By Frederick Dakarai
It was my honor to have recently met Milwaukee native, Montaous Walton, who has been signed to a minor league contract with an invitation to Major League camp by the Minnesota Twins.
Walton blew me away with his bright smile and positive attitude about life. We talked about forty five minutes and Montaous could not stop busting-out with this huge smile and laughing. He would apologize but he couldn’t hold in the excitement – he was a really cool dude…just a down-to-earth nice guy.
Walton is a converted second baseman from centerfield whose specialty is his blazing speed, cat-like reactions and instincts when stealing bases, versatility of playing several positions, and knack for getting on base.
He was an undrafted free agent playing at the Playball Baseball Academy until Minnesota Twins scout, Billy Corrigan, was overwhelmed by his 6.3 sec 60 yard dash, 30 stolen bases and dominance at the Academy. He is being compared to the young superstar B.J. Upton of the Tampa Bay Rays. What a comparison!!!
This is Walton’s first invitation to Major League camp and is projected to play in the Majors in the 2011 season. Note that it is rare that a young baseballer would ascend to the Majors is such a short time frame and even more rare that an un-drafted free agent would be projected to play in the Majors after only one year Minor League service.
Walton, 21 years old, went to Madison High School and played baseball all four years there and informed me that MPS has a good baseball program. He stated, “Since I was 10 yrs old I always had passion and love for baseball…growing up in my neighborhood everybody was into basketball and everybody would always say what’s up with this guy with the baseball glove.”
After high school, he attended division 1 Eastern Michigan University where he played two years and had 22 stolen bases his sophomore year. He became home-sick and transferred to UW-Whitewater where he waited for his opportunity but going into his last year he couldn’t take the risk of not playing consistently and moved to Florida and attended the Playball Baseball Academy.
Walton is dedicating his baseball career to his Uncle, Henry Walton, who died of cancer in 2008 and influenced him to whom he is today.