By Donald Heath

Special for the Effingham Herald

GUYTON – Dalton Redmond doesn’t mind being a mentor to kids learning the game of baseball. He can point out the fundamentals of fielding grounders with the best of them.

Just don’t follow his lead in hair coloring.

Redmond and his South Effingham teammates dyed their hair yellow for the Class 6A state baseball championships. A couple of months later, after a first-round loss to Woodward Academy, the yellow hair remains.

“I can’t wait for it to come out,” said Redmond, smiling, during the Mustangs’ youth baseball camp June 20.

SEHS head coach Jesse Osborne said 60 to 65 kids attended the two-day camp, led by the school’s coaches with assistance from the varsity players.

It wasn’t so long ago, Osborne was a pitcher at South Effingham, helping with the camp, when Turner Davis and Noah Lancaster attended. Davis and Lancaster eventually played for the Mustangs and now are assistants for Osborne.

“(The camp) is something you keep paying forward,” Osborne said. “It’s a community thing more than anything.”

Redmond is the next generation stepping up. He’s among the best defensive high school shortstops in the county in the last 10 years, which is saying something considering the area has produced Austin Thompson (a four-year starter at Georgia Southern) and junior college signees Christian Campbell and Blake Hendrix.

Redmond earned first-team all-region honors last season as a junior and could be another highly sought after local player by college scouts.

The summer will be key. Redmond plays travel ball with Game One, a collection of talented, returning high school players from the Atlanta area.

Last weekend, he played six games with Game One in a 60-team tournament outside Atlanta, which featured the top team in the country.

Scouts were there armed with pens, pads and radar guns.

“I feel in high school you play more as a team and in the summer, it’s more about yourself because you’re trying to be seen by college scouts,” Redmond said. “I like high school ball more. I like playing as a team and winning. I feel if you play as a team, you’ll win more.”

Redmond said he’s gotten some interest from Georgia College and Mercer University. His skills and a 3.9 grade-point average also have Yale University inquiring.

“I’m just going to go out there and try my best and hopefully we’ll go pretty far,” Redmond said.

But for now, he’s having fun shagging grounders with the campers. And soon the yellow in his hair will grow out.

His future is just around the corner – just like the kids at camp. 

“It’s a little hectic out here, but it’s fun hanging around the kids and watching them have fun,” Redmond said. “That’s what it’s all about.”