A Day in the Life of a Myrtle Beach Pelicans Player
Myrtle Beach Pelicans outfielder, and one of the team's best hitters, 20-year-old Eli Lovich prepares to warm up before heading to home plate at a recent Pelicans home game.
In the hard-scrabble world of professional baseball, uniquely within professional athletics, the baseball farm team system goes deep; Low A, High A, Double- and Triple-A, all with Major League parent teams watching and grooming the next young player with hopes of going to “the show” chasing baseball dreams and lucrative multi-million-dollar contracts.
Movie buffs and sports fans seem to universally agree that one of the greatest baseball movies ever made was the 1988 Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins film Bull Durham. The fictionalized story of a minor league team, very loosely based on the Durham Bulls, of Durham, N.C., and the screenwriter’s own experiences in the minor leagues, shows some of the struggles of trying to make it in the most competitive field there is, professional sports. And if you’re on the verge of aging out, like Costner’s character was, it’s even more humbling.
Side note: a part of the Carolina League, The Myrtle Beach Pelicans franchise started as the aforementioned and famed Durham Bulls moving to Myrtle Beach in 1999 after Durham N.C. was awarded a Triple-A franchise in 1997.
Twenty-year old Myrtle Beach Pelicans’ outfielder Eli Lovich doesn’t face the aging issue, at least not yet, but the window of time to make one’s mark is statistically short and geared toward the very young. International players can be drafted as young as 16-years old, and a 13-year-old Venezuelan made headlines earlier this year when a $7-mil future contract was floated briefly.
Graduating from high school in 2024, the 6-foot, 4-inch lefthanded hitter, Lovich, made his way to Myrtle Beach from high school in Overland Park Kansas after signing with the Chicago Cubs and assigned to the low-A affiliate Pelicans.
How does a kid from Kansas see his future in baseball and what goes into a typical day, especially when not on the road? Here’s what we found out.
“During the season our games typically start at 6:30 or 7, and we go pretty late, so I set my alarm for around 9 a.m.” he says. “I have a red light and dry heat sauna in my apartment, so I often start there. It helps me recover from the wear and tear on my body.”
“For breakfast some days I’ll go to Chik-Fil-A and get a couple of breakfast burritos, other days I cook at home. I have one roommate who is also a teammate.”
It can be hard for very young athletes in the minor leagues, who are not making millions with private jets on standby, and who are away from friends and family for long periods. Lovich does get familial visits and says he’s doing well.
“My girlfriend comes when she can,” he says.
“On lift days I’m (at the ballpark) between 11 and 12 to start my workout.”
Lovich, the team, staff and fans are all beneficiaries of a very recent $20 million renovation and modernization, one mandated by The Chicago Cubs and initially paid for by the City of Myrtle Beach and Horry County. The City will be reimbursed through a lease of close to $1-mil annually. Included were significantly upgraded and expanded clubhouse facilities, new stadium seating, a massive 2,228-square-foot video board hovering over right field, L.E.D. ribbon board stretching the width of the outfield, event space, and more.
The outfield wall was padded and moved in by 10 feet, increasing offensive potential for home runs and making room for the expanded clubhouse and athletic facilities. New stadium seats and new seating tiers include three options: standard (brand new, contoured), padded on the suite level, and with air-flow mesh on the front few rows.
Lovich, while appreciating the timing of the upgrades, is still new to both the ballpark and Myrtle Beach. His focus is on one thing, playing the best baseball he can.
“Our coaches come up with specific plans for each of us to keep us healthy and on the field,” he continues.
“We lift three days a week, work on what we need to,” he says.
We visited on a game day, so his schedule was different from that of a day off or when on the road.
“I’ll grab a quick lunch then into the training room for maintenance on the body; hip stuff usually, whatever the issue might be.”
Out on the field with his teammates and coaches Lovich works on defense and hitting; the fundamentals. I asked if it ever got repetitive.
“That’s the beauty of it,” he answers. “It’s part of why baseball is so great. You work on the same stuff every day, day after day, and yet the game is still really hard.”
Lovich is from a sports family. His two older brothers are (or were) also ball players. The oldest, Ross, was a college ball player and is now in corporate sales. The middle brother, Jackson, was offered a spot with the New York Mets right out of high school but went to college instead. After three years playing for The University of Missouri, he was drafted into the New York Yankees farm system and is currently playing for The Tampa Tarpons.
