Hard work and talent can take you places in life, and for 10-year-old Clay Grady of Suffolk, they are taking him to Minneapolis, Minn., to participate in Major League Baseball’s All-Star Week.

Grady has emerged as one of the top three performers throughout North America in the boys’ 9- and 10-year-old division of the MLB Pitch, Hit and Run program, the official youth skills competition of MLB designed to get youth involved in baseball.

He and 23 other finalists across all age groups will compete in the program’s National Finals at Target Field on July 14, as well as participate in other activities during MLB All-Star Week. The finalists were announced live on the MLB Network on Sunday.

“It was pretty exciting,” Clay Grady said of learning the news. He and part of his family were driving back from a baseball tournament when the announcement was made, but his sister, Ginna Grady, called to let him know.

As both a baseball player and fan, he summed up what it meant to him to be involved in the MLB’s All-Star Week at the age of 10: “It just makes me have a good feeling.”

His family had a similar reaction.

Clay’s father, David Grady said he was “very proud and excited.” He added that Clay is “just enjoying this and having fun with it, which is what I think the MLB wants out of it.”

Also expressing his pride in Clay was his older brother, Jake Grady, a Nansemond-Suffolk Academy graduate and baseball standout.

“He definitely earned it,” Jake Grady said of Clay. “He put a lot of hard work into it.”

Shortly after his sister’s call, Clay received another.

“You should have seen the expression on his face when he got that call from the MLB telling him that he made it,” Jake Grady said. “It was pretty priceless.”

Asked if she could believe her son is part of the MLB All-Star Week at the age of 10, Tracy Grady said, “No, I cannot, but out of all my kids, nothing surprises me with Clay.”

“He loves to compete and not everybody does, but it seems like the higher the stakes, the better he performs, and he’s been like that since he was little,” she said.

In past years, Clay has watched the MLB’s Home Run Derby during All-Star Week and noticed children on TV shagging fly balls. His mom said he wanted to know how they got that opportunity, and she recalled him telling her, “I want to do that.”

Shagging balls is actually one of the perks of being a finalist, along with attending the All-Star Game itself.

At some added expense, Clay’s entire family — both parents, two brothers and his sister — will be making the trip with him.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Jake Grady said.