2022 OF/LHP Skylar King discusses commitment to West Virginia baseball
Skylar King’s decision to commit to the West Virginia baseball program wasn’t the only thing he was excited about following the Fourth of July weekend.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a mandatory dead period in place which prohibits any in-person recruiting. So King, a rising junior and three-sport athlete at Brookland-Cayce High School in Cayce, South Carolina, decided to take matters into his own hands by visiting Morgantown with his family during the Fourth of July weekend.
There, the center fielder and left-handed pitcher got a closer look at the town and campus while also recording footage for his commitment video. The video was edited by his father who’s a graphic designer.
After informing West Virginia assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Steve Sabins of his commitment, King’s plan was to tweet his commitment video last Wednesday night, but he decided to post it and make his commitment to the program public a day earlier.
“We were so happy about the video we just posted it that night,” King said.
For King, who’ll graduate from high school in 2022, his visit to West Virginia with his family allowed him to get an in-person look at Monongalia County Ballpark, the university’s campus and Morgantown community.
“I felt at home when I went up there,” King said. “People were nice and I just feel like I had to get (the commitment) off my shoulders, just focus on me getting better.”
According to King, contact between him and West Virginia began during the high school baseball season and it wasn’t until about a couple weeks before he announced his commitment when the Mountaineers extended an offer.
He had also heard from Clemson, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina A&T, but West Virginia was his first and only official offer. King also took virtual visits to West Virginia and South Carolina.
Sabins was King’s main recruiter and made him feel like he was a priority.
“He’s definitely a cool guy,” King said. “He sounded very excited when I talked to him based on how the other coaches talked from the other schools and stuff. So I felt wanted there, that's my main thing.”
According to King, Sabins likes the fact that he plays more than one position, so he will continue to compete both in the outfield, at the plate and on the mound once he begins his college career.
King, who’s listed at 6-foot-1, 175 pounds, plays safety as well as some quarterback for the football team and small forward in basketball. He earned All-Region honors this past season on the gridiron, tallying 35 tackles, six tackles for loss and two interceptions.
Personally for King, he believes his mentality is one of the best things he brings to the table and is vital to his success.
“I like to go in thinking I’m better than everybody on the field and that gives me an edge over everybody, especially when I’m pitching,” King said.
With the King’s commitment, the Mountaineers added a very talented prospect who batted .421 with eight hits, eight RBIs and stole four bases to go along with a perfect fielding percentage in seven games during his shortened sophomore campaign, according to MaxPreps.
King made three appearances on the mound, pitched four total innings and allowed two hits and four walks. He allowed no earned runs and tallied five strikeouts. King said his fastball and curveball are his best pitches with his fastball reaching 87 mph recently.
Before transferring to Brookland-Cayce, King attended Aiken High School where he stole 21 bases, batted .300 and had a fielding percentage of over .900 during his freshman year.
King is currently playing for Bodyshop, a summer baseball team based out of Lexington, South Carolina. His daily routine consists of going to his summer team’s facility where he works out, hits and throws on days the team isn’t playing games. The team plays about three games a week.
“This is really the first time I get to focus on just baseball because I'm always training or playing other sports when the offseason for baseball comes around,” King said. “So I feel like it gives me more of an advantage against other players.”
Along with building new relationships with his future teammates, one of the biggest things King is eager to do in Morgantown is help the West Virginia program continue its success.
“The road to Omaha, most definitely,” King said when asked what he’s looking forward to most about being a member of the West Virginia baseball program.
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