UW BASEBALL STANDOUT
WILL SIMPSON BY BOB SHERWIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
B
aseball is a game Will Simpson has played since he was a tyke growing up on the playgrounds, backyards and cul de sacs in Sammamish. He played it for fun, in youthful passion with his buddies, not realizing that it would be a means for his education and possibly one day, a living. Simpson, a redshirt sophomore first baseman for the Washington Huskies, is preparing for his third full season for UW, which opens its schedule Feb. 18 at Cal Poly. Last season, Simpson led the Huskies with a .310 average while smacking seven home runs and driving in 35. UW Baseball Coach Lindsay Meggs didn’t have to travel far to recruit Simpson, just 20 miles up to the Plateau. He watched Simpson earn first team All-State honors in both 2018 and 2019. After his senior season, he handed Simpson a scholarship while the Pittsburgh Pirates also did him a solid. The Pirates drafted him in the 18th round of the 2019 Major League Baseball draft. “I was very blessed to have that opportunity,” Simpson said. He decided at that stage in his life there was more value in a UW education than the itinerant life of a minor-league ballplayer. Professional baseball will be there again, as he is eligible for the draft after this collegiate season. Perhaps the Pirates will be interested again. Perhaps the hometown Mariners will be as well. Or maybe his all-time favorite team, 2,000 miles away, will be moved to bring him into the franchise.
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