David Jablonski: ‘A drive to be good’ — Hard work pays off as Springfield native reaches big leagues

Darren Himsworth coached Ben Ross long before he reached the big leagues with the Minnesota Twins and remembers one key ingredient that lay the foundation for future success.

"The biggest thing was that he worked his tail off," Himsworth said.

The coach and player crossed paths with the Miami Valley Prospects, a summer team then based in New Carlisle. Himsworth remembers Ross, then a student at Shawnee High School, and Kyle Lane, of Xenia, keeping him at the facility for 30 to 60 minutes after practice.

"It was super late during the week," said Himsworth, a 2009 Vandalia Butler High School graduate who is the program director for the Miami Valley Prospects and also an assistant coach on Mitchell Griffiths' staff at Wittenberg. "I'm sure their parents weren't very happy about it, but we wouldn't be done with practice until 9, and I feel like I'd be walking out of the facility at like 10:15. So the drive to be good was always there."

The hard work paid off for Ross, a 2019 Springfield Shawnee High School graduate who played for the Prospects for much of his high school career. A standout career at Notre Dame College led to him being drafted by the Twins in the fifth round in 2022. He rose through the organization before earning his chance in the big leagues when rosters expanded in September.

Himsworth drove to Detroit to see Ross play in early September, and even though he didn't get into the game, he got to meet with him at the stadium.

"I congratulated him," Himsworth said. "I just asked him questions about how he was enjoying things, and he was loving it. It's a pretty surreal moment. He didn't say this, but he was probably at some point reflecting on the dream that he had when he was a kid and he and his dad were playing catch in the backyard. To see that come true, it's pretty awesome."

Ross hit .190 (4 for 21) in 10 games with two doubles, a triple, five runs scored and one RBI. Himsworth saw many of the tools Ross uses now in the three summers he coached him.

"He had great hands," Himsworth said. "He had a solid arm. He was always a super high contact hitter."

"He was little on the skinnier side in high school," Himsworth said. "The power wasn't necessarily there, but I think you always felt that once the strength got there, he might turn into something. He always ran the bases super well. I wouldn't say he was blistering fast, but sometimes the high IQ out there can overtake the speed. As he got stronger, he got faster. He was a three-plus tool player in high school. Now with the arm and the physicality and the speed, it's been fun to see him blossom into a five-tool guy."

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Himsworth also coached at Wittenberg when Ross was in high school. That was his first stint with the program. He remembers Ross visiting Wittenberg before he ended up at Notre Dame College.

"I knew it was going to be a tough get with him," Himsworth said, "but I thought we had a chance. Then I had told my alma mater (Notre Dame) about him, and he got to play in front of them in the summer, and they liked him. They brought him up for a workout. I remember those guys calling me after he left, and saying, 'We think this kid's like the real deal.'"

Ross received scholarship money at Division II Notre Dame that he wouldn't have received at D-III Wittenberg.

During Ross' college career, Himsworth talked to a Texas Rangers scout about him. That scout saw Ross play at a showcase event and monitored his play during the summer with the Champion City Kings in Springfield.

Later the scout told Himsworth, "I've been following Ben Ross with the Kings for the last two weeks, and I absolutely love him."

At that point, Himsworth realized Ross had a serious chance to play professional baseball.

"He's always been a talented player — super great kid, coachable," Himsworth said. "His dad (Andy) obviously did a heck of a job coaching him growing up, really from little league until he passed him off to us in high school. And his mom, Tiffany, has been a huge piece of that, too."

Ben isn't the only athlete in his family. His sister Dani starred at Shawnee before playing D-I softball at Canisius University. His brother Joey was an All-Central Buckeye Conference performer at Shawnee as a senior in 2025 and played D-III baseball at Millikin University last season.

Himsworth also praised other coaches who impacted Ross' career in the early years, such as Rob Cassell, Jay Lewis and Eddie Meyers. Cassell coached Shawnee in Ross' first two seasons of high school baseball (2016 and 2017). Brad Olinger coached the 2018 season, and Mark Armstrong was the coach in 2019 when Ross was a senior.

"He's been around some pretty good baseball people his whole life," Himsworth said.

Himsworth joined the Rangers scouting department in 2022 just before Ross was drafted. He thought the Rangers might pick him close to the 10th round.

"We had a gathering of our old summer coaches that had coached him at my house," Himsworth said. "We were watching the draft on TV and weren't expecting him to go in the fifth round. I don't think he was either. The whole place went crazy."

In recent years, Himsworth followed Ross as he climbed the ranks in the Twins organization: from the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels in the Single-A Florida State League to the Cedar Rapids Kernels in the High-A Midwest League to the Double-A Wichita Wind Surge in the Texas League and finally this season to the Triple-A Saint Paul Saints in the International League.

Ross hit .236 with 67 home runs in five minor league seasons. He played every position but catcher.

"He was always a shortstop for us and a shortstop in college," Himsworth said, "but they used his versatility. He played so many different positions. They even pitched him down in the minors, where I think he was throwing a knuckleball in some of those games that were out of hand. At certain levels of the minors, it has taken him a little bit longer to get going, but he's always found a way. If there's one thing about him, if it's not working well, he's going to work to work his way out of it. Hopefully, he continues to get a chance and gets some sustained time at the big-league level."