Christopher Patterson '25 Recruiting Profile

Hi, I am James Patterson and I love playing baseball. I am a 2025 outfielder that has always dreamed of playing baseball at the next level. I have been through many trials and tribulations throughout my life that make me who I am today. I am a hard worker and live by what Derek Jeter said, "There may be people who have more talent than you, but there's no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do." 

Here is my story:

My sister was born just before I turned 3, and I became her primary caregiver almost immediately because our parents were out of the house a lot and left me to take care of her. While this is not good for a young child, it led me to become a responsible, determined person. Just after Christmas when I was 5,  we were put into foster care. In our first 4 months, my sister and I lived in 4 different homes and I attended 4 different schools. The places we lived were not always the best, and sometimes they were even worse. We made it through together though and learned and grew together. 

We moved into our fifth and forever home on my last day of kindergarten. Because of the instability in my life that year, I really didn’t learn anything in my kindergarten year. I did not know how to do math or read. Luckily my now-adoptive mom worked with me tirelessly to teach me to read and write and how to do math using flashcards. Amazingly, not only did we catch-up to everyone else, I surpassed many of my fellow students and have gone on to win awards for my academic successes and become one of the smartest students in my class.

As a college baseball player I intend to not only continue my pattern of hard work and resilience in adversity, I also intend to encourage and teach others as I was taught by my mother. I would contribute to the team I am apart of  as a player that doesn't back down from challenges and who has it ingrained to never give up because giving up simply isn't an option. I have always been told to "leave it better than you found it" and while that is usually my baseball coach telling us to clean out the dugout after a game, I believe it is applicable here. If given the opportunity to play baseball in college, my goal would be to try and leave the university, the baseball program, and my fellow students, better than I found them.