These families bet their future on baseball. Will it pay off at this SC sports academy?

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The tears are flowing.

Around him, Haneda Airport in Tokyo is buzzing as usual, travelers on quests both big and small, some scurrying to gates, some lost in their own thoughts or heads buried deep in their books and cell phones.

Joseph Yamamoto will have to wait until he gets on the plane to allow himself the luxury of letting his mind drift, however.

Right now, his mother, Mami, is crying. Heavy tears, the kind only a mother can shed for her child. His teenage sister, Emily, is crying as well. Even his dad, Anthony, a New Zealander now teaching at Kure Kosen college in Japan, cannot keep the tears at bay.

It isn’t the first time he has seen his father cry, but then again, the 17-year-old couldn’t remember the last time that was.

Still, Joseph is determined to hold it together. He is scared and nervous — he would later admit this — but crying will only make it harder on his family.

They embrace and say their final goodbyes.

His life now in three suitcases, one carrying his home country’s flag, Joseph is beginning a 7,100-mile adventure from Japan, via Washington D.C., to a town in South Carolina few in his country know exist.

Joseph Yamamoto, you see, is chasing a dream.

A SCHOOL OF A DIFFERENT KIND

The P27 Baseball Academy sits quietly off a busy stretch of Highway 378 in Lexington, nestled between El Jimador Mexican restaurant and Topspin Racquet and Swim Club. The campus is made up of a main office and classroom shared with a manufacturing company, two tennis courts converted into a turf field, and a warehouse that has four batting cages. The Body Shop gym also is on the property and is open both to the public and the players.

There, 70 or so young men descend with hopes of turning a game into their craft. They come from all over, many of their families paying hefty price tags as high as $31,000 a year for tuition and housing. The current roster lists 11 players from outside the United States and 39 players from states outside South Carolina. For these young men, academy life will replace the normal high school experience.

Some will live in academy-owned apartments, some will stay with host families and a few will have families that pick up and move to Lexington to be with them.

They each seek the elusive edge that might make a difference in their futures — landing a college scholarship, getting into a desired university and yes, for a lucky few, earning a career in professional baseball.

They all come to learn from Corey Warner, a former White Knoll High School baseball player who went on to play college baseball at three schools, the last at Toccoa Falls in Georgia. Academies are not new — they’ve risen steadily in popularity and nearly 200 are estimated to currently exist in baseball alone.

Sports academies offer clear benefits, such as dedicated, high-level instruction, added exposure and prestige, and the chance to develop life skills at an early age. They come with downsides, too. Separation anxiety — for both the teenager and the parents — financial burdens, the pressure to perform well, quality of education questions and even simply missing out on the traditional high school experience are all concerns families must weigh and navigate.

They often set up shop in well-known destinations, but Warner saw opportunity in the heart of baseball-rich Lexington, and P27 is now in its sixth year of operation, drawing as many as 300 applicants a year. The academy was developed out of the Body Shop baseball travel program, which Warner coached during the summer and still continues today.

The school’s name was inspired by the Bible verse Proverbs 27:17, which includes ”Iron sharpens iron.”

“How we convinced 22 families to do it that first year I don’t know,” Warner said. “People told me I was crazy and that it could ruin everything I got. God was powerful for it to work out.”

Warner said things started to pick up after COVID when people were comfortable having their children learn through online lessons.

Counting Warner, eight people make up the P27 staff. Positions include a director of strength and conditioning, a pitching coach, academics director and directors of player support and personal development.

Still, it’s a difficult choice for parents. Angie and William Turner recall the decision to let their son, Cam, attend P27 with equal parts fondness and anxiety.

They had heard about the academy through some of Cam’s travel ball teammates in North Carolina, but Angie Turner thought it was reckless for parents to let kids that age move and live on their own.

But Cam wasn’t getting much college interest. As a freshman, he had ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, commonly called Tommy John surgery. Once a pitcher, his future would now be as a position player and the Turners thought he needed more exposure.

