Like many young baseball players, 13-year-old Ryland Ansell hopes to one day play professionally. Unlike many young players, Ansell has competed on the perfectly manicured playing surface of a big-league field. Nor did he merely compete there. He excelled. Ansell traveled from his home in Richmond to Nationals Park in Washington on June 20 to participate in the championship round of Major League Baseball’s Pitch, Hit and Run program—a competition that tests some of the most fundamental individual skills of developing players.