May 26, 2022

By Evan Gravelle

Canadian Baseball Network

USC Upstate Spartans outfielder Noah Myers’ college career has been a journey.

He is going into the final stretch of his fifth season in college baseball at his third college, and is starting to once again hit his stride.

“I think I'm playing my best baseball right now. If at the end of the year I get the opportunity to play professional baseball, absolutely. I'm going to jump all over it,” said Myers in a recent phone interview.

The journey started at Wabash Valley College, where over two years the Wyoming, Ont., native put together a slash line of .361/.501/.553 with 109 RBIs. He was playing with confidence, and honing in on his approach.

“I've never been a power guy,” he said. “I can drive the ball, but focusing on using my speed and just hitting the ball around, that's where I really excelled at Wabash.”

His two years there were an impressive start, strong enough to even get a call from the Toronto Blue Jays organization to tell him that they would be selecting him in the 30th round of the 2019 draft.

“When I got the call that day I was super excited,” said Myers. “I ended up talking with my parents and my coaches and my advisor and my thought process was that if I go and have a good year at South Carolina, I can up my stock and maybe go higher and be closer to that degree.”

Moving to a D1 school in the most competitive conference is a surefire way to get more exposure but Myers struggled with injury and fighting for a position as a Gamecock. The COVID-19 pandemic also threw a wrench in his plans to move up draft boards.

“Going to South Carolina, the physicality was a big thing,” said Myers. “There were some big guys and a lot of them relied on the long ball and I had a good start to my first year there (2020) And then the 2021 season started opening. I dealt with a wrist injury where I missed a few weeks and some other guys started to get hot in the lineup. That’s kind of how baseball works. I got bumped out and once I was back healthy it was more of a defensive role, only getting the odd at bat”

Myers second year at South Carolina produced a .129/.229/.258 performance, a far cry from his days at Wabash, but the extra year of eligibility provided to college athletes enrolled during 2020 gave him another opportunity. That is when USC Upstate came knocking.

“For me, coming to Upstate, getting back to what I was best at and having more of that freedom to do that, it was a big confidence thing,” said Myers. “It freed me up when I got here compared to South Carolina, and I was able to be more of the player that I am supposed to be.”

The numbers speak for themselves, with Myers having accrued 71 hits in 218 at bats this year so far, good for a .326 batting average. Most of that in Myers’ mind can be attributed to him just having more fun playing baseball now than ever before.

“There's nothing else I really want to do,” said Myers. “Even if I'm not playing the game, I want to be in the game coaching. I think it's just that competitive, competitive nature, love of the game. That's just what I want to be surrounded by.”