COLLEYVILLE, Texas — Peering through the glass of a gymnasium door, former Ranger Michael Young waited to deliver a surprise.
"Not only is he the state player of the year," Young said of Colleyville Heritage senior shortstop Bobby Witt, Jr., "but he has just been named the Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year."
In front of a graduation rehearsal, Witt Jr. received an enormous honor -- tabbed as the best high school baseball player in America.
"I have really no words for this," Witt, Jr. said. "It's awesome."
"His baseball team is still playing, he's about to graduate from HS, he's got a scholarship in hand, the draft is around the corner," Young said, rattling off Witt's current accomplishments. "Life is good for that young man right now."
It's been quite a ride for the son of former Ranger Bobby Witt, Sr.
"The places I've been to, the things I've been able to do, it's been truly a blessing," Witt, Jr. said. "And just it's been awesome."
"The time he's put into the game," his father noted, "to see all that pay off in a sense of getting this type of award, it's just been unbelievable."
And as you might expect, Bobby's pro prospects are outstanding as well. If he doesn't go #1 overall in Monday's MLB Draft, he assuredly will go no lower than #2 overall, to a Kansas City Royals organization that is infatuated with him.
"To be honest with you, they've been at every single game," Witt, Sr. said. "Which is kinda crazy, I mean, Lubbock, [wherever], it doesn't matter there's somebody from the Royals watching him."
"I'll give it to them, they're at every game," Witt, Jr. said, "and whether it's 100 degrees, or 30 degrees in the rain, they're always there."
But before he can get drafted Monday... he's gotta graduate, tomorrow.
"It's been awesome. These past four years of my life have been something I'll never forget," Witt, Jr. said.
Today, in particular.