Photo courtesy of Jason Clark.
Jaxson Wood of Hoover, Alabama, bats for the East Coast Sox Scout Team in the Perfect Game World Wood Bat Association tournament at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex in July 2022.
A Hoover High School freshman has been selected to play in the seventh annual 14U Perfect Game Select Baseball Festival in Fort Myers, Florida, next week.
Jaxson Wood, who just made the Hoover High baseball team, is one of 48 players selected to play in the Sept. 4 game at JetBlue Park, which is the spring training facility for the Boston Red Sox. He’ll be one of 24 players on the East Coast team, according to his father, T.K. Wood.
The game will be at 4 p.m. central time and will be streamed live on perfectgame.tv and aired on CBS Sports.
Jaxson Wood, who plays shortstop, recently turned 15 but can play in the 14U game because he was in that age group during the 14U Perfect Game season this year, his father said. He also recently verbally committed to play college baseball at the University of Tennessee in the future after being offered a scholarship there, his father said.
Each player selected for the 14U Perfect Game Select Festival is raising money for two charitable causes. One is an effort to help families experiencing pediatric cancer at Golisano Children’s Hospital in Fort Myers, and the other is to raise money for the Perfect Game Cares Foundation’s Grow the Game Fund, which seeks to provide opportunities for baseball and softball players from underserved and at-risk communities across the country.
Players from last year raised more than $130,000 for the two causes. This year’s group so far has raised more than $50,000, T.K. Wood said. Jaxson Wood so far has raised $1,880 in just a few weeks but is still soliciting donations. People who wish to donate in conjunction with Wood can do so by texting 14USelect3 to 71777 or visiting fundraise.givesmart.com/vf/14USelect/JaxsonWood online.
