Ryan Pressley didn't get the nickname "Tree" because he likes to go hunting in the woods. Nature doesn't bestow size-17 feet and a 73-inch wingspan on many baseball players. He'll cast a shadow at first base as Evans continues the Class AAAA playoffs at Hardaway.
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If there's a bigger switch-hitting slugger in the state, he's yet to be found. Pressley stands 6 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 245 pounds.
He was 6-foot-5 and 265 pounds when he played football for the Knights three years ago.
"One of my coaches said I reminded him of a guy named 'Tree' Jones," Pressley said.
It's a memory that has put down roots of its own.
"He could easily have been a guy who signed a major football scholarship," said Evans baseball coach Ricky Beale, also an assistant football coach. "He had special talent. Good size. Good feet. He was what big colleges look for even as a freshman."
Pressley hasn't played since.
"If I had a point on my average for every time I've been asked to play football again, I'd be batting about .950," Pressley said.
Tree's not budging
The talk tripled every football season.
"He really wouldn't have to try at football," Evans junior Shawn Ward said. "He's such a natural football player."
Pressley made the decision he was going to be an unnatural baseball player. Or nothing at all.
"I just love baseball and the work it takes to play the game," Pressley said. " I don't love football like that deep-down every day. I'm a better football player probably, but I know I'll be a better baseball player because my heart will always be in it."
Such conviction is rare. Even more so with the fame in being a top football player in the South.
"I look up to him for trying to make it his way," Evans senior Ken Raborn said. "If that was me I would make myself like football."
On the diamond, Pressley is hitting .324 with 15 RBI. He has an impressive .524 on-base percentage. Yet with just one home run, he hasn't tapped into his vast potential. He's been invited to Turner Field to participate in a pre-draft workout for the Atlanta Braves on June 1. He'll attend, depending on Evans' state playoff status.
Treetop power
HIS ABILITY IS A BULB THAT FLICKERS. TAKE THE homer he hit during practice that went over the scoreboard, above some pine trees and through the goalpost of a football field.
"I was throwing as hard as I can," said Evans' Tim Steflik, whose fastball has hit 90 mph. "It lands on the 50-yard line of the practice field. When Ryan catches one, he can put dents in the pine trees."
Oddly, he's struggled against pitchers whose fastballs aren't so fast.
"I'm putting this nicely because he's a good teammate," Ward said. "He won't listen about moving up in the box against guys that don't throw hard. He's going to do it his way."
Project Pressley
He hits with extra inches of strike zone.
"I just want to be comfortable back there," Pressley said. "What I do in the back of the box helps me see the ball better."
He's gotten coaching from the likes of Braves' batting coach Terry Pendleton. His approach is suited more for pro ball. But he will be a project in the professional amateur draft in June.
"I don't mind when people saw I'm a project or I'm raw," Pressley said. "That means I have something to work with. I see it as more of a positive than a negative."
Pressley has committed to play college ball at Middle Georgia if he's not drafted.
"I'd had enough calls to think somebody will take him," Beale said. "It will be hard to pass on a switch-hitter with his size."
Another plus is Pressley's work ethic. He works long hours in the batting cage. He joined the basketball team this winter to get in shape. He lost 20 pounds and increased his mobility.
Somebody will go out on a limb for him.