The Turners visited P27 in October of 2022 and Warner offered Cam a spot in the academy.

“When Corey said he wanted him, I said she (Angie) is going to kill me,” William Turner recalled.

She didn’t speak much to her husband on the three-hour plus ride home to Richlands, North Carolina.

“If something happens to him, I’m going to hurt him (William),” Angie Turner said.

A BASEBALL FAMILY REBUILDS ITS LIFE HERE

Rafael Soto Sr. is holding court in the family’s living room.

He’s in a batting stance, dissecting what he sees on the television screen behind him for two of his sons, Rafael Jr. and Yamil.

Soto Sr., a former shortstop and second baseman, played professional baseball in independent leagues. He still gets his competitive fix on the weekends playing softball around the Carolinas.

It is a rare day in the Soto family when one of their four boys does not have a baseball game, but today is such a day.

Unfortunately, the Sotos’ team, the New York Mets, have the night off. The Yankees will have to do. When their attention wanes, the boys turn to “NBA Jam” video game, a rare treat the parents normally don’t allow on weekdays.

The Sotos could serve as a walking advertisement for P27. They are, in poker terms, all in.

Rafael Jr., now a senior, came to P27 before the start of his freshman year of high school. Before Rafael’s junior year, the family sold their home in New Jersey and moved to Lexington. Yamil, a sophomore, also enrolled in the academy as well and is an up-and-coming infield prospect with P27’s younger team. Soto Sr. expects his two younger sons, Tony and Ezekial, will do the same. Ezekial, a rising freshman, will enter the academy next season while Tony still is in middle school.

“It got to the point we were missing too many games,” Soto Sr. said. “It just made sense to move down to South Carolina. For me, it is being around my boys. I told my wife enough was enough. I couldn’t be without my boys.”

BASEBALL, CLASSES, AND MORE BASEBALL

To understand a typical day for the student players is to first understand the difference in semesters. The fall semester is less packed. The academy doesn’t start playing its 40-plus game schedule until February. Games and travel take up a lot of those days, because the games are scheduled during the afternoons, so that it’s easier for college or pro scouts to attend.

A typical day in the fall starts with players arriving around 8 a.m. Each part of the day is scripted and given to players in advance over a GroupMe chat.

Normally, they’ll practice, study, drill and play baseball for four to five hours a day and take online classes for another two to three hours.

Depending on their position, a normal day might start with hitting or pitching in the team’s indoor facility while others start in the classroom. Afternoons consist of more of the same and also can include weightlifting at the fitness club within the facility. There also might be a practice session at the Lexington County Baseball Stadium about six miles away and where P27 plays most of its home games, or at the outdoor turf field on campus.

It is the job of Academics Director Dawn Wisiniewski to keep tabs on the players’ progress and make sure testing is done appropriately and that NCAA regulations are being met.

The academy uses curriculum from SC Prep or Connections Academy, free online public charter schools for sixth- through 12th-graders in South Carolina.

Players go to school Monday through Thursday, with Fridays used as a makeup day if needed.

The academy does not serve food, so players either go to a nearby restaurant or to their apartment for lunch. Most weekends are free time.

Academy life has its freedoms, but the players must also accept conditions that wouldn’t exist if they were at home and in public schools.

Each player must agree to be monitored by the academy on the Life360 app, so they can be located at all times. Cameras are placed in the living rooms and outside the academy-leased apartments. Players are not allowed to have guests in the apartments at any time. Even a reporter with The State was allowed in only with supervision.

Most of the other players live in the River Bluff apartments, which are walking distance from facilities.

Warner set up a contract with the apartment complex when the academy outgrew its ability to find host families for everyone. Each apartment has two or three bedrooms for four to five players. Warner picks the rooming arrangements.

P27 staff members Tina and Gil Owens, who also live in the apartments, act as house parents and have been familiar with the program since the beginning. Their son Simms was part of the first P27 season.

