photo courtesy of the Arizona Diamondbacks
A MAN WITH A PLAN Spencer Medick ’09 AS A COLLEGE FRESHMAN,
Spencer Medick ’09 made a game plan. He was at Hampden-Sydney College, playing Division III baseball, but he aspired to play Division I. “I penned out a daily schedule for each day of the week, budgeted my time, and trusted the work ethic that got me through Woodberry. I was no longer a college student, but a man with a plan.” He would wake up at 5:00 a.m. to work out, go to class, attend tutoring, study in the library, and be in bed by 9:00. “Party life became non-existent,” he recalls. And even hanging out with friends and watching TV was rare. But the payoff was great: Spencer made the dean’s list and transferred to Elon University to play ball, eventually helping the Phoenix win its first NCAA Division I Regional final in 2013. Spencer was a baseball standout from the moment he first picked up a ball. He can’t remember it, but his dad, Michael, recalls twoyear-old Spencer throwing a baseball at a T-ball game his older brother, Matt ’07, was playing. “I guess I had a better arm than most of the older kids,” Spencer says, “and it caught some attention.” After that, his parents were fully supportive. “It was just something that came naturally to me, and they took every opportunity to let me play.” Spencer’s enrollment at Woodberry was presented as a fait accompli, but his first overnight visit convinced him that his parents had found the perfect place for him. He remembers coming across a backpack and calculator on the ground while taking his campus tour. When he suggested that they should be turned in to lost and found, the tour guide assured him they would still be there when their owner returned. “I was awestruck,” Spencer says. “I will al-
42 woodberry forest magazine and journal
ways remember leaving that tour knowing I wanted to be associated with such extraordinary peers.” At Woodberry, Spencer, a lefty pitcher and right-fielder wearing number 13, earned All-Prep honors and won the Henry M. Armfield Most Valuable Player Award in Baseball. “He was the only captain on the best Woodberry team of the last ten years,” says Henry Heil, who coached Spencer at Woodberry. “He never settled for less than his best every time he was on the field.” After graduating from Elon, Spencer was a first-round pick for the Frontier Greys of the Frontier League in the spring of 2014. He ended up making the switch, days later, to the Arizona Diamondbacks organization. Now he’s living with a host family in Marion, Illinois, as a rookie on the Southern Illinois Miners. In the off-season, he finds ways to make ends meet, teaching pitching and hitting to young players and working in retail. Eventually, he expects to start a business in the medical or athletic development field. For now, though, Spencer is determined to make the most of the present. “My career could end any day; all it takes is a younger, better player to come along and ‘poof’ — my job is gone.” Though he says a career in professional athletics is not as glamorous as it might seem, the sacrifice is worth it. “Even if you don’t make it, knowing you put forth your best effort will always be your greatest accomplishment.” Spencer is grateful to his family for their support. “The least I can do is take advantage of every day they have given me and ride it out as long as I can because, after all, how often does someone get to play baseball for a living?”