GREENBRIER — Despite huge expectations, Greenbrier’s Cayden Wallace never missed a beat on the baseball field in 2019.
Prior to the start of the season, Panther coach Tye Glover said of his 6-1, 210-pound junior infielder/pitcher, who was named the River Valley & Ozark Edition Player to Watch: “I don’t mean any disrespect to any other player in the state of Arkansas, but there’s no question he’s the best player in the state.”
Wallace demurred then.
“I work like there’s always going to be somebody to beat me,” he said. “It’s all just opinions. I just play my game and let it speak for itself.”
This spring, Wallace lived up to the hype.
After his junior season, during which he hit .514 with 22 RBIs and 38 hits, including 6 doubles, 7 triples and 6 home runs, he is the River Valley & Ozark Edition Baseball Player of the Year.
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Highly recruited, Wallace committed to the University of Arkansas in October of his sophomore year, but Glover said Wallace had a legitimate shot to be a high Major League Baseball draft pick out of high school next year.
“He’s not just pretty good,” Glover said. “He’s got a legitimate power arm to be able to play third at the next level. He’s got really, really good power at the plate and good speed. He’s got a lot of the tools necessary to make it.”
Wallace said that while everything could change over the next year, at this point, he plans to play for the Razorbacks. If he does, he will have to play three years before re-entering the draft.
In 2019, he added to his stats package 20 stolen bases and a .949 fielding percentage with just 3 errors as he moved to shortstop from his more natural position at third base.
“He led us in a lot of categories,” Glover said. “He batted leadoff for us because we wanted to give him some opportunities, and he was on base a ton.”
Once again, Wallace drew a number of intentional walks.
“That’s a very tough position to be in,” Glover said. “Everybody knows who you are, but he handled himself really well. As the year went on, he got better and better.”
Wallace called that strategy of intentional walks part of the game.
“I take it as respect from the other teams,” he said. “I look for the pitch that I can drive and try not to swing at anything outside the strike zone. [Opposing pitchers] tried to get me to chase, and I did some of that early in the season. I was just wanting to hit so bad, but at about the midpoint of the year, I thought, ‘All right, play your game. Let them come to you.’
“That helped me a ton.”
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At press time, Wallace was at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, as part of the inaugural class of the Prospect Development Pipeline League, a joint venture of Major League Baseball and USA Baseball. According to USAbaseball.com, the PDP is “a premier development and showcase experience for dozens of high school baseball prospects based in the United States.” The PDP is made up of the top 80 high school prospects ahead of the 2020 MLB Draft.
According to the website, the PDP League will be “the primary identification event for the USA Baseball 18U National Team.” Wallace said those who make the first cut to a 40-man roster will head to Cleveland for events connected to MLB All-Star Week. The next cut will yield the top 20 players, who will make up the American team for the XXIX U-18 Baseball World Cup in South Korea on Aug. 30 to Sept. 8.
But true to his personality, Wallace isn’t getting ahead of himself.
“There’s still a long ways to go,” he said.
Part of that involves his leadership skills.
“I’m still working on that,” he said. “I’m more of a quiet leader. I lead by example. I’m not a real talkative guy, but Coach Glover
brought a lot out of me in helping me to be a leader of the team. He brought out a whole new level of Cayden I didn’t know about.”
Glover said his protege has grown in many ways over the past year.
“I think he’s a better defender than last year,” said Glover, who left coaching following the season. “Obviously, he’s stronger and faster. Maturitywise, he’s a little better just because he’s a year older. He’s got better lateral movements than in the past; his hands are continuing to get better.
“He’s just a better baseball player.”
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As a freshman in 2017, Wallace batted .349 (38 hits in 109 at-bats, with 9 doubles,
1 triple and 4 home runs) with
30 runs scored and 37 RBIs. He stole 4 bases in 5 attempts, boasted a .966 fielding percentage with 1 error; and on the mound recorded a 1.88 ERA in
26 innings pitched, walked 8 and struck out 26. Greenbrier went 31-5 and reached the Class 5A state semifinals.
As a sophomore, he led the Panthers back to the state semifinals and a 26-6 mark. He hit .481 (38 for 79, including
11 doubles, 1 triple and 11 home runs) with 38 runs scored and 45 RBIs. He stole 12 bases and had a .909 fielding percentage with 5 double plays. On the mound, he was 4-0 with 4 saves and a 0.88 ERA in 24 innings pitched, giving up 3 earned runs and 10 walks with 37 strikeouts.
While his numbers were better this spring, he was disappointed that the Panthers lost their opener in the Class 5A State Tournament to White Hall, which went on to the semifinals.
“I can always wish for a better year, but the year was pretty good,” he said. “We didn’t come out as we wanted, but we grew a lot as a team this year.”
There’s another chance for Wallace and his Panthers to improve in 2020. Don’t bet against them.