.twitter.com/ey4KVMdDDm
After the game, the young players asked Naylor and Straw questions about life in the Majors, how often they practice and what they love most about the game.
For Straw, the opportunity was something he was more than happy to be a part of.
"This was an awesome event to come out to. The RBI program, the coaches, the players, they do an amazing job with keeping this organization ran out here and it's just great to get out here and interact with these kids," Straw said. "For myself, looking back at my 13-year-old self, those were some of the best years of your lives and especially doing this stuff."
Straw said that his favorite part of the day was hands down the reaction of the kids who came up to meet them at the baseball fields because it took him back to when he was young.
"This is what I loved as a kid, coming out here playing travel ball baseball. All these kids are happy, the smiles on their faces when they get to see us is amazing, it makes your day," Straw said.
Now, the young players will take their exciting surprise and lessons learned from talking with Naylor and Straw with them to the RBI Regional Tournament from July 21-24, hoping to win and go on to play in the RBI World Series Tournament in August.
Camryn Justice is a reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on Twitter @camijustice.
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