John Mitchell '24 Recruiting Profile

I love baseball. It is woven into the fabric of my life. I love the one-on-one challenge of pitching a hitter and of hitting a pitcher.  I really enjoy sharing successes with my teammates, encouraging them and receiving encouragement from them.  Baseball is great because it has so many moments of individual challenge in a team sport. 

When I asked my parents if could start playing baseball, my dad began teaching me in our backyard. From father and son catching and batting sessions to my first select baseball team, this game I love has reinforced the biblical lessons of humility, perseverance, and character. I am thankful that my parents believe in me enough to invest their time in my passion for the game, taking me to practice, providing private lessons, and supporting my progress in the game. 

I am grateful to be intellectually and athletically gifted enough compete at the collegiate level.  My coaches tell me that I am easy to coach. My teachers have said I am a pleasure to have in class. My fielding coach praises me for my all out hustle in pursuit of the baseball.  While my pitching coach (MLB Cubs) says I have a great sense of my body in time and space and make adjustments within a single lesson, my hitting instructor (mentored under Charley Lau and the Royals Academy) says I have a great swing and, that in less than a year of instruction, now we’ve progressed past tuning my mechanics onto learning use the whole field to become a great hitter.  Each of my coaches tell me that my practice on my own shows in my progress. 

Playing baseball in college has been my goal since seventh grade. Since then, I have continued to maintain an “A” average and work on my baseball skills nearly every day.  I have the grit and determination to achieve my goals.  In the weight room, on the practice tee, in fielding and batting practice, and in ball games, I work to get better. Every repetition means something to me.  As I have grown from barely five feet tall and 100 pounds to almost five feet ten inches tall at 153 pounds I feed closer and closer to my dream of playing baseball after high school.  

In college, I am looking for a chance to play, and an environment that affords me a well-rounded college experience consisting of: (1) an education to prepare me for life after baseball, and (2) an opportunity to follow my dream of playing baseball. My objectives are to be a scholarship athlete, play baseball as I achieve my eduction, work my was toward a BS in Finance and then go on to graduate or law school. Whether my path will be an AS in accounting, then a BS in Finance, is up to the Lord to determine. Meanwhile, I will study hard, practice hard and play hard to prepare myself for the opportunity when it comes.  

I shall be grateful to you, should you decide to extend an offer to me.  To your clubhouse and dugout, I bring high moral character, mental toughness, the desire to succeed and to help those around me succeed. I am also a player blessed with a good sense of humor; so, I can keep the mood lightened such that we all keep positive attitude.  If you are considering me for your program, I thank you. I promise that you will always be glad you added me to your roster.