As a freshman, Hagan Weathers was trying to break through on the Richmond Hill High School baseball team, but things were not necessarily working out for him.
It wasn’t because there were other sports or activities getting in the way. Weathers has been drawn to the game of baseball since he was old enough to pick up a bat. He began playing as early as pre-K and has played rec ball, travel ball, and for his school teams throughout moves with his family that took him from Georgia to Florida and back to Richmond Hill.
“I’ve lived in Richmond Hill for most of my life and played rec ball through the third grade,” Weathers said. “I moved to Florida, where I continued to play in the fourth and fifth grade. That’s when I realized I really wanted to pursue baseball.”
Weathers and his family moved back to Richmond Hill, and that’s when he tried out for a travel baseball team and made it.
“I hadn’t thought I could love baseball more until I was 12 years old, playing travel ball with all of my friends,” he said.
When Weathers reached middle school, he found there were a lot of other players who loved the game as much as he did and who were very good at it.
“I tried out for the middle school team all three years, but didn’t make it,” he said.
Weathers admitted it was tough and that doubts began to creep in, but he stuck with it and tried out once again, this time for the high school junior varsity team. When tryouts were over, Weathers nervously waited to see if he had made the final cut.
He did. He made the team.
Despite being ready to put the work in, though, his first season was a struggle.
“I didn’t do very well in my freshman season,” Weathers said.
Hill Thomas, who had just taken over the head coaching duties at Richmond Hill that same season and was seeing his players for the first time, remembers watching Weathers really struggle in his tryout for the team.
“He was having a tough time,” Thomas said. “I honestly wasn’t sure if he was going to make the team or not.”
The Richmond Hill head baseball coach said that following the tryouts, he and his assistants decided to take a chance on Weathers. They kept him on the team.
“Even though Hagan struggled, we liked how he conducted himself and never was negative,” Thomas said. “He had good body language. We decided he was someone we could work with.”
Weathers saw very little playing time in his freshman year. Then last season as a sophomore, he saw a little more time, mostly in the outfield.
Toward the end of last season, Thomas requested a sit down with his player.
“I wanted to hear what his plans were moving forward and how his future looked like with us,” Thomas said.
The two of them decided that Weathers could best help the team as a pitcher. From that meeting on, everything seemed to change for the rising junior.
Despite having never thrown a single pitch for Richmond Hill, Weathers began to devote himself completely to becoming a pitcher.
Following his sophomore season, he hit the weightroom and began a strict eating plan. He put on 30 pounds, and nature played a part, too. Weathers grew from a 6-foot, 150-pound sophomore to his current frame of 6 feet, 4 inches tall and 180 pounds.
His pitching velocity, which was at around 72 mph, improved to 84 mph.
With the 2024-2025 baseball season just around the corner, Thomas is excited to see what Weathers can contribute to the team this season and beyond.
“He has yet to throw a pitch for us, but I think he has put himself in a position to become an impact player for us and a value to our program,” Thomas said.
While it seems like pretty lofty goals for a player who has struggled just to make the team and who has played sparingly over his first two seasons, we’re reminded about what the coaches saw in Weathers when they decided to put him on the roster.
“Hagan has always had a strong work ethic and a great attitude,” Thomas said. “That has made him a great teammate. And now his teammates have noticed that work ethic and how he has transformed his body since the last time he set foot on the baseball field, and they respect that. They see Hagan as a leader.
“Hagan has put himself in a position to go out there this season and make a name for himself. He’s come a long way in a short period of time.”
Now all that’s left is for Hagan Weathers to go out and prove it on the field.
