The first Chilton County High baseball camp will feature instruction from a major league scout.

The camp, set for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Clanton’s Jack Hayes Field, will be put on by CCHS baseball coach Josey Shannon and other coaches plus the CCHS varsity baseball team.

If that level of expertise isn’t impressive enough to convince local players to show up, there will be the instruction of Chicago Cubs scout Mike Valerazo, who scouted Shannon when he was playing at the University of West Florida.

“As soon as he asked me to do it, I was in,” Valerazo said. “Anything to promote baseball.”

Registration for the camp costs $40 and is limited to students in the 3rd through 6th grades—an age group Shannon said is especially important to the future of his program.

“Every good program in the state, their program starts in Dixie Youth with the young kids,” Shannon said. “Even though we’re charging because it is a fundraiser for the high school team, we want to help the younger kids develop to promote the program that way.”

Valerazo said players this age are in the prime development years.

Those interested in the camp should call Shannon at 351-2339.

Valerazo said his instruction will focus on concentration and the fundamentals of throwing, hitting and fielding.

“Maybe there will be a future big leaguer out there, and maybe not,” Valerazo said. “But, either way, maybe we can teach some lessons to those kids about how to be successful.”

Valerazo graduated from Huntingdon College in 1995 and scouts the southeastern United States and Latin America for the Cubs.