BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Grand Rapids native Kyle Ratliff is spending his summer with the Battle Creek Battle Jacks.
Ratliff is a Wyoming High School alumnus. Currently, he plays at Southern Illinois at Edwardsville, but says he is glad to be back home in West Michigan for the summer.
"Battle Creek is really cool. I played here as a kid on the smaller fields, and just playing with some of my friends that I grew up with since we were 13 or 14 years old," he told FOX 17. "The travel isn't far from home, so being able to go home at night and then come down to the ball fields has been really cool."
This season, Ratliff is hitting .228 with six doubles and six RBI's, including one in Battle Creek's game against Rockford Monday night.
He says that fundamentals have been a priority for him this summer as he heads into his senior year of college.
"I'm just trying to get back to the basics. Slowing my hands down, slowing my brain down. Just trusting my hands, letting them do the work. Just trusting the process and what I've been working on this whole summer and throughout the whole spring and just being able to come out here and have fun," Ratliff said.
