SAN DIEGO — "You know what? Baseball is such a beautiful game," said Dylan Vaughn. Vaughn is simply remind us of a simple fact.
His teammate Andre Petties Wilson says Dylan is always up. "Dylan has a crazy spirit. Just, it's indescribable."
Dylan says he wants to make everybody around him super positive and happy. "I mean, we all get to play the great game of baseball, so it's great."
After some time with him, I told Dylan he was the type of guy who had a smile painted on his face. He said, "Oh, man. It's gonna be there all day."
His coach Chris Brown says two things gives him the ability to play at this level. "He's got a mental makeup, and a competitive spirit that is off the chart."
Coach Brown says Dylan's cerebral palsy does not create any physical limitations. Dylan agrees. "Oh, there is no limitations whatsoever. You know what? I just try my best to just go out there and do what I've been doing for 15 years, which is, throwing a baseball and, you know, hitting the catcher's mitt.
Coach Brown has been coaching more than three decades and says Dylan is a rare talent. "He's definitely the most passionate player that I've ever met. What he brings to the program, and what he brings to the game of baseball is absolutely unmeasurable. I've never seen anything like it.
Dylan has four pitches he throws for strikes. His fastball is only in the 80s, but batters get befuddled by his release points and change of speed. He'll deliver an overhand fastball, then follow with a low three-quarter release curveball that comes in nearly 20 miles an hour slower. It can make hitters look foolish.
While a smile is painted on his face, Petties Wilson says he is a different person when he takes the mound.
"When it's the eighth or the ninth inning and he walks in between those chalk lines, it's another animal. You got a guy yelling, screaming, you know. I mean, given his own stuff, and then just with that emotion and a show of emotion and determination, it fires everyone up behind him. So they want to do the same thing for him."
Dylan says he loves the camaraderie of playing. "I love all my boys out here, you know. I know they always got my back and I always got theirs. And I trust them with everything."
He says his positive attitude was ingrained in him by his parents.
"My parents are a really big inspiration to me, and they always lift me up all the time. They're always super positive and so it really makes me super positive."
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