Gil formerly worked in law enforcement and the couple used to run a boys home. Tina does multi-weekly inspections on the players’ rooms.

Discipline often includes exercise. Late for practice, class or if your room is not kept clean? You’ll probably be told to do five miles on a stationary bike.

“You’ve got to be really self-aware and disciplined,” said Skyler Hegler, a junior who is in his first year in the program. “You’ve got to be on time everywhere or there is a punishment. I really like that part about it. It teaches you to be a man to go to college and prepare you.”

Warner says occasionally the young men will do “stupid stuff,” such as sneaking out to see girls or being too rowdy in hotels, but nothing out of the ordinary for a typical teenager.

“A lot of them are uprooting their life, and if you are uprooting your whole life, I really don’t have to worry about you guys going downtown drinking,” Warner said. “You are so locked into your craft. I tell people all the time I wish they had more of a life. They are baseball machines.”

FINDING HOME IN THE COMMUNITY

It’s 5 p.m. on a Sunday evening and Ethan Wagner, wearing Air Jordans and a green T-shirt with rolled up sleeves, grabs his guitar and takes the stage for practice with the Radius Church praise band.

Radius Church has seven locations in Lexington County, and Wagner has been attending its downtown Lexington campus for the past two years. He has become very involved in the church and can often be found on Sunday mornings or evenings playing his guitar or singing.

“When I first came down here, I went to different churches,” Ethan said. “Then someone from Radius invited me to lunch and that was cool, someone reaching out to me. That is who I do life with now. They are like my best friends.”

The practice ends around 6 p.m. and students start entering the sanctuary as a countdown clock appears on screen. The lights go down and Ethan begins belting out Elevation Worship’s “Praise.”

Ethan is clearly comfortable in front of a crowd. He has been performing since he was 14, playing guitar alongside his older brother, Logan.

Ethan talks openly about how important faith has become to him, especially over the past few years. He grew up going to church but admits he wasn’t living like he should. He says he rededicated his life to Jesus when he was 16, just shortly before he made the decision to uproot from Chicago and finish his final two years of high school at P27.

The Wagners were familiar with P27 because Logan had attended for one year. Logan was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the sixth round of the major league draft in 2022 and currently plays for Rancho Cucamonga in California, a Class A affiliate.

Of all the players at the academy, Ethan appears to be one of the most likely to be drafted. He is the best hitter in the program, an outfielder who projects All-American guy vibes with his maturity and leadership.

“He is just a big leaguer,” Warner said. “There is nothing else to say.”

If he doesn’t go professional immediately, Ethan has signed to play college ball at Tennessee. He had originally committed to South Carolina but changed his mind.

Asked why he had spurned the Gamecocks, Ethan defers, offering only, “Didn’t seem like it was going to be the best situation here.” A couple of months after Ethan’s remarks, USC will fire its baseball coach, Mark Kingston.

SACRIFICE AND INVESTMENT

It is impossible to talk about a private academy’s effect on families without talking about three things – money, physical and emotional upheaval, and sacrifice.

No one understands this more than Skyler Hegler, the junior from Kershaw County. A catcher, Hegler left a successful high school program at Andrew Jackson for P27.

Skyler and his mother, Stacey, live with Skyler’s grandparents in Lancaster. The four are close and have lived under one roof since a fire damaged Stacey Hegler’s home when Skyler was a toddler.

It was his grandfather Richard who taught his grandson baseball and nicknamed him “Hot Rod.” His grandma Pat says Skyler would toss a tennis ball against the wall over the front door and the one in the kitchen so often “it’s a wonder the sheet rock isn’t busted.”

It’s game day, and Skyler greets his grandparents behind the stands at Columbia International University before the game. Skyler has forgotten his uniform, and Pat has folded it into a plastic bag to give to him.

