CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Fourteen-year-old Aarion Raley is excited to start the next chapter of his baseball career next year at West Charlotte High School.
"I gotta get my first home run," he said.
He loves the game.
"It's a slow game," Aarion said. "But you'll get there. It's a lot of fun."
Aarion is part of the Carolina Metro Reds youth baseball program.
"Aarion is a good guy," Reds founder Morris Madden said. "He works hard. He plays any position. He plays first base, he plays catcher. And he's always smiling. He has a great attitude."
The Reds, along with the Knothole Foundation, try to provide opportunities for underserved and disadvantaged youth to play baseball, but also to eventually earn scholarships to college.
"The academic side is what we do," Madden said. "We use baseball as a vehicle to get the kids into our program. But the academic side is what it's all about."
Recently, that has included a program introduced by the Major League Baseball Players Association.
This STEM League board game uses real players and statistics to cultivate math and social-emotional skills.
"I can say the STEM program really did help him in mathematics and science," Aarion's dad, Mark, said.
Aarion has done so well in the STEM League, and with the Reds, that he's one of just 24 students from the United States and several other countries that were selected to attend this week's Major League All-Star festivities in Seattle.
His travel partner? His dad.
"At such an early age, this opportunity, him being a young Black man, never had an opportunity like this before, first time flying, going across the states, going to Seattle," Mark said. "I'm glad as his father to get the experience that he can always say there was something I accomplished in my life with my father."
Soon Aarion hopes to hit that first home run in high school.
On Tuesday, he's just going to enjoy the game, and hopefully get a few autographs.
"A lot, try to get a lot," he said. "Jersey, hat, everything."
Contact Nick Carboni at ncarboni@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.