Suffolk native Caleb Pittman enjoyed his time at the MLB/USAB series event.

Former King’s Fork High School standout and now Greenbrier Christian Academy standout recently took a trip to Kansas City, Mo., for baseball. He traveled to the Urban Youth Academy, where he received training from former Major League Baseball players. Major League Baseball and USA Baseball work together for the Breakthrough Series.

The ‘Breakthrough Series’ at the new Kansas City Urban Youth Academy featured about 60 diverse high school athletes from 22 states throughout the country participating in a special amateur development camp that will also serve as a showcase for professional scouts and collegiate recruiters. About 25 alumni of previous Breakthrough Series, or similar amateur development camps, were selected in the 2018 MLB Draft.

Participants split into teams and worked on things like agility, hitting, speed, pitching and at the end got to play games.

The players got to tour the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and meet George Brett who played 21 years in the MLB and is in the Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame. The players also got to attend a Royals game.

“Viewing the museum was definitely a blessing,” Pittman said. “To get to know all the players that made it possible for us to play today was a great experience.”

Some of the former pros included Tom Gordon, Marvin Freeman, LaTroy Hawkins and Marquis Grissom. Pittman was familiar with some of those former players from events he had been to the past couple years.

“It’s a blessing and a privilege to be able to get such good information from retired players,” Pittman said. “I just soak in as much as I can so I can take that with me to the next level.”

Pittman is currently in Georgia right now, where he is playing for the Blue Jays scout team this summer. That organization has had at least 70 draft picks come out of its program, and the coaches there believe that Pittman may have a chance to be added to that list as well. He had his choice of travel teams to play for during the summer time and chose the Blue Jays.

“Coach said he saw me play last year with another one of my teams,” Pittman said. “I am getting better with the coaching they are giving me, and I’m also getting quality workouts with the team.”

Pittman recently finished up his first year at Greenbrier Christian, which he transferred to from King’s Fork. They made it all the way to the state semifinals. With a strong summer, he has hopes of committing to the college he will be choosing by the end of the summer.