On April 30, 2018, with the stands singing “Sweet Caroline,” Golden Valley alumnus Scott Barlow stepped onto the mound at Fenway Park in Boston to make his MLB debut on the road with the Kansas City Royals.
On Saturday he was honored as the first athlete with a retired baseball uniform at Golden Valley High School during the programs 4th Annual Battle Of the Bats home run derby.
“As soon as you go out on the mound, everything kind of zones in and you have a tunnel vision,” Barlow said. “You are kind of just living in the moment, it was really exciting.”
Barlow attended Golden Valley High School from 2007 to 2011 after moving to Santa Clarita from Connecticut halfway through his freshman year.
“If I didn’t have high school, I would have never played baseball and would’ve never been drafted,” he said. “Golden Valley is a huge part.”
Jersey number 42 now graces the outfield of Golden Valley’s newly renovated baseball field and stands for more than just a jersey.
“It’s very special and surreal,” Barlow said. “You see guys names in the outfield, and you think that’s so cool and wish I could of had that, and now it’s coming true. I get to see my name in the outfield and kind of what it represents: the hard work I put in, the coaches that helped me along the way, friends and everything.”
His hard work and jersey are inspiring the current players to work even harder, so maybe one day they can achieve those dreams too.
“These are very exciting times because there is so much potential here,” said Matt Sorensen, GV baseball coach. “All the resources are here for us to be successful.”
The retirement of Barlow’s high school baseball jersey is special to the entire program, the athletes and coach said.
“It makes us kind of work harder,” said Nico Marino, athlete and senior at Golden Valley.
Barlow’s name and jersey number in the outfield is changing the team’s mentality on the field.
“If one guy can do it, why can’t we do it,” Marino said. “We are gonna come out here and work as hard as he did to do it.”
Barlow was voted Golden Valley’s Athlete Of The Year his senior year in 2011 and was drafted shortly after graduation.
“He was always a great student-athlete, a role model, and of course one of our best pitchers,” said GV principal Sal Frias.
On June 6, 2011, Barlow was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 6th round. He signed a free agent contract with the Kansas City Royals in 2017 and made his major league debut in April of 2018.
“When I got the call, saying ‘Scott start to warm up,’ that’s when my heart started to pump,” Barlow said. “I was like, ‘oh my God, this is gonna happen.’”
As the nerves kicked in, Royals bullpen coach, Vance Wilson pulled him aside to remind him he will remember that moment for the rest of his life.
“I took that to heart,” Barlow said.
He is currently number 58 and a pitcher for the Kansas City Royals.
Barlow’s family accompanied him as the school unveiled his jersey in the outfield Saturday. His wife, Klancy, mother, Margaret, and family friends clapped and smiled as a white sheet was peeled off a sign with Barlows jersey in the outfield.
“It is special they don’t forget the Grizzly family, because the Grizzly family doesn’t forget them,” Frias said.
