Hard-working Messenger overcomes obstacles to sign National Letter of Intent and play baseball at Davidson College

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By Kyle Foster

Kfost91197@gmail.com

Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews

A sign of a tough player who won’t give up when the chips are down, and instead changes things for the better. 

That is exactly what Griffin Messenger has done to sign a National Letter of Intent to play baseball at Davidson College in North Carolina.   

When talking about Messenger, the one thing that stands out is the fact that he has one of the best work ethics there is. This shows that Messenger had to overcome an elbow injury at the end of his freshman season. 

“My first thought was, I’m not giving up my MLB dream yet, and every good pitcher had the surgery in my mind,” Messenger explained. “Whether I keep playing the game, it’s gonna happen eventually. So I’d rather get it out of the way then, and if I can prove myself that I can get back on the field from that injury, I can do anything else.” 

During his rehab, he did everything and more than what was needed to get back on the field the next spring. 

“Behind the scenes, he did everything that was expected and more like I hit on, and he really took it as an opportunity to grow in any which way that he could, would, should,” Justin-Siena head coach Jeremy Tayson pointed out. “It’s where he really learned to play outfield. It’s where he really learned to see the game from a different perspective. And we kind of call him like our puppy Labrador retriever, because anytime there’s an opportunity to get out and go run at full speed and chase something down, he’s gonna do it.”

So signing the National Letter of Intent made it so that all the hard work and everything else around it paid off. 

“It’s just the accumulation of all the hard work and effort I put into it last four years and plus some,” Messenger continued. “It’s really just a moment of respect that I have to I owe to myself after all this time, I’m one step closer to my dream of being in the MLB. And I credit it all to my coaches and my family, mainly, and God, of course. So I’m nothing but happy right now.” 

Messenger also didn’t get here by accident. His work ethic is something that always stands out. 

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and Griff exemplifies that,” Tayson said. “He puts his mind to accomplishing something, and doesn’t dilly-dally in terms of pursuing it. He’ll do more than what is expected to accomplish a goal, and the results for him speak for themselves.”

But once he overcame that injury, Messenger became one of the best pitchers in the Vine Valley Athletic League and a key part of the Braves’ success over all 4 years he was in the program.

In that time, he carried a whopping 2.01 ERA in 156 ⅓ innings pitched. He also had an impressive 20-4 record. Basically, whenever he got the ball, it was a win day. This is what you want in an ace.  

Messenger’s best season came in his junior campaign when he was 8-1 with a whopping 1.09 ERA. He allowed 10 earned runs in 64 innings of work, while striking out 83 and walking just 17 on the way to being named the Vine Valley Athletic League Co-Pitcher of the Year that season.  Opponents also hit just .183 against him. He was just dominant.     

One of the reasons Messenger has been so dominant on the bump is his high-velocity fastball, complemented by some nasty off-speed pitches. 

He’s played for many different teams throughout his career, too. He’s played for the Napa Nationals, Napa Valley Baseball Club, and NorCal U. All played a key role in getting him to this point. 

But another thing that helped Messenger succeed, between the lines, was playing basketball during his first two seasons.  

“Just the aggressiveness,” Messenger said as to what his favorite part of playing basketball was in his freshman and sophomore years. “I’ve always been a hard worker, and sprinting the entire game was kind of the name of my game. I played for four minutes a game, and those four minutes were the hardest four minutes of the whole game.” 

When he gets to Davidson, he plans to major in Economics. This stems from his love for statistics  

“I really always love learning about statistics, and I’m in macroeconomics class right now, and that really turned on my love for economics,” Messenger pointed out. “It’s really interesting to learn about how the world works and all the intricacies in there.” 

Davidson also has one pretty notable alumnus. After all, the Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry went here. But the main thing that attracted Messenger to Davidson is the strong academics.   

“They have really great academics,” Messenger added. “It shouldn’t happen, but if the chance that baseball doesn’t work out, I want a great background for some education to get me a good job when I’m older and set me up for the rest of my life.” 

The Wildcats compete in the Atlantic 10 conference. This spring, they went 25-28 overall with a 16-14 mark in A-10 play. Their season ended in the conference tournament.