From high school to million-dollar ballplayer -- in six weeks

JUPITER, Fla. — In six weeks, Kyle Skipworth has gone from high school student to millionaire baseball player.

The move from Southern California to South Florida went OK. He's gradually adjusting to the heat and humidity. And the Florida Marlins' catcher of the future is learning to handle 6 a.m. wake-up calls.

The scariest part of the transition? Figuring out how to cash his paycheck.

"It's been a whirlwind, one wild ride," said Skipworth, 18. "At first I was calling my mom left and right, but now I think I'm on my feet."

The ride began June 5, when he finished his final three exams at Patriot High School in Riverside, Calif., in the morning and in the afternoon was drafted sixth overall.

On June 11, he graduated high school, and on June 16 moved his life 3,000 miles east. Soon after getting off the plane, he was meeting his teammates on the Gulf Coast Marlins — a rookie-league team that plays on the back fields at Roger Dean Stadium — and moving into the team hotel.

On June 25 he signed his contract — complete with a $2.3 million bonus — and took batting practice with the Major League club at Dolphin Stadium.

Skipworth will be in Los Angeles this week to attend the ESPY Awards, where he will find out if he was named Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year.

Skipworth, the youngest of three children, says all the excitement has been fun. But it's been tough on his mother.

"His mom and him are very close, so she calls him every day," said his father, Spencer. "I'm telling her, 'Let him go, he's got to grow up,' but that's her baby."

Expectations are high for Skipworth, the first catcher drafted by the Marlins in Round 1 since Charles Johnson in 1992. With his head still spinning, Skipworth hasn't gotten off to the best start at the plate.

In 13 games, he is hitting .149 with 18 strikeouts and no extra-base hits in 47 at-bats.

"I haven't been watching him, but he has to be pulling his head," Spencer Skipworth said. "Normally, Dad would be to the rescue. We'd be in the cage every night trying to work through this. But now it's a job, and he's got to figure this thing out himself."

Gulf Coast Marlins manager Steve Watson said the stats don't concern him.

"My goal for Skip and the guys is to get them acclimated to professional baseball. The pre-game work is more important than the game itself," Watson said. "And he's been outstanding with the way he's come to the ballpark, his approach, his early work, all those things."

Watson raved about the way Skipworth recently caught major-leaguers Anibal Sanchez and Burke Badenhop when they were on rehab assignments in Jupiter.

"He handled the big leaguers like he's been catching them for five or six years," Watson said.

The biggest on-field adjustment, Skipworth said, has been catching nine innings in the humidity of the "Gulf Roast League."

"I feel like I get out of the swimming pool after every inning," he said.

Despite being one of America's newest millionaires, Skipworth's daily routine is hardly glamorous.

He arrives at Roger Dean Stadium every morning by 7:30 for early batting practice. The Marlins usually play a noon game with few if any spectators, and afterward he works out until 5 p.m. The team bus takes him round trip from hotel to stadium — his '79 Corvette remains in California.

The first two meals each day are provided by the team at the stadium. Players get a $9 voucher for dinner, which often means walking to the IHOP near the team hotel.

"We finally got a mini-fridge in the room, so we have to go to the store and stock up on the basics," Skipworth said.

A big night out means piling into a teammate's car for a movie. Skipworth spends much of his free time playing Xbox, surfing the Web on his new Sony Vaio laptop or sleeping.

"We're always like, 'Hey man, come down to this room and hang out,'" said Isaac Galloway, an eighth-round pick in June and Skipworth's roommate. "But all he does is sleep."

Skipworth is learning how to be an adult, too. He opened his first checking account when he arrived in Jupiter, and signed up for direct deposit with the Marlins.

He freaked out when that first envelope didn't have a direct-deposit stub. Instead it had a piece of paper with the words "Pay to the order of." It was his first paycheck, Skipworth eventually learned.

"He called home and said, 'Mom, I didn't get paid like everyone else!' " said Skipworth's mother, Kathy. "I told him, 'You just take it to the bank, honey, sign the back of it, show them your ID and they'll cash it for you."

"Then he called back and said, 'Piece of cake, Mom.' It was really cute."

Now that he has learned how to endorse a check, learning to hit professional pitching is next.

"You've got to stay confident, as much as it is hard to," Skipworth said. "This is a grind, but I love it."

Ben Volin writes for The Palm Beach Post.