It’s not every day that someone shows up late to a baseball game, and ends up creating one of the greatest moments in their career. For Bryson Myles, that day was August 25, 2015.

Myles didn’t show up to the Double-A Akron RubberDucks game when they were facing the Trenton Thunder until 6:20 for a 7:05 game. He went on later that night to hit for the cycle for the first time in his career.

“I was in Philadelphia the whole day, getting my passport. Got to the field about 6:20. Took a shower real quick, took about 10 swings off the tee, and I went out there for the game. Obviously that’s not something I would encourage doing on a daily basis, but I mean it just kind of adds to the story. It was a fun day,” Myles said.

In his fourth at bat of the night, Myles actually tried to bunt his way aboard, not knowing that he was so close to hitting for the cycle.

“All I was trying to do was win the game. It was a tie game at the time. I was just trying to get on base. Carlos Moncrief has been hot as of late, so I was like “If I can get on base, then he’s got [Bradley] Zimmer behind him and Yandy Diaz, and those guys. If I can get on base man, they can drive me in.” I was just trying to score a run,” Myles says.

The rest was history for Myles, who later talked about this night with his mom and called it destiny that the bunt was never laid down properly.

Myles, 25, was drafted by the Indians in the sixth round of the 2011 MLB June Amateur Draft. Since then, he’s spent parts of five seasons with the Tribes minor league affiliates. He has a career .283/.359/.414 triple slash, but he hasn’t quite hit up to that this season. After having a subpar season in 2014, he’s followed that with about the same type of season in 2015. Through 95 games, Myles is hitting .267/.359/.431 with 19 doubles, 5 triples, 9 home runs, 20 stolen bases, and 50 RBI. He’s walked 41 times to 79 strikeouts. As of late though, Myles has really started to turn it on.

In his last 20 games, Myles is hitting .302/.427/1.82 where he hit 5 doubles, 1 triple, and 4 home runs. With the RubberDucks in a playoff run, Myles is picking a perfect time to start turning his season around for the better. How has he been doing this? By not thinking about his numbers this season.

“If you are constantly looking at your numbers, which is what I did last year, and I really struggled. Just don’t worry about the numbers, just go out there and do whatever you can do every single day to help the team win,” Myles says. “Whether it’s offensively, defensively, on the bases, or whatever it is. Doing whatever you can to help the team. I think that’s been evident as of late.”

Manager David Wallace credits Myles late season spark as part of his dedication and hard work that he brings each day to the field.

“He’s staying within himself, and he’s got a plan up there and he’s not deviating from it. Even if it means getting down two strikes,” Wallace says. “He’s done a great job preparing himself. He’s struggled with breaking stuff in the past. He works on it every day. He’s recognizing it better right now, and laying off it when it’s out of the zone. When it’s in the zone, he’s putting good swings on it.”

With Todd Hankins currently sitting on the DL, Myles has been the primary leadoff man, with Moncrief, Diaz, and Bradley Zimmer to follow. Myles has thrived in the leadoff spot position, and while his numbers may not be showing that he’s been a top caliber prospect, he has been sneaky productive in 2015. What jumps out the most about his numbers is that he has 20 steals on the season, which goes to show he’s not afraid to be aggressive on the base paths when he needs to be. Which contributes to being a solid leadoff man as well.

Myles has always had decent speed, but his power has stayed consistent through each year of the minors. What’s interesting about Myles is that he has flown under the radar for so long with the Indians. He essentially provides every tool you would expect out of an outfielder, but has yet to really gain recognition. He plays a solid left field, has medium pop, solid speed, and can generally hit the ball for average. With the log jam of outfielders in the farm system, Myles tends to get overlooked by players like Zimmer, Clint Frazier, Tyler Naquin, and James Ramsey. Myles has the ability to become a solid player in the majors, but he’s starting to become a bit old for the Double-A level.

At the start of next season, it will be telling of where Myles’ career is heading with where he starts in the system. He has the ability to be playing Triple-A, but with Zimmer, Ramsey and probably either Anthony Gallas, Tyler Holt, or Naquin also there, for Myles to get regular playing time, he’ll have to stay in Double-A. Once Myles eventually makes it to Triple-A, he’s going to be a solid addition to the team, and depth piece for the MLB club, and should be a top choice to fill that role. Eventually though, I believe that Myles will find a role on a major league team, and could really help a team in whatever role he needs to fill.

Right now though, Myles has his eyes set on the Eastern League Playoffs. He believes this team has a chance of going all the way, but they’re going to need everyone to contribute for this to happen, with Myles leading off and leading the way.

The RubberDucks are currently in fourth place in the Eastern League Western Division, and 7.5 games behind division leading Bowie Baysox. With two weeks left in the season, the RubberDucks are going to need to string together some wins if they hope to see playing time in the middle of September.

Photo: David Monseur/MiLB.com