'Outwork everybody': How MLB's No. 14 Draft prospect hit his way to the national stage

PHOENIX -- Kayson Cunningham knew he was a lock to make the team. Something of a youth travel ball phenom from a young age, Cunningham had racked up thousands of Instagram followers by the time he was in middle school. So when more than 40 kids sat in a room to hear who had made the 12U Team USA national club, the then-switch-hitting dynamo expected to hear his name called.

It never came.

Crestfallen, Cunningham couldn’t believe it.

“That was kind of the beginning stages of what we call ‘Remember the feeling,’” said Kayson’s father, Marco Cunningham. “Remember that feeling of how you didn't make that team and you thought everything was good and you worked your [butt] off to get what you needed that you thought was what you deserved, but you didn't get it. Doesn't necessarily mean that that's the end of the road. What are you gonna do, how are you gonna respond?

“And so how he responded was … he just went back to work the next day and just kept working and just kept working, and so he's kind of wired like that.”

Now Cunningham is on the verge of hearing his name called during the first round of the 2025 MLB Draft. He kept working from that moment and turned himself into the No. 14 Draft prospect in this year’s class, well regarded for all-around ability, but particularly his preternaturally advanced hit tool.

To say that Kayson grew up with the game ever present in his house would be right on the mark. Marco was a 27th-round pick of the Royals in 2000 and spent four years climbing their Minor League ladder before topping out at Double-A.

“He's got a lot of ability that’s just God-given that I never had,” Marco said of his son. “I was just a dog. I was just a competitor, and I think that's what he has going on, but he's a far better hitter than I was. I was just a competitor, and if he can mix both of his skill and that competitive will, I mean, it's gonna be pretty scary what he can accomplish in this game.”

If there’s one thing that anyone who knows a little something about Texas baseball can attest to, it’s this: the competition level is no joke. So it’s hard to fathom that when parsing Kayson’s stats for Lady Bird Johnson HS in San Antonio, it looks as if his on-base percentage hopped over into the batting average column: .460 as a freshman, .400 as a sophomore, .450 as a junior and .509 as a senior. He was named the 2024-25 Texas Gatorade Player of the Year -- joining Clayton Kershaw and Bobby Witt Jr., among others, as winners of the award -- for both his performance on the field and his work off it, donating his time to the San Antonio Food Bank, while also serving meals and hanging decorations for the elderly during the holidays.

Cunningham's social media presence and notoriety from a young age has in many ways molded who he is on the field. He checks in at 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds as an 18-year-old, but he wasn’t always that big. Growing up, he battled the negative perception that came with his smaller stature. When he stood in the batter’s box, it looked like you could squeeze a fastball past him or overwhelm him with breaking stuff -- until he started his swing and hit a frozen rope somewhere.

“At the end of the day, it's just noise and you can't let that affect you,” Kayson said. “There's always someone behind you trying to be better than you, work harder than you. But you just gotta outwork everybody.”

“I think he wants to make sure to prove people wrong because, look, he's heard that he's small, he can't do this, he can't do that, but once you get to know him and you watch him play, you're like, ‘dude, this kid is an incredible baseball player, no matter what size he is,’” Marco said.

Name a high-profile prep event over the past decade and odds are Cunningham and his father explored the possibility of him participating in it. The University of Texas commit starred at the 2023 States Play, an MLB-supported event in Arizona that gives high school players a chance to put their skill sets on display for pro scouts. Tearing up competition in Texas is one thing, but to do it on a national scale is another, and that's where Cunningham has been able to separate himself from the pack.

“I've enhanced my tools,” Kayson, a longtime MLB Develops participant, said of how he’s developed in the 21 months since. “I’ve gotten a lot faster, got stronger -- just pretty much my tool set has gotten a lot better.”

Countless are the instances of a young ballplayer who stars at a young age before -- for one reason or another -- the game catches up with him. That was never an option for Kayson, or any of the Cunninghams. Kayson’s mother, Olivia, is an exercise physiologist and briefed her son on the mentality that Derek Jeter, Kobe Bryant and other top-tier athletes utilized to stay sharp and at the pinnacle of their profession.

“If you want to be exceptional, you’ve got to think differently,” Marco said he’s reinforced to Kayson. “And just him growing up in that house with his mom and myself and my trials and tribulations of being a professional baseball player, it's kind of like he's built for it.

Kayson is big on manifesting his goals. He writes down in his phone what he wants to achieve, either short-term or long-term. Make it to the big leagues within three years of being drafted. Win a batting title. Three thousand hits. Make Team USA.

For a player who accomplished so much as a teenager, the national team was something that eluded him, despite being a longtime participant in the development program. That is, until last year. Cunningham led a stacked U18 USA roster to a gold medal-winning performance while earning tournament MVP honors by going 10-for-24 with 12 RBIs. After being passed over, he was the catalyst.

It’s just Marco, Olivia and Kayson in the Cunningham household. The family, which is strong in its faith, had a daughter who passed away at 20 weeks old. Marco has called Kayson the family's “gift of God” and is quick to point out that the three of them are their own little pack, with baseball serving as a common thread.

“He's always loved baseball, he's always been a part of baseball, but I don't want baseball to identify who he is,” Marco said.

Kayson loves to play the guitar, to hoop. But he also loves just being around his parents.

“It’s unbelievable,” Kayson said of his relationship with them. “My parents, I couldn’t have done it without them. The love and support they’ve given me, it’s unimaginable.”

From creating a travel ball team at age 8 to find him suitable competition to attending the 2025 Draft Combine alongside him, the Cunninghams have been there every step of the way with Kayson. It’s hard to see pro ball from the sandlot, but the time is approaching for their son.

“His end goal isn't to be a first rounder -- it's part of the goal,” Marco said. “His end goal is to be one of the greatest players that you can possibly be, and people are gonna see what he can do in this game. If everything works out, he stays healthy, I mean, this kid can play some really good baseball.”