Stacey won’t make it today because she is working. Skyler’s father and Stacey divorced when he was a young child and Stacey now works two jobs, one as a hairstylist for the past 32 years, and she has been a secretary for a body shop since 2010.

Skyler speaks of his mom with reverence.

“I look up to my mom,” Skyler says. “She is a single parent and really works hard. Just seeing how she works everyday and goes about her business. Seeing her go through all that effort to get me here, take me to tournaments and pay for all the things she needs to pay for. She is a really good role model for me.”

Stacey says it was tough not having Skyler home on a daily basis, but she admires how he has matured and learned new life skills.

P27’s website advertises a tuition rate for on-campus athletes of $31,000, which covers rent for the apartment, uniforms and travel expenses for the year. Cost for off-campus athletes who live with their parents or a host family is $25,000.

Warner says, however, that “most everyone” gets some sort of financial aid through Warner’s Cross-Training Ministry foundation, and that each year two players get full scholarships. Skyler is one of those scholarship students, Stacey Hegler confirmed.

In Yamamoto’s case, he received a $10,000 scholarship from the Japanese government that allows students to study abroad in the United States. He says he also gets a little financial aid, but his parents are paying the rest.

Others share that pain.

“We have six kids (four living on their own now) and you have enough, not a ton of extra,” said Ethan Wagner’s father, Derek, who is in the Air National Guard now after being in the Marines. “You have to take a step of faith that what you are investing into is worth it.”

Since its inception, P27 has seen its players receive more than 300 college offers and three players have been taken in the Major League baseball draft, including Alfonsin Rosario, who was chosen in the sixth round last year by the Chicago Cubs.

The math around college scholarships, tuition, financial aid packages and living expenses is complicated. It is difficult for parents who think of a sports academy as an investment for college to know exactly what they are getting into, or more specifically, what they’ll get back.

Tuition and room and board at USC and Clemson are around $22,000 for in-state students and can swell north of $40,000 for out-of-state admissions. That is similar to P27’s advertised costs.

In baseball, universities have the equivalent of 11.7 full scholarships to distribute among 32 players. A player getting a full scholarship is very rare. If a coach were to cut available money equally, players would receive only about one-third of the cost of attending college.

Financial aspects aside, there are other sacrifices to be made.

The Sotos uprooted their life from New Jersey to move here. They said goodbye to many of their family members who lived close by. Soto Sr. gave up his business of player training and working in real estate. Soto’s mom, Mildred, was able to find a new teaching position at Pleasant Hill Elementary in Lexington.

Their arrival forced Rafael Jr. to realize everything he had been missing. He had stayed with Wisiniewski and her family during the season until his parents arrived.

“When they moved it changed everything,” he said. “I could eat my mom’s cooking. I was free and went to the fridge when I wanted to, and slept in my own bed. Having my dad here was great. It gave me balance in my life that I didn’t have.”

For Angie Turner, she only softened her stance on the academy after she and Cam made a deal that he would come home to Richlands, N.C., every weekend.

Cam says he’s kept that promise — mostly — and also one about keeping his apartment clean.

“I was sitting there one night,” Cam said. “It was late, and I was like, ‘Oh crap, I have to go wash clothes.’ I’m used to doing chores around the house before, but it is different when you are by yourself.”

It is different as well for his parents, who still struggle with being apart.

Angie still cries when Cam heads back from his weekend visits. And William admits to just going to Cam’s room by himself sometimes, letting fond memories soak over him.

“He’s my best friend,” William says.

VIEWS FROM THE OUTSIDE

Coastal Carolina University baseball coach Gary Gilmore, who just retired after 29 successful years at the university, says academies bring definite advantages.

Gilmore said that those who attend academies experience the same things they do in college, such as being away from home, separation anxiety and having to do things on their own.

“As long as the kid is mature enough to handle being out on their own, they’re a step up on everybody else,” Gilmore said.

