Prince George is a small town in southern Virginia, located between the state capital of Richmond and the North Carolina border, with a population of roughly 2,300 residents. It seems an unlikely source of professional athletes.
But Prince George has had a surprising amount of success producing pros – including former MLB players Johnny Oates and Jackie Bradley Jr., NBA player Reggie Williams and NFL player Larry Brooks.
Not only did tiny Prince George High School turn out those professional athletes, but also more recently sent two from the same team to the pro baseball ranks – the only high school in the county to do so.
And as unlikely as that may be, they both ended up in the same system and on the same minor league team.
Infielder Tevin Tucker and pitcher Konner Eaton were high school teammates at Prince George. Now, they are together again chasing their professional baseball dreams with the Spokane Indians.
Tucker, primarily a second baseman, graduated a couple of years before Eaton and went to West Virginia University, signing with the Colorado Rockies as a free agent in 2023. Eaton, a left-handed starting pitcher, attended George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and was selected by the Rockies in the sixth round of the 2024 MLB draft.
Tucker started the season as a reserve and recently moved into the starting lineup. Eaton has been a mainstay of the rotation all season.
The two have known each other “since I was about 6 years old,” Eaton said.
Tucker and Eaton’s older sister were classmates and played rec sports together.
Eaton was a freshman on the high school baseball team when Tucker was a senior.
“It’s just really cool that we’re able to get out here, all the way across the entire country, in Spokane, Washington, to be on the same team again,” Eaton said.
“Being able to go on the same journey together, especially starting from the same place and then going and trying to end it at the same place together – it’s really just something special.”
“It’s unique,” Tucker said. “Not a lot of people can say that they’ve done anything like that. It’s a blessing, very unique, and hopefully, we’re just trying to make the county proud.”
Tucker calls himself a “basketball nerd,” and he spends “all day” watching basketball videos and highlights.
He had offers to play the sport out of high school but chose baseball.
“(Baseball) runs in the family,” he said. “I’ve been around a baseball field since I was super young, so I don’t know. It was just – I just put my all into baseball.”
Tucker had several baseball opportunities for college, but chose the West Virginia program that has grown significantly on the national scene over the past decade. He’s proud to have been part of that effort.
“It’s definitely grown so much,” he said. “Just to see the trajectory of that program, it’s really phenomenal, and they’re in great hands with (coach Steve) Sabins. They just did a wonderful job of building it up.”
Tucker, 25, wasn’t drafted out of WVU, but he played with the West Virginia Black Bears in an MLB draft league and was signed by the Rockies later that summer.
“I’ve always wanted to play pro ball since I was a kid,” he said. “So it was something I just tried to take in stride, tried to keep working. That process was stressful, but it was fun, getting calls from major league scouts and stuff like that.”
Eaton is a self-professed “country boy,” and spends any downtime during the season fishing or golfing. He’s an avid hunter during the offseason.
“It’s ‘country’ where we’re from,” Tucker said. “(Eaton) lives far out in the country. I live in, like, the neighborhood.”
Eaton likes the solitude that is inherent with fishing and hunting.
“It’s really being able to get my brain to reset during that time period and really get to focus on (hunting and fishing), because it’s something I love to do,” he said.
Eaton, 22, is 5-4 for the Indians this season with a 3.15 ERA. He leads the Northwest League in innings pitched (91⅓) and strikeouts (100).
“This league is very good, and you also face these guys multiple times, just because there’s only five (other) teams,” he said. “It makes you adjust to these guys a lot, because obviously they’re adjusting to you each and every week after facing them four or five or six times.”
The Rockies are quick to promote players, and if Eaton continues his success he may get bumped up to Double-A before he knows it.
“I’m just sticking to my routine, not looking too far ahead,” he said last week. “I feel like I’ve done a good job of that so far. … I’m just getting my feet wet in my first pro season. I don’t really have too many expectations.”
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