Kansas State commit Elgin Bennett working toward MLB future
ATLANTA, Ga. (BVM) — Before Elgin Bennett was a coveted baseball recruit at Woodward Academy due to his athletic build and raw power, he was just a kid with a love for the game. The intensity level for Bennett went up a notch after watching the MLB All-Star game as a fifth grader, realizing that was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.
“They were just really having so much fun playing the game of baseball on national TV in front of thousands and thousands of people,” Bennett said. “That’s what did it for me to make me want to take it seriously. I started working in my off-time and putting time into baseball to see myself get better and better.”
The center fielder has worked to get himself to the point where he is now: a Kansas State baseball commit and the No. 9 player in the state of Georgia.
All of the tools that Bennett possesses stood out early on and college coaches picked up on that. Before he played his first high school game, he was already being contacted by schools.
The University of Illinois was one of the more engaging schools in Bennett’s recruitment with daily phone and Zoom calls. The Fighting Illini were the first to offer him a scholarship and he quickly took it.
Being a 15-year-old and having to decide on where your future will unfold is a big decision for someone that young. Bennett realized this later on in his high school career and felt that he did not take enough time in his initial recruitment.
He decided to decommit prior to the start of his senior season.
“Looking back that was a mistake of mine,” Bennett said. “I shouldn’t have rushed the process. I should’ve taken it in more and talked to more schools.”
Being a couple of years older and having already gone through it once, Bennett was fully prepared to pick the best school for him his second time around.
“I learned from my mistakes and took it slow,” Bennett said. “I really took into consideration everything I needed to take into consideration.”
After taking four months to decide, Bennett realized that the Wildcat baseball program checked all of his boxes.
“After getting on the phone with them, they immediately were like, ‘We want to come down there and see you play, send me your schedule,’” Bennett said. “That was very different of some other schools.”
The following week, a Kansas State coach not only attended one of Bennett’s games, but also watched his batting practice that was seven hours prior to first pitch.
“That was very different,” Bennett said. “I really appreciated that.”
While heading to Manhattan is a great option for Bennett, he will likely have another decision to make on his future in July depending on the results of the MLB Draft. This is something that Bennett has spent the past few months preparing for.
“I’m having conversations daily with the family and with my advisor,” Bennett said. “We’re trying to get everything sorted out so come draft time, a team calls me, we know. We know what we’re gonna decide based off those conversations.”
Regardless of which route Bennett winds up taking, the long term plan is a lengthy career that will allow him to give back to all of the people who have helped him along the way.
“I want to show them all of the love and support that they’ve given me,” Bennett said. “I don’t want to forget where I came from and the people who helped me get to where I am.”