Gilmore says academy players’ careers “absolutely” get a boost from the exposure and extra hours of high-level instruction they receive.

“This is not a knock on high school, but a high school coach is teaching all day and they get you for a few minutes a day,” Gilmore said. “Heck, man, it’s hard to say (that) you don’t like to have those (academy) kids.”

Asked if he would place a family member in the academy environment, however, Gilmore hesitates.

“That’s something difficult to say at this moment in time,” he said. “(I’ve) never looked inside the nuts and bolts of it.” That will soon change, though. Gilmore has agreed to be an assistant at Kingsman Baseball Academy in Charleston now that his CCU days are over.

Gilmore, who played multiple high school sports and grew up with his teammates and classmates, says he knows he wouldn’t have traded the last couple of years of his high school life for an academy.

Enjoying high school life also comes up when Lexington High School baseball coach Brian Hucks is asked his thoughts on the academies.

“If you want to do nothing but baseball, I could see how that (academy) could be a good model for you,” Hucks says. “But I think the high school experience, going to football games on Friday, being a part of the social structure, is really important.”

Hucks also mentions there are some things about public school baseball that can’t be beat, like playing in front of big crowds in the state championship.

“I don’t think there is anything that can replace that,” Hucks said. “We played in front of about 1,000 people in the state championship series. And that is what is missed in the academy structure. You are playing a 10 a.m. game on a Tuesday morning in front of a few people.”

And then there are questions about the quality of the education being received.

“I see the baseball worth in it,” Gilmore said. “The academic part I can’t speak to. It takes a very structured young person that has a solid background academically.”

Gilmore’s thoughts do beg the question: If the extra time allotted to baseball is helping them athletically, isn’t online learning and limited time in classrooms hurting them academically?

Angie Turner doesn’t think so.

“I think even with our public school system, if they take out a few extra-curricular stuff, let them go a few days a week and be done with it,” she said. “Kids have shorter attention spans these days and not having to go every day helps a lot of them.”

Stacey Hegler seconded that thought, saying she sees benefits in the players not sitting through so many classes “that really don’t matter.”

A YEAR OF UPS AND DOWNS

On the field, the spring semester, when the games are played, can be particularly stressful.

Not all seniors have their next moves set, and the pressure and uncertainty can be unnerving. For the juniors, now is the time to be seen by colleges. They all need to perform well.

For others, they are still earning their place. P27 splits its players into two teams, basically an A and B team, and next year’s placement is up for grabs. Slumps happen. Some players improve more quickly than others. Injuries, big and small, will affect performance and growth.

No one understands this better than Cam Turner.

He and his parents had first considered P27 in large part because interest from colleges had been up and down since his freshman year. When his pitching arm broke down, the family sought out famed surgeon James Andrews to do the surgery and then restarted the process of getting Cam’s name back in front of colleges.

But Cam’s hopes of pitching were gone, and he started rebuilding himself as a position player.

Now a first baseman, Cam is playing well, hitting for average and power. He’s battling a nagging wrist injury though, and the road ahead will not be without hurdles.

Skyler Hegler can relate.

Skyler believes he hurt his shoulder playing middle school football, but he says he learned to just live with the pain. Until this January, that is, when the pain becomes unmanageable. A doctor diagnoses a torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder. He gives him the option of surgery, which would end his season, or a cortisone shot, which would give him a chance to gut through the year.

He chooses the shot.

Cam and Skyler both go to the CORA physical therapy facility; P27 has an agreement with CORA that allows its players to go there.

Skyler’s visits include three to four times a week for a workout that includes a variety of exercises to help increase mobility in the shoulder.

“Stop leaning into it,” CORA clinic manager Austin Holley scolds. “I’m here to make you comfortable.”

At one point during the session, Skyler’s tongue playfully hangs out as he tries to catch his breath.

“She works me to death,” Skyler says.

Also struggling somewhat is Joseph Yamamoto, a pitcher who’s bouncing between relieving and starting while battling consistency issues.

