New York Yankees pitcher and two-time All-Star Carlos Rodon, who led Holly Springs High School to its only state championship in 2011 and helped NC State reach its first College World Series in nearly 50 years in 2013, is preparing for his first World Series start when the Yankees take on the Dodgers. Rodon will be the Game 2 starter in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
"You always knew he had a chance to be special from the first time you saw him," recalled Holly Springs head baseball coach Rod Whitesell.
Whitesell said that long before Rodon was striking out big-league batters, he brought that same energy to the Hawks.
"I don't want to say becomes a different person, but he goes from, like, here where he's even-keeled to like, 'boom, I'm ready to go and I'm ready to compete,'" said Whitesell.
That's just how Elliott Avent -- the longtime baseball coach for NC State -- remembers him, too.
"When he is really driven to do something, I've seen very few competitors in my lifetime of coaching as competitive as Carlos Rodon," Avent said.
His coaches say it's precisely that competitive fire that's helped propel Rodon to two All-Star games, a lucrative six-year contract with the Yankees, and now, a chance to win a World Series.
"Everyone's just excited about seeing a local kid do well and be in the spotlight," said Whitesell.
The player is now under the brightest lights imaginable, but for these two coaches -- the vantage point is unchanged.
"I actually sit there and kind of still coach him as you still talk to him, even though he can't hear. But seeing him out there brings me back to the days when he was in our dugout," said Avent.
Whitesell said there will be quite the cheering section when he takes the mound for the first time in a World Series game.
"I know, quite a few people, all his former teammates, a ton of teachers of the school. And I'm sure there's the community as a whole is going to be just rooting like crazy for him," he said.