With baseball season back, the Drew Medford Memorial Tournament is right around the corner starting March 6th and ending March 8th. This will be the 9th annual Drew Medford Tournament, which honors Medford’s legacy, who was lost too soon in 2017. 

29 teams from all around Fort Worth compete in the tournament. One of the special parts of the Drew Medford Memorial tournament is that every year one player from each of the 29 teams is selected for a scholarship. 

The player who earns the scholarship embodies the characteristics that Medford had: drive to succeed, humility and empathy for others, and leadership on his baseball team. Over $189,000 in scholarships are awarded throughout the tournament.

The Medford Tournament is so highly praised that Paschal alum Hoby Milner, who is now in the MLB pitching for the Texas Rangers, usually makes an appearance at the tournament. 

Milner graduated from Paschal in 2009 and was drafted out of high school in the 44th round by the Washington Nationals. However, he did not sign with the Nationals and instead played collegiately for the Texas Longhorns. After Milner’s junior year with the Longhorns, he entered the draft and was selected in the seventh round by the Philadelphia Phillies.

In 2017, Milner made his big league debut with the Phillies pitching 1 inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He pitched amazingly in his rookie season recording a 2.01 ERA, but in his second season, he struggled. 

Milner was traded to the Rays in 2018 and only appeared in 4 games. He bounced around a bit spending some time with the Angels, but he finally found his home with the Milwaukee Brewers, where he revived his career and had his best season in 2023.

Hoby Milner was a free agent this past off-season and wanted to return home to Texas where he signed a 1 year 2.5 million dollar contract with the Rangers.

Overall, the Drew Medford Tournament is becoming increasingly more popular each year and gaining more attention. This year may be its best yet.