One can make a pretty compelling case that Myles Bailey was born to play baseball.
The son of a Tallahassee native and former Florida A&M baseball player, Bailey started hitting a foam ball with a foam bat with his dad not long after when he started walking.
He started playing organized baseball at age three. He hit his first home run over the fence on a 220-foot softball field at seven. At 12, he hit 30 home runs in a youth-league season.
Baseball may as well be in his blood. Dating back to when he was one or two years old, it's basically all he wanted to do.
"I guess (my dad) doing it, it kind of bled into me," Bailey told the Osceola. "Me being his kid, it's in my wiring, in my programming to do baseball."
"Obviously, every dad wants his kid to play the sport that he played, but he really naturally gravitated towards it. Not really sure why," Kevin Bailey, Myles' father, told the Osceola. "I know that obviously I had some bats and balls lying around, but he could've grabbed the football or whatever else. But he always wanted to play baseball."
This weekend, Bailey will cap off a remarkable freshman season for FSU with a moment that has been over a decade in the making. After dreaming of playing at FSU since he was seven years old, the Tallahassee native will take the field for an NCAA regional with his hometown team.
"It's going to be awesome. It's always been a dream to play with this team, in front of these people. Being able to do it now will be probably one of the most important set of games of my life to this point," Bailey said. "Knowing what's at stake and how much it's going to mean to the people that are out here. Words can't describe what it's going to feel like."
Early in his baseball career, people started calling Bailey "Big Papi," comparing him to aging Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz who originated that nickname. Bailey was always big for his age and like Ortiz, was a lefty hitter who destroyed baseballs.
Ironically, Bailey has now surpassed Ortiz in size. He's listed at 6-foot-4, 257 pounds while Ortiz is listed at 6-foot-3, 230 on Baseball Reference. In his preseason press conference back in January, FSU head coach Link Jarrett compared Bailey to former FSU defensive end Jared Verse. He's actually a bit bigger than Verse as well, who is listed at 6-foot-4, 250 pounds.
Bailey is the type of player you don't see often on baseball fields, built more like a bodybuilder or an edge-rusher than a typical baseball player. But while he was always big for his age, he had to grow into his body and harness the strength that was within him.
Lincoln head coach Mike Gauger had heard about Bailey from a friend who was on the Babe Ruth Youth League scene. He immediately saw his potential and Bailey quickly figured out what he was going to have to do to realize it.
"He was taller than most of the freshmen, but he was kind of pudgy," Gauger told the Osceola. "I wouldn't say sloppy, he just hadn't figured the weights out yet, was still going through puberty. But he really bought into the weight room and started managing his diet, started managing his calories and his cardio and he did all that himself. It wasn't like he just got taller and got skinny. He made that body."
Starting in his eighth-grade year, Myles and Kevin Bailey left their house at 5:45 a.m. each school day to drive out to Gadsden County to work with Corey Fuller -- at the time the head football coach at East Gadsden High -- to train.
That carried into high school when Bailey began to show signs of the physical specimen and player he could become.
"I knew I needed to transform my body. Towards the end of freshman year was when I really took on needing to do it and then sophomore year was when you could see the transformation," Myles said. "It just kept going on and I kept adding more muscle after that."
Bailey didn't play a ton on the varsity team as a freshman at Lincoln in 2021, buried on the depth chart a bit on a senior-heavy team, hitting just one home runs in 16 plate appearances for the Trojans. That only lit more of a fire under Bailey.
"I'm one of those type of guys that loves proving people wrong so if someone doubts me in a place where I can prove them wrong, I'm going to do whatever I can to do that," Bailey said. "That was big for me to have to show (coach Gauger) that this is going to be my spot, I'm deserving of this spot and I'm going to do whatever I need to do for this to be my spot and for you and everyone to know that this is my spot."
Bailey committed to FSU during his sophomore year, but shortly after that, FSU head coach Mike Martin Jr. was fired and replaced by Link Jarrett. While he had built a strong relationship with former FSU recruiting coordinator Mike Metcalf, it didn't take him much convincing to stay committed to the hometown team under the new regime.
