At six feet and185 pounds, Tom Milone ’13 mans centerfield for the Masuk Panthers. While these numbers don’t seem like anything too impressive, members of the Staples Wreckers baseball team disagree.
“Milone is a man child,” described pitcher Jarett Goodness ’13. “He just looks like an extreme uber-athlete,” said outfielder Mike Moritz ’14.
As it stands now, Milone has a chance to be the first high school baseball player out of Connecticut to be drafted in the first round in over two decades.
This potential draft status is the product of years and years of work. “I started playing baseball as soon as I could pick up a bat,” said Milone. His hard work began paying real dividends when he began starting for varsity the second half of his freshman year. He was 14 years old.
“It was weird to play against him. Very strange to see a guy who is just one year older than me and in high school the same time as I am to know and see that he just seemed years and years ahead of anyone us,” explained Moritz.
Goodness was on the mound in the sixth inning as Milone stepped up to the plate. The at bat was a battle. “I threw two strikes by him, and he fouled a couple off. I tried to get a little too crafty and ended up walking him. I was angry I let him get away but it was a great fight against the best player in the state,” said Goodness.
Milone’s athleticism even extends past the baseball diamond and onto the football field in the fall. Between taking handoffs, catching passes, and returning kicks, Milone managed to put up 25 touchdowns in a 12 game season.
His play on the football field earned him a full scholarship offer to Ohio State University, one of the premiere college football teams in the nation.
However, he wasn’t interested. “I told all the schools looking at me for football that I was playing baseball because I didn’t want to waste their time,” said Milone.
Milone’s main goal extends long past June 8, the date of the MLB draft, “My main goal is to play in the majors…I put in a lot of work in the off season because I have a goal and I want to achieve it.”
Know one knows exactly where Milone’s career is headed, but according to the athletes of Staples who have taken the field against him, and the incredible stats that he posts routinely, he is perhaps one of the best athletes who has come though a Connecticut high school in a long time.
