By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer

The dream of playing professional baseball began at the tender age of 4 years old when Jeffrey Guzman started playing the sport that would change his life in the backyard with his father. The Oxford youngster had tried other sports and although he did like basketball, there was nothing like baseball – the sport just gave him a different feeling.

Basketball would reenter his life once again five years ago, but it was never going to take the place of baseball.

“I started playing basketball again for something else to do, but it was not going to replace baseball in my life,” Guzman said.

Around the age of 8 or 9 years,  Guzman began playing AAU for Wolfpack Baseball out of Worcester and it was here that he not only realized that shortstop was the position that he wanted to play, but that he also had the talent to do so.

“I was born to be a shortstop; shortstop is a position that has leadership quality, you’re the guy in the infield that needs to be vocal and communicate with the rest of the team,” he said. “When the Wolfpack coaches came up to me and told me that I had a lot of talent for a young kid, it gave me the motivation to keep working to be even better.”

Now playing in his sixth season with the Wolfpack, Guzman found AAU baseball to be completely different than high school ball. The ability to travel out of state and compete with more talented teams allowed him to see where he and his team fit in.

“In baseball you fail numerous times, but you just need to keep your head up and don’t allow your teammates to see you down,” Guzman said. “You just need to go out and do your best to help your team and it will eventually help you to improve.”

As an eighth grader Guzman was allowed to try out for the Oxford varsity squad and although he didn’t make the team he was eventually called up from the junior varsity team to play for varsity at the end of the season.

“I always set my goals high. Varsity was definitely on my mind and I was full of nerves,” he said. “I was so nervous as an eighth grader going up against all those older kids, but I just went out and did my best with whatever happens, happens.”

Although shortstop is his position by choice, it took him some time to actually secure that position for the high school. When he first got called up as an eighth grader he found himself playing left field and the following season, his freshman campaign with the varsity, he was at second base, one step closer to shortstop. As an eighth grader I was blessed to have the opportunity.”

After working hard during the off-season to get bigger, stronger and quicker the freshman felt that he had himself a decent year with the Pirates only committing a handful of errors at his new position while putting up an overall good fielding percentage.

Taking what he learned while playing second base as a freshman, Guzman worked even harder after that year to get ready to help his team make a run at the tournament as well as hoping to secure “his” position with the team. When the team’s shortstop was moved to center field, the opportunity arose for Guzman to take control of the open middle infield position. 

“I worked hard to get the position and once I did went out and played the best to my ability,” he said. “Playing shortstop boosted my confidence and showed that all my hard work paid off.”

Guzman showcased his ability in the Division 4 State tournament when he made a diving play to keep Lynnfield, the number one seed in the tournament, scoreless and Oxford still in the game.

“He made an incredible double play to keep the game scoreless at the time and although we would eventually lose 2-0, it showed the talent he possesses,” Oxford Coach Pat Button said. “Lynnfield’s best player was up and hit a line drive up the middle that should have been an easy double and scored a run, instead Jeff snagged it and turned the double play to keep us in the game.”

Guzman recalls he was originally playing in the hole, but noticed the Lynnfield hitters were all hitting the ball up the middle and toward second base so he decided to shade closer to the middle of the infield and was able to make the play to keep the game in check.

“He is a year-round baseball player with baseball as his life,” Button said. “He’s a human vacuum out there at short.”

Despite the fact that Guzman will only be entering his junior year when school resumes in the fall, he plans on beginning the process of trying to get into college to play the sport he loves so much.

“It has been one of my goals to play college baseball,” he said. “I have been doing some showcases and plan on reaching out this upcoming year to some coaches and doing more showcases to get my name out there.”

Playing college baseball would mean a lot to the Oxford baseball player as it has been a goal of his since a young age, but it would also mean that he would be one step closer to his ultimate goal – playing Major League Baseball sometime in the near future.

“The kid is a stud and can defiantly play at the next level,” the Oxford Coach said. “Next year we plan on getting him to take part in more clinics to help him get there. He’s serious about playing baseball for as long as he can.”