Will Inman. You'll see him on the cover of Sports Illustrated one day. But you read about this Danville pitching prodigy in this column first...Remember his name. You don’t know it now, but you’re going to. You’re going to see it lots of times. And you’re going to see him. On magazine covers. And doing commercials. And God knows where else before this is all over.
And if you follow baseball, you can write this down: you’re going to see him start, and win, in the World Series.
I don’t know anything about baseball, but I’ll take bets on this one. And, no, I won’t be writing the letter. Nobody’s going to require one. It would be as presumptuous as recommending Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. Besides, coaches have been tailing him for years. Representatives from Duke and Virginia Tech were watching Tuesday.
The only thing that will keep this kid out of a major college career will be how high he goes in the baseball draft next year. That’s right. Next year.
Will Inman is a junior in high school. Nobody — coaches, scouts, nobody — can talk to him yet, not even so much as to say “hello.”
This kid faced 21 batters Tuesday afternoon here in Stuart — and struck out 18 of them, most on three pitches, 90 mile-an-hour-plus fast balls, and curve balls that are scary, that defy the laws of physics.
In three games this year he has 47 strike-outs. He broke Tunstall’s all-time career strike-out record as a sophomore, the same year he was district and regional Player of the Year, and was named First Team, All State in Virginia.
And he hit two home runs here Tuesday — one a grand-slammer — straight shots that went out at the 340 ft. marker in center field.
I am unimpressed, the guy as much admitted he knows nothing about baseball, but it's interesting nonetheless.
