Last year, Gift Ngoepe was the first South African to step up to the plate in the Major Leagues. Tayler Scott is up to pitch and make history once more.
Gift Ngoepe made history as the first South African to play in the Major Leagues. Gift was born in Polokwane but he moved to the States to pursue a professional baseball career and succeeded! Gift was called up from a minor league affiliate in Indianapolis to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Tayler Scott, also a South African born baseball player, knew of Gift’s success. He too had been working hard to make it to the major leagues. He wasn’t discouraged when news broke of Gift’s accomplishment. There are still many firsts in the sport for South Africans.
“There were a couple of us in the race to be the first South African. There is still the title of being the first South African pitcher, so I’m still in the race for that. It would be a great achievement to have that title.”
While Tayler lives and plays in the States, he spends his offseason living at home in Johannesburg. His family relocated Tayler so he could follow his dream of playing professional baseball. He confirmed that they sacrificed a lot for his dream, he will always honour that.
His love of sports saw him playing nearly every sport imaginable.
“Baseball down there [SA] is very tiny, very little thing. It’s kind of a recreational thing for guys on Sunday. Slowly MLB has started getting scouts down there to see the guys, and we have played in the World Baseball Classic. Like any sport, you have to kind of grow up in it with the tradition and culture. Since we have soccer and rugby, it’s kind of hard to grow the culture of baseball. We don’t have the facilities.”
“I played every other sport I could — rugby, soccer, cricket — everything you could think of, and baseball as well. Whenever I could find the time, I found some sport I could play. Baseball started taking over as I got older and I got better.”
When asked why he didn’t lend his skill to cricket, Tayler explained how different it was for him and how he struggled to play.
“Cricket is a lot different, I was never really that good at cricket. I don’t have the arm slot for cricket, so that kind of fell away. I’m still into rugby and soccer, but baseball took over.”
Tayler truly loves South Africa but needed to leave to pursue his dream. This hasn’t stopped him from promoting home though, he proudly talks about SA’s beauty and how it is a place everyone should see one day.
“South Africa a very beautiful place. The landscape of South Africa is beautiful. I’m kind of out north in the grassland. If you drive an hour and a half away you’ll be in the wilds with the animals. Everywhere you go in South Africa is going to be beautiful. You want mountains, there are fantastic mountains. Cape Town is beautiful place on the beach.”
Tayler is working hard to become the first South African pitcher in the majors. We stand behind this promising athlete and wish him the best of luck.