- November 23, 2024
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I won’t pretend to know everything about baseball. But, I do believe there’s something special about Dalton Roberts. Barring any serious injuries, I don’t think there’s any question as to what he can become.
In most athletics, bigger athletes tend to dominate their smaller peers in the early stages of childhood sports. The playing field levels as the smaller peers’ skills and size develop.
Regarding Dalton, he’s already passed his age group and is already dominating those older than he.
Dalton has already hit six home runs in the Palm Coast Little League Major Division (11- and 12-year-olds) and on his Flagler Bandits 11U travel team combined, including a grand slam on April 1 — and he’s only 10 years old.
He currently leads the Bandits most statistical categories, including hits (35), doubles (10), batting average (.603) and RBIs (41), through 31 games (he missed three of them). He also leads his PCLL team in the same categories with similar numbers, which are far greater than any of his teammates.
I’ve seen Dalton play several games last year, but I didn’t see much of a size different. Although he was bigger than most of his teammates, it wasn’t a shocking disparity. And now I know why. He was playing in the majors at 9 years old. What’s even scarier is that he hit two home runs last year.
There are a lot of high school student-athletes like Que’Shaun Byrd, Miracle Porter and Tiana Hernandez who I love to watch perform on a consistent basis. Dalton just might become the first non-high school student I have to place on that same level.
Like his peers, Dalton still has room for improvement, and I know his father, Jason — an avid baseball coach — will make sure he continues to properly develop. I hope I’m around throughout the journey and for the finished product.