“In the big leagues we could play against each other one day,” Lovich muses.
Initially Eli Lovich was set to play collegiately at The University of Arkansas but signed with the Cubs in the 11th round of the 2024 MLB draft. In high school Lovich also played basketball. So why baseball instead of basketball?
“It’s always been my dream. I knew this is what I wanted. I love it. I love the game.”
Just a few hours before game time, Lovich moves inside to the brand-new batting cages to hit for thirty minutes or so. His practice is paying off as he is one of the Pelican’s best and most consistent hitters.
To the uninitiated, it seems like a lot of physical work for a game day, risking exhaustion before the game even starts.
“You get acclimated,” he explains. “The more reps you do, the better to achieve your goals. Whether it’s to reduce your ground ball percentage, or whatever you need work on. The coaches are great about individual plans for each of us.”
And I’m reminded that 20-year-old professional athletes have the stamina to pull off grueling schedules.
In the few days following our interview, Lovich helped the Pelicans break a losing streak, and went on to blast several home runs and base hits before record-breaking home crowds of close to 5,000 in attendance, propelling the team to more wins. As of press time the season was 50 games in with about a 50-50 split in wins vs. losses. The season is long however, stretching into early September and a projected 132 games in total.
Lovich’s personal goals are simple.
“I’m hitting the ball pretty well right now,” he says with authentic humility, “so I’ve got to keep that up, and reduce strike outs.” Simple on paper, harder in practice, though at the game later in the evening Lovich went four-for-four, meaning four times up at bat, with four hits, one of which was a home run. Even so the Pelicans lost that game.
3:42 p.m. Practice and training occur every day, with little time for relaxation. On the field for batting practice, coaches and support staff keep an eye on their players. The old scoreboard can be seen in green around centerfield, while the new scoreboard sits at the right and is a part of the Pelicans' $20 million renovation.
A pre-game meeting with the coaches will help prepare the team for a typical three-hour nine-inning game, but uniquely in baseball games can stretch much longer. Famously in 1981 a then very young 20-year-old Cal Ripken Jr. and 22-year-old Wade Boggs, both future hall-of-famers, played a minor league game in frigid Rhode Island weather that ultimately went 33 innings but was halted at 4:09 a.m. in the 32nd inning. The game was finally called after players were burning bats in trashcans to try to stay warm and resumed months later to go one more inning. On June 12, 2011, The Myrtle Beach Pelicans played the Kinston Indians in a 23-inning, seven-hour game, losing 3-2. It remains the longest game in the Carolina League history.
“I don’t follow a particularly healthy diet,” he says. “I just try to eat as much as I can as often as I can.” At 6’4” and 185 lbs., Lovich is fit, burns lots of calories, and enjoys the metabolism of youth and genetics.
The team manager, Yovanny Cuevas, will ultimately decide where to place Lovich in the lineup and in the outfield. He could play left, center or right field and won’t know until just before game time. He says he enjoys time with his teammates, many of whom are Latino and come from famously baseball-obsessed countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean.
“I speak Spanish, and am getting better at it,” he says. “Most of our Spanish speakers are required to take English classes too, so we communicate pretty well.”
In the off-season Lovich spends time on the family farm in Kansas and likes to hunt. In season the team typically has just one day off per week, Mondays.
“If my body needs rest, I’ll relax and do nothing,” he says. “I do like to play golf as well. I’m working on my putting. But I love baseball, so I’ll end up in a batting cage more times than not.”
With a full stadium for Military Appreciation Night, I watch Lovich and the team, have a Chicago dog, a beer and enjoy the game, marveling at the stadium upgrades. In the concourse some 200 small name plaques line the wall featuring those who have made it to “the show,” or rehabbed from injuries here, going back into the Majors. A group of baseball fans stop and look, pointing at some of the more famous former Pelicans players; Rafael Furcal, Moises Ballesteros, Brain McCann, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, Freddie Freeman, Kyle Hendrix and Jason Heyward, among others.
Will Eli Lovich, the lefty from Kansas, find his name on the wall in years to come?
Only time will tell, but his future looks bright.
Visit www.mlb.com/milb/myrtle-beach for ticket and game information.
