By TIM GUERCIO

The Natchez Democrat

Boca Chica, in The Dominican Republic is on the southern tip of the coastline.

It is a beach resort town. You will find white sandy beaches filled with palm trees and water that is aqua blue.

It is also where you will find baseball being played at a very high level just about, complete with major league scouts and representation from all 32 Major League teams.

Clay Wright, 18, recently made the trip to the Dominican Republic to learn, to train and to play in ball games for team, Trosky Bull.

“I was ready to go down there,” Wright said. “The players are from 16-20 years old, they aren’t professional but they play like professionals waiting to be discovered.”

Wright of Franklin County said he took Spanish in high school and that it came in handy while he was there.

Wright’s father Michael, a former ballplayer for Alcorn State University said he went to the Dominican Republic on a vacation and showed some video of Clay to baseball executives. They liked what they saw and said send him down.

“They put all the players through physical training in the morning,” Michael Wright said. “They played ball games in the afternoon and at night they went to the gym.”

A jog on a sandy white tourist beach might sound like fun but not so much if you are training.

“We ran 2 miles on the beach every morning and then went to the field for drills,” Clay Wright said. “My best drill was running while they tried holding you back with a bungee cord. I play leftfield so they hit balls to me, with no glove on. They wanted me to catch it with one hand and make the throw in with my other hand.”

Two weeks of training is what a ballplayer goes through before he puts on a uniform, Michael Wright said.

“Clay played in two games and his second swing he hit it to the fence for a long fly out,” Michael Wright said. “He had eight at-bats, got two hits and walked three times with five stolen bases.”

Signing day in the Dominican Republic is always the first Tuesday in July Michael Wright said.

“This year, major league teams signed 22 ballplayers to contracts with signing bonuses,” Michael Wright said. “The biggest signing bonus this year was $6 million.”