"(The new staff) brought me in and they made it super easy to be like, 'Ok, I want to play for these guys. I don't want to go anywhere else. I want to stay here and bring a national championship to Florida State,'" Bailey said.
Bailey continued to grow in size and ability as his high-school career progressed at Lincoln. He was named a Max Preps First-Team All-American as a senior in 2024 and ranked by Perfect Game as the No. 37 overall prospect and the No. 1 first baseman in the 2024 high school class.
"Nobody worked harder in the weight room from August to January and even after the season started, nobody worked harder than him lifting-wise," Gauger said. "Nobody took more BP. Nobody was out there fielding ground balls, throwing balls into a net on weekends when nobody else was there. He did all that stuff and he was so eager to get better and build and develop that I was probably hardest on him that I've been on about any kid I've ever coached. He took it in stride and it just made him tougher, made him stronger. I stayed on him pretty good and he loved every second of it."
His stock improved so much that he had the opportunity to get drafted into MLB out of high school and forgo the pit stop at FSU he had dreamed of since childhood. He admits that he was considering that entering his senior season of high school. However, by the time the draft rolled around, he had already enrolled at FSU and saw how Jarrett and the FSU coaching staff could help him improve even more before he embarks on his professional career.
"Being around here, I knew this was where I wanted to be," Bailey said. "I knew playing for Link and this coaching staff would better me...I knew I would leave here a better athlete, player and person than I was before I got here."
"There was never a doubt in my mind that's where he would go. He wanted to be at Florida State," Gauger said. "Pretty sure he wanted to go to college. I never once in a million years thought he would go anywhere else or do anything other than Florida State. He's Florida State through and through."
Kevin added, "Everyone here knows how successful that (FSU) program is and he just wants to be one of those players to help them finally win that championship. And the allure of playing here in town with family and friends always helps. When you have a program that good in your backyard, why would you not want to be a part of that?"
That decision to stay with his FSU commitment seems to have paid off in a major way this season for Myles. He's settled into the cleanup spot in the lineup for the final two-thirds of the regular season and enters the NCAA Tournament hitting .317 while third on the team in home runs (15) and runs batted in (46). The swing-and-miss you often see with freshman sluggers is there, as Bailey has a team-high 69 strikeouts. However, he's struck out no times in his last five games and has just three games with multiple strikeouts in his last 14 games, showing significant progress on that front as the season has progressed.
Bailey credits that progression as a hitter this season to Jarrett, who takes a large role in coaching up the hitters.
"I've always had the power, but the hittability, tracking the ball and having a different approach. Going up there rather than just swinging at nonsense, going up there with a mindset and an approach and a different way to look at baseball," Bailey said of how Jarrett has helped him. "I feel like that has been the biggest step I've taken is my hittability aspect of it and doing more than just swinging and trying to hit the ball far."
Bailey enters the Tallahassee Regional red hot as he had three home runs -- including a 470-foot tank that was hit off the bat at 118 miles per hour -- in two ACC Tournament games last week and is 7 for 11 with four home runs in his last three games.
"(His growth has) been exponential. Link has been very, very supportive of Myles. He has stuck with him through thick and thin. There have been some times where a lot of folks on social media have called for him to be benched, but Link sees something in Myles. For that, I'm grateful..." Kevin Bailey said. "I am extremely, extremely in debt to Link for all the coaching that he's given to Myles so far. As a dad, I can not be happier with the coaching that he is receiving from Link and Ty (Megahee) and Brad (Vanderglas) and everyone else up there."
This weekend's regional will be that next major step for Myles. His first time playing postseason baseball for the team he's dreamed of playing for since he was seven and getting to do it on the Seminoles' home field at Dick Howser Stadium, capping off a special freshman season that has been something to behold for the entire Bailey family.
"It's just seeing the hard work pay off. It's a blessing to be able to actually see that," Kevin said. "When a kid wants something so bad you know that he pours every single ounce of himself into it and to have them see that kind of success, as a parent is just amazing. All the sacrifices that he made, that we made to see it all paying off, again there's a long way to go still obviously, but it's been a very, very good start for him at Florida State."
