How Grady Emerson became a top baseball prospect

FORT WORTH, Texas — Baseball players like Grady Emerson don’t come around too often. He’s a five-tool kid who was tabbed as a future star when he was still in middle school.

Emerson is being looked at by the MLB and is currently a potential top-three draft pick, but his passion for the game has been there since he was a child.

“It’s what I enjoy doing,” Emerson said. “My dad and I always called the cages the playground. Whenever I’m in a bad mood, I go to the cages. I’m feeling great, I still go to the cages.”

Emerson’s fascination with the game started when he was just 3-years-old after being gifted a themed baseball bat.

“I got a little Buzz Lightyear toy bat,” Emerson said. “We’d just sit in the house and make my parents throw me baseballs.”

The fun progressed from the living room to the diamond, where Emerson’s fluid fielding caught the eye of a former big leaguer.

“He was 9 or 10 years old,” said former Texas Rangers outfielder Rusty Greer. “I actually turned around and said, ‘Whose kid is that at shortstop?’ And Mr. Emerson raised his hand. I said, ‘the kid can play.’”

When he shined on the travel ball circuit as a 13-year-old and became a nationally-ranked prospect, Emerson came to a realization that this could be more than just a hobby.

“This is what I could do for the rest of my life,” Emerson said.

It’s now been almost five years since Emerson gained notoriety as one of the best young players in America, and his feeling towards it were initally mixed but have softened up over time.

“At first, I really did struggle with it,” said Emerson, who’s currently the No. 2 prospect in the 2026 MLB Draft according to Baseball America. “It was really hard for me to go around people knowing my name. I tried to almost hide a little bit. But I think the more I went through it, the more challenges I went through, and the more I came out of those challenges, I think really grew me as a person.”

That increaded maturity is what’s helped him approach being a potential top-three pick in the upcoming MLB Draft. However, Emerson said he’s focused on his high school season and not thinking about his draft moment. Instead, he’s trying to stay in the present and stay humble while being in the spotlight.

“For me, it’s just finding the joy in the game,” Emerson said. “Remembering why you started, because, obviously, as a young kid, you didn’t start for the traveling, and for the long nights and the early mornings. You started just because you love the game.” 

This season, Emerson reunited with Rusty Greer, the aforementioned former big leaguer who first spotted Emerson’s potential after transferring to Fort Worth Christian High School, a move that was made knowing a big league career could be on the horizon.

“It’s a testament to how hard he’s worked,” Greer said. “There’s a lot of people that have skill. There’s a lot of people that have talent, but it takes those people that are willing to put in the work and willing to sacrifice some things to cultivate that skill and talent.”

Emerson is grateful for Greer’s commitment to him on and off the field because of his familiarity with the game and the pressures he has faced himself.

“Rusty is a super great resource to have, not only for on the field stuff, but off the field,” Emerson said. “He knows how to handle the pressure, and he definitely opened my eyes to what it takes to be a big leaguer.”

Emerson is embracing the work it takes to be a pro, even though he’s still a teenager who just can’t get enough baseball.

“I don’t ever try to get too big. I don’t like to be egotistical or anything like that,” Emerson said. “I just like to be known as a great kid who plays baseball.”