In the first game of a big three-game series late in the season, Joseph comes in against PDG Academy with P27 leading 7-4 in the final inning, only to give up the lead and lose the game, 8-7.

Later that night, at his apartment, he relives his disappointment. “I kind of almost was crying.”

Two days later, though, he gets a second chance against PDG.

P27’s opponent has scored twice to cut its deficit to 7-5 and has runners on first and second base with only out.

Warner calls for Joseph.

Joseph induces a fly-out and then, with the game on the line, strikes out the last batter to seal the game.

He celebrates by slamming his fist into his glove as an exclamation point.

“That a boy, Joey!” Warner yells from the dugout.

And then there’s Ethan Wagner. To no one’s surprise, Ethan is, in a word, dominant.

Ethan’s batting average hovers around .450 and he seems a lock to make the National Academies Association big annual All-Star game and earn a chance to play at Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves.

For the others, the rest of the season will go a long way in determining their near futures.

THE HUNT FOR NORMALCY

Cam Turner stands in his parents’ living room in North Carolina, looking sharp in a blue suit and white shirt. He also looks uncomfortable.

His mom is about to make it worse.

Angie Turner is holding a pink tie in her right hand and Cam asks a question that sounds more like a plea for mercy than an inquiry.

“Do I have to wear a tie?”

“Yes,” she replies simply, and that is that. In this living room at-bat, Cam strikes out.

Cam puts the tie on and his father, William, tinkers with it until he judges it presentable.

Getting dressed up isn’t Cam’s style. He would prefer wearing camouflage and going hunting or fishing.

But his old high school in Richlands is having its prom, and “Big Country,” as he has been nicknamed at the academy, has accepted an invitation to the dance from long-time friend Megan Pittman, a softball standout who is signed to play at Mount Olive.

Prom night is just one of the many things Cam and his teammates normally have to give up when they leave regular high school life. By insisting Cam come home on weekends, Angie Turner is trying to preserve normalcy.

That’s one reason every Sunday when he leaves, his grandma sends him back with a week’s worth of meals.

Players who aren’t close enough to return home regularly find other ways to entertain themselves. Yamamato and a friend make a handful of trips to Charleston to go to the beach and watch the College of Charleston play.

Gamecock football, basketball and baseball games are popular distractions. The Gamecocks baseball team has a pair of former P27 players on the roster this year in Roman Kimbell and Connor McCreery.

Many other players head to area high school sporting events to watch in the evening,

Others stay closer to the apartments, playing video games, cornhole or swimming at the pool. There are a pair of team-bonding retreats the players also take part in.

The Turners’ driveway is quickly filling up as both sets of grandparents, cousins and other family members stop by to see him off. Most of Cam’s relatives live within a 10-minute drive, including some a short walk away. Cam passes the time by taking pictures with them and playing catch in the yard with his dad.

Three of Cam’s childhood buddies also stop by. They also are going to the prom and are decked out in camouflage jackets, ties and boots. The four pose for pictures with their hunting rifles and share stories from days growing up. They tell Cam how much they miss him but that they are happy for his success.

Cam, Megan and both sets of parents then meet at the high school for more pictures, some with their sporting gear, some on the back of a pickup. They then head 20 minutes away to Jacksonville for pictures by the water.

It’s then back to the school for the big show. And at Richlands High School, it is a Big Show, replete with red carpet parade.

People in the small town (population of 2,355, according to the 2022 census) set up lawn chairs during the morning and then start arriving more than an hour before prom. Many of the students arrive in fancy or souped-up cars, tractors and even a semi.

“They have been doing this since we went to school,” William Turner said.

Cam and Megan arrive in a BMW i8 roadster, borrowed from one of his father’s friends. Each couple gets an introduction and Cam and Megan walk the red carpet as cameras and cellphones record the moment. The tie is nowhere to be seen.

And Cam is already planning his escape.