The son of a Tallahassee native and former Florida A&M baseball player, Bailey started hitting a foam ball with a foam bat with his dad not long after when he started walking.
He started playing organized baseball at age three. He hit his first home run over the fence on a 220-foot softball field at seven. At 12, he hit 30 home runs in a youth-league season.
Baseball may as well be in his blood. Dating back to when he was one or two years old, it's basically all he wanted to do.
"I guess (my dad) doing it, it kind of bled into me," Bailey told the Osceola. "Me being his kid, it's in my wiring, in my programming to do baseball."
"Obviously, every dad wants his kid to play the sport that he played, but he really naturally gravitated towards it. Not really sure why," Kevin Bailey, Myles' father, told the Osceola. "I know that obviously I had some bats and balls lying around, but he could've grabbed the football or whatever else. But he always wanted to play baseball."
This weekend, Bailey will cap off a remarkable freshman season for FSU with a moment that has been over a decade in the making. After dreaming of playing at FSU since he was seven years old, the Tallahassee native will take the field for an NCAA regional with his hometown team.
"It's going to be awesome. It's always been a dream to play with this team, in front of these people. Being able to do it now will be probably one of the most important set of games of my life to this point," Bailey said. "Knowing what's at stake and how much it's going to mean to the people that are out here. Words can't describe what it's going to feel like."
Early in his baseball career, people started calling Bailey "Big Papi," comparing him to aging Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz who originated that nickname. Bailey was always big for his age and like Ortiz, was a lefty hitter who destroyed baseballs.
Ironically, Bailey has now surpassed Ortiz in size. He's listed at 6-foot-4, 257 pounds while Ortiz is listed at 6-foot-3, 230 on Baseball Reference. In his preseason press conference back in January, FSU head coach Link Jarrett compared Bailey to former FSU defensive end Jared Verse. He's actually a bit bigger than Verse as well, who is listed at 6-foot-4, 250 pounds.
Bailey is the type of player you don't see often on baseball fields, built more like a bodybuilder or an edge-rusher than a typical baseball player. But while he was always big for his age, he had to grow into his body and harness the strength that was within him.
Lincoln head coach Mike Gauger had heard about Bailey from a friend who was on the Babe Ruth Youth League scene. He immediately saw his potential and Bailey quickly figured out what he was going to have to do to realize it.
"He was taller than most of the freshmen, but he was kind of pudgy," Gauger told the Osceola. "I wouldn't say sloppy, he just hadn't figured the weights out yet, was still going through puberty. But he really bought into the weight room and started managing his diet, started managing his calories and his cardio and he did all that himself. It wasn't like he just got taller and got skinny. He made that body."
Starting in his eighth-grade year, Myles and Kevin Bailey left their house at 5:45 a.m. each school day to drive out to Gadsden County to work with Corey Fuller -- at the time the head football coach at East Gadsden High -- to train.
That carried into high school when Bailey began to show signs of the physical specimen and player he could become.
"I knew I needed to transform my body. Towards the end of freshman year was when I really took on needing to do it and then sophomore year was when you could see the transformation," Myles said. "It just kept going on and I kept adding more muscle after that."
Bailey didn't play a ton on the varsity team as a freshman at Lincoln in 2021, buried on the depth chart a bit on a senior-heavy team, hitting just one home runs in 16 plate appearances for the Trojans. That only lit more of a fire under Bailey.
"I'm one of those type of guys that loves proving people wrong so if someone doubts me in a place where I can prove them wrong, I'm going to do whatever I can to do that," Bailey said. "That was big for me to have to show (coach Gauger) that this is going to be my spot, I'm deserving of this spot and I'm going to do whatever I need to do for this to be my spot and for you and everyone to know that this is my spot."
Bailey committed to FSU during his sophomore year, but shortly after that, FSU head coach Mike Martin Jr. was fired and replaced by Link Jarrett. While he had built a strong relationship with former FSU recruiting coordinator Mike Metcalf, it didn't take him much convincing to stay committed to the hometown team under the new regime.
