San Diego Padres first baseman Wil Myers (4) rounds third on his way to score during the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Petco Park. ( Jake Roth, USA TODAY Sports).
Wil Myers is again hitting like the player people thought he could be when he won the American League Rookie of the Year award three seasons ago with Tampa Bay. Now with the San Diego Padres, Myers is hitting .330 (32-for-97) with six doubles, five homers and 15 RBI in his last 24 games.
Scott Davis, Myers’ high school coach at Wesleyan Christian (High Point, N.C.), said he never doubted what Myers could do if healthy. That’s been a big if as Myers has yet to play more than 88 games in a season because of injuries. Last season, wrist problems saw him hitting a career-low 27 RBI in 225 at-bats.
“I was never surprised at the success he had early on in his pro career,” Davis said. “I always said if he could stay healthy, he could be a perennial all-star. He’s yet to do that. He never got hurt when he was here. He went from never being hurt to having nagging injuries.”
Myers told USA TODAY’s Steve Gardner as much before the season.
“I’ve actually never had a bad year in professional baseball when I’ve been completely healthy,” Myers said during spring training. “That’s what I’m looking forward to this year — just staying healthy and getting 600 at-bats. I know with those 600 at-bats I can do a lot.”
There’s the hope that, with his move to first base, he has a chance to avoid injury. Davis visited Myers when the player was on the Disabled List last year at San Diego. Though Myers wasn’t allowed to hit at the time, he was already working on the transition to first.
“He moves so fluidly around the bag,” Davis said. “He moved and fielded the ball like he had been there all his life.”
Myers was an American Family Insurance ALL-USA first-team player his senior year at Wesleyan, hitting .532 with 14 home runs, 41 RBI and 13 stolen bases in 62 at-bats. He was talented enough that he played every position his senior year. He was listed as a catcher when he was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the third round in 2009, but he was quickly moved to the outfield. From 2010-2012, he made an all-star team each season as he steadily worked his way through the minors.
Though he was considered one of the top prospects in the minors, the Royals traded him in December, 2012 to Tampa Bay, along with pitchers Mike Montgomery, Jake Odorizzi and third baseman Patrick Leonard in return for pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis.
Called up midway through the 2013 season, he hit .293 with 13 homers and 59 RBI and was named the AL Rookie of the Year. After hitting only .222 in an injury-shortened year in 2014, he was traded before last season to the Padres in a three-team deal.
Davis, whose Wesleyan Christian team is 18-6 this season, has won two state titles at Wesleyan, including one Myers’ junior year in 2008. He said the player’s mental attitude as a high schooler is one of the things that has helped him weather storms in the pros.
“To coach a kid like that, you don’t appreciate it until he’s gone,” Davis said. “The thing he had was the tremendous athleticism. He was a very big kid, but he was the fastest kid on our team. His attitude was tremendous. He loved the game and he didn’t take himself too seriously. Wil would go 0-for-3 with a strikeout, but the guys around him would get two or three hits and he wouldn’t sulk. He was a good teammate. He knew how to handle the negative side of the game.”
Wil Myers, shown during his days at Wesleyan Academy Christian in High Point, N.C., where he was a first-team ALL-USA player in 2009. (Photo by Sara D. Davis for USA TODAY Sports).