“I’m not going to stay here long,” he says, eager to ditch the suit.

LOOKING TO THE NEXT STEP

For Rafael Soto Jr., finality is sinking in.

It is graduation time, and the players and their families gather for a fairly traditional ceremony, seniors in caps and gowns, speeches and lots of photos.

A year that began with tears ends with tears.

Nearly 20 family members have made the trek from New Jersey to see Rafael Jr. graduate. His next move is set. He’ll be staying in South Carolina, having earned a scholarship to play for the College of Charleston. He finished the season with a .292 average, two homers and 32 RBIs.

In this moment, though, he is looking back, not forward. He shares a long hug with Warner.

“This place took me in and helped shape me into the person and player I am,” Rafael Jr. says. “Corey played such a big role. He was like a second father to me.”

As expected, Ethan Wagner is one of eight P27 players to make the All-Star game in Atlanta. He ends the season with a monstrous .445 batting average with 10 home runs and 47 RBIs in 44 games. No P27 player had ever hit higher than .350 before this year, according to Warner.

Playing in a Major League Baseball stadium makes Ethan light up.

“I felt like I was Ronald Acuna out there in right,” he says.

That won’t be Wagner’s biggest news, however. Nearly two months later, Wagner is selected in the 17th round of the MLB draft by the Houston Astros. The Astros have until Aug. 1 to sign but Wagner told The State he will sign with the MLB club. (A second P27 player, Brendan Lawson, also gets drafted in the 19th round by the Washington Nationals.)

There is also a happy outcome for Cam Turner: He made the All-Star game as well and finished with a .344 batting average with five home runs and 40 RBIs.

That isn’t his best news, though. In April, Cam landed a scholarship with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

UNC Wilmington was also in the picture, but Cam committed to UNC-Charlotte on the spot during his recruiting visit. His mother, Angie, documented the moment on her phone, and the Turners become emotional recalling the journey to this moment.

“It was like a million pounds have been lifted off our chest,” Angie Turner said. “Cam had gotten hurt early on in his career and put him behind. So we were like ‘OK, God, we are waiting on you to do this’ and when it happened, we were so, so happy. Everything just fit and lined up, finally.”

The season did not end as well for Skyler Hegler, he of the injured shoulder.

After missing a few weeks, he returned to catching but the pain was always there. He finished the year hitting .232 with a homer and 13 RBIs.

“I didn’t want to let the team down,” he said. “My production wasn’t where it should be because of the pain but just being with the guys was a big help. They lifted me up a lot of days when things weren’t going right.”

Still, Skyler has some security; he committed to Clemson back in his freshman year when Monte Lee was head coach. Erik Bakich is now the head coach, but Skyler says the Tigers still plan to take him. He remains a highly thought of prospect and ranks No. 3 in South Carolina by Perfect Game for 2025.

Skyler had surgery earlier this month and said his rehab should last three to six months and he expects to be ready for the start of next season.

He and Yamamoto will be seniors next year, and both plan to return to P27. Not everyone who can will. Warner estimates 10% to 15% of non-seniors opt not to return each year.

As much as he misses his family, Joseph admits he’d rather stay here.

“I don’t want to go back,” he says. “I miss my parents, but I have my freedom here.”

But back he’ll go, with those same three suitcases, the carefully folded Japanese flag inside and a new cherished item he picked up in the states: a New York Yankees cap.

He’ll carry one other item with him: His dream, at least for another year, still intact.

About the reporting

Staff writer Lou Bezjak and visual journalist Josh Boucher spent weeks covering P27's season and visiting with the families of the five players chronicled. The State thanks P27 founder Corey Warner and the families for sharing their stories with us.

Credits

Lou Bezjak | Sports writer

Joshua Boucher | Visual journalist

Brian Tolley | Editor

Dwayne McLemore | Editor

Terri Richardson | Contributing writer

Susan Merriam | Development & design