"(The new staff) brought me in and they made it super easy to be like, 'Ok, I want to play for these guys. I don't want to go anywhere else. I want to stay here and bring a national championship to Florida State,'" Bailey said.
Bailey continued to grow in size and ability as his high-school career progressed at Lincoln. He was named a Max Preps First-Team All-American as a senior in 2024 and ranked by Perfect Game as the No. 37 overall prospect and the No. 1 first baseman in the 2024 high school class.
"Nobody worked harder in the weight room from August to January and even after the season started, nobody worked harder than him lifting-wise," Gauger said. "Nobody took more BP. Nobody was out there fielding ground balls, throwing balls into a net on weekends when nobody else was there. He did all that stuff and he was so eager to get better and build and develop that I was probably hardest on him that I've been on about any kid I've ever coached. He took it in stride and it just made him tougher, made him stronger. I stayed on him pretty good and he loved every second of it."
His stock improved so much that he had the opportunity to get drafted into MLB out of high school and forgo the pit stop at FSU he had dreamed of since childhood. He admits that he was considering that entering his senior season of high school. However, by the time the draft rolled around, he had already enrolled at FSU and saw how Jarrett and the FSU coaching staff could help him improve even more before he embarks on his professional career.
"Being around here, I knew this was where I wanted to be," Bailey said. "I knew playing for Link and this coaching staff would better me...I knew I would leave here a better athlete, player and person than I was before I got here."
"There was never a doubt in my mind that's where he would go. He wanted to be at Florida State," Gauger said. "Pretty sure he wanted to go to college. I never once in a million years thought he would go anywhere else or do anything other than Florida State. He's Florida State through and through."
Kevin added, "Everyone here knows how successful that (FSU) program is and he just wants to be one of those players to help them finally win that championship. And the allure of playing here in town with family and friends always helps. When you have a program that good in your backyard, why would you not want to be a part of that?"
That decision to stay with his FSU commitment seems to have paid off in a major way this season for Myles. He's settled into the cleanup spot in the lineup for the final two-thirds of the regular season and enters the NCAA Tournament hitting .317 while third on the team in home runs (15) and runs batted in (46). The swing-and-miss you often see with freshman sluggers is there, as Bailey has a team-high 69 strikeouts. However, he's struck out no times in his last five games and has just three games with multiple strikeouts in his last 14 games, showing significant progress on that front as the season has progressed.
Bailey credits that progression as a hitter this season to Jarrett, who takes a large role in coaching up the hitters.
"I've always had the power, but the hittability, tracking the ball and having a different approach. Going up there rather than just swinging at nonsense, going up there with a mindset and an approach and a different way to look at baseball," Bailey said of how Jarrett has helped him. "I feel like that has been the biggest step I've taken is my hittability aspect of it and doing more than just swinging and trying to hit the ball far."
Bailey enters the Tallahassee Regional red hot as he had three home runs -- including a 470-foot tank that was hit off the bat at 118 miles per hour -- in two ACC Tournament games last week and is 7 for 11 with four home runs in his last three games.
"(His growth has) been exponential. Link has been very, very supportive of Myles. He has stuck with him through thick and thin. There have been some times where a lot of folks on social media have called for him to be benched, but Link sees something in Myles. For that, I'm grateful..." Kevin Bailey said. "I am extremely, extremely in debt to Link for all the coaching that he's given to Myles so far. As a dad, I can not be happier with the coaching that he is receiving from Link and Ty (Megahee) and Brad (Vanderglas) and everyone else up there."
This weekend's regional will be that next major step for Myles. His first time playing postseason baseball for the team he's dreamed of playing for since he was seven and getting to do it on the Seminoles' home field at Dick Howser Stadium, capping off a special freshman season that has been something to behold for the entire Bailey family.
"It's just seeing the hard work pay off. It's a blessing to be able to actually see that," Kevin said. "When a kid wants something so bad you know that he pours every single ounce of himself into it and to have them see that kind of success, as a parent is just amazing. All the sacrifices that he made, that we made to see it all paying off, again there's a long way to go still obviously, but it's been a very, very good start for him at Florida State."
