KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The cancer fight for Barton Community College baseball player Skylar Hill continues, as does the support from various sources from around the country.
The latest show of support came from the Kansas City Royals, giving the young man from Little River something to look forward to.
Hill was a guest of honor for the May 25 Royals game against the Los Angeles Angels at Kauffman Stadium.
“Mitch (Webster) is a good friend of mine and former coach at Barton,” Cougars head coach Mike Warren said. “Once he heard about Skylar, he has reached out to him wanting to do what he can for Skylar.”
Webster, a Larned native and a retired major league baseball player after 13 seasons, is now the Midwest Regional Scouting Supervisor for the Royals. He spoke with Royals General Manager Dayton Moore, who immediately helped set up the visit.
Touring the Royals facilities, including the clubhouse, it was the video room providing the first of the day’s biggest surprises.  
“As we are touring the video room we notice Jeremy Guthrie watching film in preparation of the day’s game,” Warren said. “Jeremy stops what he doing and comes introduces himself to Skylar.
They spend a few minutes talking and after he leaves, I find out it’s highly unlikely that the day’s starting pitcher will speak to anyone because they are usually in game-day mode and highly focused. Overall it was a really nice thing of Jeremy and great way to start the experience.”
Moving out to the field where the Royals position players were stretching and warming up, many of the Royals players came up to meet Hill and wish him well.  
“Billy Butler was one of the first to notice Skylar and greeted him,” Warren said. “In addition to Butler and many other Royals players and personnel, some of the more well-known guys like Alex Gordon, Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer all spent time with Skylar. Next thing I know, we’re in the midst of getting our picture taken with these guys.
“Overall it was really cool these big-league players took the time to spend with Skylar.”