Houston Astros’ prospect Austin Wates giving back to community - MLB News
Austin Wates is a budding prospect for the Houston Astros. The 24-year-old represented the Double-A Corpus Christi in 2012, moving a step forward from his 2011 stint with the Class A Lancaster.
Wates has a sound head over his shoulders and currently is playing a mentoring role at his high school, the St. Christopher School in Richmond, Virginia, his alma mater for the last two of his high school years.
The Astros’ Minor League player has been mentoring at the school since September as a way of giving back to community. He has been volunteering a few days every week and will be ending the role this week to direct his energies towards workouts in the off-season.
Austin moved to the East Coast in his junior year in high school and was raised in Seattle. He says he had to deal with a bit of a cultural shock moving into the tightly knit community. He recalls that he no longer needed to take care of his belongings at
the school as no one would take them and he felt good about it. "The fact I didn't have to worry about leaving my backpack somewhere and worry about it getting taken, I thought that was really cool," he said.
He also expressed his gratitude to the teachers who were very helpful when he was a student and would spend hours just helping their students. He was also appreciative of the fact that the teachers who had taught him six years ago were also a part of the
mentoring process with him.
Wates understands the importance of guiding youngsters at this critical juncture of their life, something that he did not get. Quite a few of the kids that he is mentoring are athletes, meaning his advice becomes even more important.
"I told this one kid that I didn't learn how to be a great student until I got to college because there's time management," he said. "When you work hard in the classroom, it reflects on the field as well in the things you do.”
The outfielder who was drafted out of Virginia Tech in 2010 in the third round and is expected to play in Triple-A Oklahoma in 2013. His performance for the Corpus Christi was quite good with a batting average of .304 with 48 runs batted in and going long
on seven occasions.
Wates, who stole 17 bases, also had some great moments in the field, including an amazing catch at the centre field fence while he was falling over it. The catch earned him nationwide fame.
It is great to see a young athlete coming out to help those at very early stages of their lives and giving back to his community. It is a great example for all athletes and they should follow Wates’ footsteps.
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