Highland sophomore second baseman Brady Boyd’s name may remind people of his father, Kevin, or his older sister, Jordan.
Kevin Boyd played baseball at Highland and then at Joliet Junior College and Grand Valley State. Jordan Boyd played softball at Highland and is a freshman infielder at Saint Louis.
But Brady Boyd is Brady Boyd, regardless of any similarities between his game and theirs.
“Our previous head coach always used words like ‘feisty,’ ‘competitor’ and ‘gamer,’” Highland coach Sam Michel said. “Any of those — I mean, it’s super cliche — but anything like that applies.
“I also like the word ‘IQ.’ He’s just an intelligent guy who, being honest, was a dude for a long time that was a little bit smaller than a lot of the guys around him, and now that he’s caught up in size, you have that IQ and you have that physical stature, and it starts to give you an advantage. So, yeah, I think all of those words work.”
Boyd has put that advantage to good use this season, batting .337 with an .811 OPS. His 31 hits, 27 runs scored and 22 RBIs are all team highs for the Trojans (11-16), who will play Bishop Noll (16-9) or Griffith (10-13) in the Class 3A Highland Sectional semifinals on Friday, and he also has seven stolen bases.
All the while, he has grown in stature in terms of height to 5 feet, 10 inches, and in terms of responsibility as a captain in his first full varsity season. It’s a comfortable fit for Boyd, who leans on a simple but effective approach to leadership despite being one of the younger players on the team.
“Just showing up every day and being in the mood to play, having good relationships with the guys, and, yeah, I’ll do something, and hopefully everyone follows me and the example I set,” he said.
So far, so good, according to Michel. But Boyd isn’t the only sophomore captain. He shares the role with sophomore third baseman/pitcher Nate Phillips, who is batting .348 with a .976 OPS and 10 stolen bases, all team highs, and senior pitcher Cash Washick, who has a 1.42 ERA in 39 1/3 innings.
Phillips, who has played alongside Boyd since they were 5, said Boyd’s impact starts on defense.
“He stepped up a lot, and we really needed someone else to come take control of the team,” Phillips said. “For the other players who want somebody to watch just play and to have someone to look up to, they’ve got Brady. He’s played a big role.
“He almost leads the team in fielding percentage, and he’s been making some diving plays. That’s led to some of our other guys getting dirty because they were scared before. But now they’ve been diving more, taking balls off the chest because of Brady.”
For as long as Boyd can remember, he has enjoyed that part of the game the most.
“Growing up, I always liked playing defense more than hitting, which is pretty rare for most people,” he said. “But I always did infield defense classes, and my dad always helped me with infield work and my glove work. Just the diving plays and making cool, acrobatic plays and all that is a lot of fun.”
In other words, the kind of plays Javier Baez used to make when he played for the Chicago Cubs. It’s no coincidence that one of Boyd’s two dogs is named Javi.
Boyd’s defense-first mindset also stems from what he considers the biggest lesson his father taught him when he first picked up a glove at age 4.
“Always pick your head up after an error or striking out,” Boyd said. “Don’t let one at-bat define the rest of your game. Drop a bad play after it happens and move on.”
With that mantra, it’s no surprise that Boyd, who also started every game for Highland’s boys basketball team and averaged 5.5 points, is the only player to have been on the field for every inning this season.
As Michel said, Boyd is a gamer.
“It means a lot,” Boyd said. “I grew up playing the game a lot. I love the game, and I just love to compete.”
Noah Poser is a freelance reporter.
