Another former Lynx player who’s been given a non-roster invite to the Phillies spring training camp is Ron Calloway.
Ron Calloway’s Baseball career would have been unique if he had never made it past college ball, but the fact that he not only was drafted, but cracked the Majors in 2003, makes Calloway’s story truly amazing. What makes him such an interesting story is that he did not play baseball in high school, nor was it even an interest of his at the time. In his own words, he really did not become a “baseball player” until he entered college. Calloway put his feelings towards baseball when he was a youth bluntly, saying “Baseball certainly wasn’t a first love for me.”
After a solid year at High A in 2000, Calloway was promoted to AA Harrisburg in 2001, where he had a career year, hitting .330/.386/.534 with 9 home in half a season. He was then promoted to AAA Ottawa for the second half of the year, where he put up solid numbers in his first taste of AAA ball. Calloway also added 9 more home runs at Ottawa, giving him a career high 19 on the season. In 2002 Calloway hit .357 in spring training (he was a minor leaguer who was called up for several games during the spring) but did not make the Expos Major League Roster, and spent the entire season at AAA. Calloway continued to put up solid numbers, belting 14 home runs, despite battling injuries (including rotator cuff surgery). His solid play earned Calloway his first official spring training invite before the 2003 season. While Calloway did not equal his spring training numbers of the previous season offensively, the countless hours he spent improving his defense and base-running helped Calloway make his first major league roster. To top it off, Calloway started in Right field on Opening Day.
The rest of his story can be found at minorleaguebeat - it includes his stats and links to some video.
