News

Actions

Small Stars: 'Big Timber' a.k.a Troy Schmidt

Posted at 7:45 PM, Dec 04, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-04 21:45:56-05

It's time for Fouhy's Small Stars. This week, we're headed to the baseball field to meet a young man who may just be playing in Major League Baseball's All-Star game one day.

“We're the Queen Creek Pirates. We play in the South East Valley Pony Baseball League," says Coach Scott Bell-Castro.

They don't just play in the league … some say they own it! And with a 15 and 1 record so far, they're well on their way to the title.

One big reason for their success is 10-year-old Troy Schmidt who looks a lot like Charlie Sheen's character in the movie Major League. His team calls him "Big Timber,” because he “crushes the ball and he's a big boy.”

Troy, an intimidating pitcher and hitter for the Pirates, doesn't mind his nickname.

"I don't know. It's just something that I've been called for a long time and I like it." 

Even his teammates recognize that it's a "fitting" nickname.

"Well, usually he would hit the ball really far so, I don't know, he's really tall so we just started calling him "Big Timber" and he liked it so.... it stuck,” said Nicholas Robison.

As a 9-year-old, just a year ago, Troy hit a 250 foot home run clear over the fence and way out of the ballpark!

 "When I first hit it, I didn't think it was going to go over. I was running the bases and then when I got back to the dugout they said I hit it over and the fence is taller than this one behind us so...."

“I didn't think it was possible at this age, especially since how big the field is,” said Nicholas.

"One time he was batting and they intentionally walked him. Scared he was going to hit it too hard, um, he throws really fast too."

So Troy, you have a 55-mile-an-hour fastball, but which one do you like best? Pitching or hitting?

"Pitching, no, hitting. Cause hitting's really fun to do and then pitching is fun to do, but hitting, I like hitting the ball more than anything and it's really fun running the bases and getting the feeling to know that you've hit the ball and there's a chance that you're going to score."

"He's just like a big teddy bear. He's one of the nicest kids you'll ever meet for his size. You'd think he could be a bully or whatever he could be with his size, but he's the most gentle giant you'll ever meet for a 10-year-old boy,” said Coach Castro.

He might be a teddy bear, but his size really does intimidate the opponent.

"Some of them are really scared, they back out when the pitch is a strike.”

Congratulations Troy, a.k.a. Big Timber! You're this week's Small Star!