Eric Velasquez’s smile was wrapped around his face.
At a baseball camp during his freshman year, Velasquez approached coaches from Texas State and Texas Lutheran that were in attendance to introduce himself. He asked them what it’s like to be a collegiate student-athlete, what it’s like to play for a college baseball team, what it’s like to travel to play in games across the country.
His grin grew after every answer.
“I thought ‘I’d like to do that, too,’” Velasquez said.
The smile’s never really gone away since then and seemed to reach its peak size on May 10, when the outfielder inked his letter of intent to join the Schreiner Mountaineers.
“There was a lot of stuff going through my mind. I was kind of nervous, kind of excited. More excited, though, because it was something new,” Velasquez said. “It was something I was looking forward to my whole life.”
Velasquez began playing baseball when he was four years old and grew up a Houston Astros fan. He liked the competitiveness of the sport and the new challenges each game brought.
The senior was always a consistent player on the field for San Marcos. But what made Velasquez stand out was his attitude.
“He never gets too high or too low and sometimes you’ve got to have those guys on the team,” head coach Bryan Webb said. “I’ve seen him get fired up before and I’ve seen him get a little low but I’ve never seen him stay there. So, he’s even-keel. He doesn’t get up, he doesn’t get down. He just stays right there and he was a constant heartbeat all year.”
The Rattlers went through a tough season this year, finishing 9-22 overall and 2-12 in district play. There were a lot of low moments for the team. But Velasquez was always the first one to pick his teammates back up. His smile is infectious.
“He doesn’t let big stuff upset him,” senior catcher Colt Ozmen said. “He just enjoys the little stuff and makes the most of what he has.”
“On the bus rides, he’s either making weird faces or telling us jokes or sending us memes on Twitter,” senior infielder Ruben Miranda said. “It’s really funny with him to be on the bus.”
Webb wasn’t surprised Velasquez chose Schreiner. The senior is the sixth player of Webb’s to head to Kerrville. Former Rattler Nick Gutierrez will be a senior with the Mountaineers when the outfielder arrives next season.
Velasquez liked that Schreiner was close to home and said that the coaches there are fairly similar to Webb, which made him more comfortable. He plans to major in business administration and minor in sports management and potentially wants to work for the Astros someday.
He might go through some ups and downs in college as he did in high school. But he’ll be beaming through it all.
“Sometimes I’ll be smiling and I’m in a good mood and sometimes I’ll be like ‘I don’t really know,’” Velasquez said. “It’s how I am. It’s always been like that.”
