Shakopee High School batboy receives all-star honor: "He loves to be a part of it"
CHASKA, Minn. -- It's a tough moment for some student-athletes as they take the field for the final time of their high school careers.
Friday, they played the annual high school all-star baseball games in Chaska - a tradition for 48 years.
The early years of the all-star baseball series were at the old Midway Stadium. In 1989, they moved to Chaska, a baseball masterpiece when the rivers don't turn it into flood plains.
There, they keep standing scrapbooks of players who eventually landed in the big leagues.
"Matt Lawler, Minnesota Twins. Max Meyer, who was the number three overall draft pick of the Marlins. Jake Irvin from Bloomington," said Don Gawreluk, the all-star team coach.
The caliber of baseball in Minnesota no longer goes unnoticed - they dot the rosters of colleges across the country.
"They're coachec very well. They know the game. And they see a body... And they're like, 'I can do something with that.' Minnesota is a hotbed for recruiting right now," said Gawreluk.
But this all-star game has another all-star who will not play collegiately or this weekend - JJ Frederick is this year's batboy.
JJ Frederick became Shakopee's team batboy and, really, teammate, because he is one of them.
And he has enjoyed his own athletic career, earning 12 letters in adaptive sports.
"Super proud of that boy, just everything he's accomplished," his father, Bob Frederick, said. "Over the last few years... Just he's got a big personality, loves to be amongst the players. The coaches have embraced him."
At the ballpark, in his final high school appearance, he is where he wants to be.
JJ Frederick will do his job one more time and that means a lot.
This weekend, he caps a remarkable high school career by being a part of a team.
"Baseball has been a part of his life with his brother growing up playing for Shakopee. And he just, he loves the game. He loves to be part of it," said Bob Frederick.
He will do it the way he's always done it: "Stay focused, have fun, stay positive."
