Springfield grad hosting baseball camp for kids

“Now that I’m a professional,” said Moss, who started his pro career in Puerto Rico this summer, “I just wanted to give that opportunity to kids. I got a lot of feedback from players I played with and against, so there’s going to be a lot of knowledge that these kids are going to learn. There’s going to be (instructors) from D-II all the way up to D-I. There’s going to be JUCO guys there. I also wanted to make it affordable for kids. I know when I was young, if you wanted to go to a camp like this, it would be hundreds and hundreds of dollars, and in an inner city, that’s for a lot of kids and their parents, who have a lot of other stuff on bills.”

Moss hopes to hold the camp every year. He will have coaching help from a number of other players: Troy Black (Kentucky/Texas A&M Corpus Christi); Jordan Ramey and Jace Mercer (Cincinnati Bearcats); Titus Montgomery (Springfield High School/Northern Kentucky); Jeff Mefford (Milligan College); Brandon Beegle (Springfield/Wittenberg); Marcus Pujols (Dayton Flyers); Jordan Bailey (Kenton Ridge/University of Charleston); and Marcus Ernst (Ohio State).

Moss said some players plan to send video messages for the kids to watch. Some have already done so, including Shawnee graduate Seth Gray, who’s in his second season in the Minnesota Twins organization.

Moss was an All-Greater Western Ohio Conference first-team selection as a senior. He started his college career at Kalamazoo Valley Community College and then played the last three seasons at Bethel University, a NAIA program in Mishawaka, Ind.

Moss led the team with a .372 average as a junior and hit .382 as a senior in the 2020 season, which was shortened by the pandemic. In 2021, his average slipped to .239 but he set a school record with 37 stolen bases. The old record of 35, set by Tim Ruth, had stood since 2001. Moss finished his Bethel career with 72 stolen bases, six behind Ruth’s school record.

After finishing his career at Bethel this spring, Moss accepted an invitation to play in the Puerto Rico Independent Baseball League. He hit .347 with 13 RBIs and 18 stolen bases and made the All-Star team in a 20-game season.

When Moss talks to the kids at his camp about his baseball journey, he will advise them to work and battle through adversity. He had to do that in 2014 when he lost his friend Jeff Wellington to gun violence. Wellington’s death inspired Moss to focus on school and try to be a role model for other youths in Springfield. He’s working with friends Henry Alexander and Dorian Hunter on a project called DreamVision, an organization dedicated to preparing youths for their future goals.”

“Things may not go your way in life,” Moss said, “but that doesn’t mean you can’t overcome them. I want these kids to understand people are here trying to help them.”