Manny Acosta: From Pirates to Eagles to Golden Eagles
(Los Angeles) – It’s interesting to follow a kid’s athletic career after you covered him in high school. It’s even more interesting to see how he is doing when you’ve covered him since little league.
The first time I covered one of Manny Acosta’s games it was when he was 11 years old and playing for the South El Monte National Pirates down at New Temple Park. He was playing three sports even then.
I remember his dad, Manny Acosta Sr., telling me that he had to hurry up and leave as soon as the baseball game was over to get Manny to a basketball game.
Acosta went on to star in three sports at South El Monte High School. He played shortstop on the baseball team, forward on the basketball team, and caught passes from his childhood buddy, Jose Garay, on the football field.
These days Acosta is playing ball at Cal State Los Angeles on a baseball scholarship, and doing quite well thank you. He is a red-shirt freshman and is already the starting second baseman.
The season is two weeks underway and he has one of the top three batting averages and on base percentages on the team. Defensively Acosta is in the top three.
He’s hitting .318 with a double and four RBIs. His fielding percentage is .1000 – no errors in 27 chances.
The Golden Eagles are 5-3 through the first eight games.
It’s been a long time since Acosta suited up for the Pirates on Saturday afternoons at New Temple. Yet in some ways it seems like yesterday. Yeah it looks like he’s doing all right for himself.
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