Two local baseball players to spend summer with Ohio Warhawks

After finishing the high school baseball season in Alabama, two local baseball players have headed north for the summer.

Russell County rising senior Hunter Milam and Central rising senior Slade Gorman are playing baseball with the Ohio Warhawks, a nationally-renowned baseball team that plays all over the country. The 2017 season is Milam’s second with the team and Gorman’s first.

Russell County head coach Tony Rasmus said all four of his sons played for the team and Ron Slusher, the team’s founder and manager. In the years that followed, Slusher has reached out to Rasmus, inquiring if he had any players who fit the bill of a Warhawks player.

Rasmus has always taken his recommendations to Slusher seriously, in large part because he knows the talent that always makes up Slusher’s roster.

“It’d been awhile since I had one good enough to go play for him,” Rasmus said. “His team this year, he’ll have like eight or 10 guys drafted this year out of high school. It’s extremely hard to get a player on there because he really has to be an elite player.”

The Warhawks’ high level of players is no new standard. A look through past rosters boasts 361 players taken in the MLB Draft, with 57 eventually reaching the Major League level. Big-name player after big-name player were once Warhawks, including Roy Halladay, Kris Bryant, Noah Syndergaard, Freddie Freeman and Brandon Phillips.

As great as the stage Milam and Gorman are playing on is the cost to play, or the lack thereof. As a non-profit, the Warhawks players are afforded everything they need to participate.

“(Milam) got new shoes, socks, shorts, shirts, hats, gloves,” Rasmus said. “Coach Slusher outfits the whole team with tennis shoes, spikes, gloves, bats, all kinds of stuff. He takes care of all those costs. It’s pretty unique in that travel ball is pretty expensive. You could play for one of the East Cobb teams, and it’ll cost you $7,500 a year. You play for Slusher for nothing.”

Milam, who played at Smiths Station before his junior year, dominated the Warriors’ opponents in 2017. He pitched 68 innings in the season, notching seven victories, 114 strikeouts and a 1.13 ERA.

According to Rasmus, Milam’s return to Ohio for reunites him with a team that helped him tremendously with his college options.

“Hunter went and played with them last year, and they went out to Las Vegas for a tournament,” Rasmus said. “He threw three innings, and based on those three innings, the University of Memphis offered him a 92-percent scholarship. If you’re playing for that team, the coaches know you’ve got to really be an elite player. You’ve got like an instant level of credibility.”

Milam has since committed to play for the Tigers.

Rasmus’ eye for talent also helped Gorman land a roster spot. Gorman is coming off a junior campaign where opponents often walked him, yet he still hit .377 with 43 hits, 5 home runs and 22 RBIs for the Red Devils.

“Slade’s absolutely a phenomenal hitter, a big-time power guy,” Rasmus said. “When Slusher called and asked about players around here, I said, ‘My goodness, there’s a kid down the road from here who just pounds the ball.’ Next thing I know, Slush had invited him to play up there.

“It’s a good opportunity for him as well. I don’t think Slade is committed anywhere, so this will be a great opportunity to showcase his skills.”

This story was originally published June 12, 2017 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Two local baseball players to spend summer with Ohio Warhawks."