Knights Get Great Big League Instruction from College Flamethrower Landon Hughes and MLB First Round Pick Michael Chavis

The Knights with special instructors, former Sprayberry stars and Big League prospects Landon Hughes & Michael Chavis

The Marietta Knights received a special treat along with some great baseball insight when Austin Hansell's family friend Landon Hughes came out to work with the team. Landon just finished his freshman season as the Closer at Wallace State C.C. in Alabama (a position formerly held by current Brave Craig Kimbrel). He is currently being recruited by several D1 schools including Mississippi State University. Landon worked extremely hard all year and had a great season for Wallace State so the Knights felt remarkably lucky that he's chosen to spend hours and hours of his down time helping to make these 13 year olds better at the game.

Michael Chavis, the Boston Red Sox 1st round pick, works with Hunter in
the cage. Michael analyzed each player's swing and offered great advice.
 

Landon works with the boys on every aspect of the game including pre-workout stretching routines, IF/OF drills, pre-pitch approach by infielders and of course pitching. He also shares his immense knowledge of mechanics and mental approach to the game. Landon is able to tell the boys things they've never heard before but even when he tells them things they have heard from the coaches the boys seem to hear it much more clearly when it comes from a star college pitcher. The boys also work incredibly hard for Landon and he pushes them to the limit. One highlight was the Superman drill when Landon had our infielders diving back and forth to field balls thrown rapid fire to their right and left. Mason, Austin and Hunter were covered in dirt and Presley was covered in dirt and blood. They looked like champions.

As an extra treat, Landon brought his former Sprayberry H.S. teammate Michael Chavis to work with the boys on hitting and infield. Michael, a Clemson University signee, just finished his senior season at Sprayberry as the USA Today Player of the Year in Georgia. Michael worked with each Knights hitter in the cage and joined them on the field for infield drills and work with the catchers. Michael was very candid when talking about his preparation for the MLB draft and was grinning from ear to ear during the entire practice. At one point Michael told Coach Rob without an ounce of irony that he worked out for the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday and the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday and since he didn't work out for anyone on Thursday he came out to work with the Marietta Knights. Once again, the boys loved working with Michael and soaked up every bit of advice he gave them. The boys understood how fortunate they were that a great player that was just days away from being taken in the first round of the draft spent 2 hours working with them at Larry Bell Park. On Thursday, Michael became the 26th player selected in the Major League Baseball Draft as the First Round Pick of the Boston Red Sox (Mason is thrilled). He will begin playing professionally in just a week.

Austin Hansell works on throwing out base runners around
guest instructor, the Red Sox' Michael Chavis.

Working with these great players has been a real blessing for the Knights. The boys have worked hard, learned a ton and had a great time. Many thanks and continued good luck to Landon and Michael!