GREEN RIVER– Green River High School student-athlete Ramsay Taliaferro signed his national letter of intent on Wednesday to play baseball at Mayville State University in Mayville, North Dakota.
Ramsay started playing baseball at eight-years-old, and since then, he has had the dream of playing in the MLB.
“It’s been a dream come true,” Ramsay said about signing with Mayville. “I ultimately want to make it to the MLB, and this is just the next step to make it there.”
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A Childhood Love
Before he ever played on a team, Ramsay was already in love with the sport. Ramsay’s dad, Ed Taliaferro, recalled that the Casper Rockies (now the Grand Junction Rockies) announced a tryout on the radio when Ramsay was around five-years-old.
“He wanted to go to Casper to try out,” Ed said.
Ed said Ramsay was playing baseball every night on their ranch in Farson. When Ed would come home from the fields, Ramsay would have his mitt, ball, and bat, ready to play. When Ramsay’s family moved to Green River, he got to play on a team for the first time.
“When we built the new farm and moved to Green River, I think that was almost as much a dream come true for him to be able to play organized baseball than going to Mayville State is,” Ed said.
Education Comes First
Ramsay takes being a student seriously, and his decision to sign with Mayville was primarily education-based.
Ramsay noted that the baseball program at Mayville State University is exceptional, winning 17 consecutive championships. However, what really impressed him was the school’s expectation for the students to be students first, instead of athletes.
“I ultimately want to be a student first so that stuck out to me,” Ramsay said.
Ramsay plans to study Chemistry, having fallen in love with the subject after taking AP Chemistry his Junior year at GRHS.
In addition to baseball, Ramsay is also a member of the GRHS band, and he is a national qualifier in Speech and Debate.
A Student of the Game
Not only does Ramsay love baseball, but he makes a continued effort to learn as much as he can about the sport. Whether he’s playing, watching MLB or collegiate games, or umpiring for the local little league teams, he’s always trying to learn more.
“A lot of kids want to play baseball, but it’s hard to find kids who really love it, and he genuinely loves the game,” said Shaun Sturlaugson, former coach of the Green River Knights. “One of the rare things about Ramsay is, he’s a student of the game. He’s a coach on the field, he knows the game inside and out. That’s what got him to here.”
Current Green River Knights coach Ben Lail pointed out that it is a rare accomplishment for a Green River baseball player to play at the collegiate level, as Green River is not a baseball town.
Lail believes Ramsay’s success comes form his hard work ethic, not just in baseball but in all aspects of his life.
“What makes Ramsay so good is that he can go from band to baseball to debate, and the cool thing about him is that every single one of those things is done 100 percent,” Lail said.
In addition to being a hard worker, Lail said Ramsay is “a straight up class act”.
“Everyone that’s associated with Green River baseball looks up to Ramsay because of what he does, because he’s a student of the game, and because of how respectful he is,” Lail said. “He’ll be successful wherever he goes.”
