Auburn baseball's Ryan Tella may not be from a small town, but after his first year at Auburn, he's finally gotten into the swing of things.
The sophomore outfielder was born and raised in the Bay Area in Fremont, Calif., and has been playing sports for most of his life.
"I've been playing baseball since I was able to step foot on a field, probably since I was 4 or 5 maybe," Tella said.
Tella got his start at Ohlone Community College in his hometown before deciding to come to the SEC.
Garrett Cooper, junior infielder, is also from California. Tella said they share similar personality traits, and Cooper said he and Tella can relate because of their backgrounds.
"He's one of our leaders, and he gets along with everyone," Cooper said.
Auburn's hitting coach Link Jarrett said Tella is a competitive, energetic player, and as good of a center fielder as he's ever seen.
Jarrett also said off the field Tella is not only a funny person to be around, but a good teammate and a tough player.
"He pushes our team a little bit," Jarrett said. "In the dugout and in the locker room I think he brings a certain level of energy, kind of like how he is on the field, but I think it spills over into the locker room."
Jarrett said staying on top of his schoolwork was important to Tella's family, and they always stressed that it is baseball and school 100 percent, 100 percent of the time.
"His family didn't know anything about Auburn or really even where on the map we were," Jarrett said. "We had to really do a good job of recruiting him and making them feel like he could go that far away from home and be taken care of."
Recently named SEC Co-Player of the Week after Auburn's wins over LSU and Ole Miss, Tella has consistently been a positive force on the team.
Tella was drafted last summer by the Minnesota Twins in the 34th round, but said he first wanted the experience of coming and playing at Auburn.
He said he would love to play professionally but is unsure yet if he would go pro within the next year.
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