Salem hasn’t missed a stride

Georgie Salem’s childhood dream is now a reality – he is playing his favorite game for his favorite school.

The Vestavia Hills grad calls baseball a “game of frustration,” but for him the ultimate accomplishment is helping a team reach its goals and win. Using that, he was able to overcome the frustration in high school and, so far, he’s carried on that success at The University of Alabama.

Salem, a business major, plays center field for the Crimson Tide baseball team and bats leadoff. As a freshman, he has started every game for the Tide, leading his team in at-bats, hits and is second in stolen bases.

The transition from high school to college baseball for the 19-year-old has been a successful one, and he credits most of it to the time he spent in Vestavia Hills.

In his recruiting process, coaches at Alabama told him he would have a chance to start in his first season. This made the decision to attend Alabama easy for Salem, since playing collegiate sports for the Tide runs in his family, he said.

His father and grandfather played football at Alabama and his uncle, Ed Salem, was an All-American halfback for the Tide in 1950. His cousin, Emeel Salem, played baseball for the Tide from 2005-2007 and was a two-time All-American.

Developing into a baseball player in the Birmingham area was not only a special part of Salem’s life because of the relationships he made, it also was vital to his growth, he said.

“Growing up in this area was competitive,” Salem said. “A lot of guys I grew up playing with or against ended up going on to play at the next level. The level of talent in Birmingham baseball is ridiculous.”

Salem’s memories of Vestavia Hills will always be special ones, he said. During his freshman season with the Rebels, he helped the team go undefeated. In his senior season – which he called his favorite year at Vestavia Hills – Salem was named the 2012 South Birmingham Player of the Year for the second time.

He found it difficult to pinpoint just one figure in his life that helped him become the player he is today.

“I’ve been on a lot of baseball teams even though I’m only 19,” Salem said. “I’ve had so many coaches through the years it’s hard to name just one of them that helped me the most. My dad has always been a constant motivator for me, though.”

The one thing Salem said he misses most about high school baseball culture is playing with the guys he grew up with.

“Since I’ve been at Alabama I realized that I never noticed how fun it was just to be a high school baseball player,” he said. “I’ll never have an experience with a team like I had in high school.”

As special as his high school memories are to him, Salem hasn’t missed a stride in making new memories with the Tide. He was named SEC Freshman of the Week in March and has even been featured on ESPN’s SportsCenter’s Top-10 plays for his performance in the outfield against Georgia on March 23.

Overall, he said his transition to college baseball hasn’t been as difficult as he thought it would be.

“It may not seem like it, but SEC baseball is as competitive as it is in football,” Salem said. “The talent is the cream of the crop.”

Salem will return to the Birmingham area this month if Alabama qualifies for the 2013 SEC Baseball Tournament, scheduled to be held at the Hoover Met from May 21-27.