Texas school shooting hits ‘close to home’ for Rays pitcher

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, was especially disturbing for Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Brooks Raley.

The small community of about 16,000 people west of San Antonio is the lefthander’s hometown. He attended school in the building where the shooting occurred, and his parents and a brother still reside there.

“It’s a pretty small town,” Raley said Wednesday. “News travels fast. My family is still there, my brother lives there, and his wife and daughter. So it hits close to home.”

Raley, 33, was in the Rays’ clubhouse at Tropicana Field less than an hour before a game against the Miami Marlins when he learned 19 children and two adults had been gunned down at his old school.

While making it clear he did not want to discuss any political implications of Tuesday’s shooting, Raley acknowledged the news is difficult to digest.

“I was just sitting in here and heard something and didn’t really follow up because we were about 40 minutes before the game. I got to talk to my parents, just to get a little bit of background and get as much information as you can,” he said.

“I did go to that school. I walked those halls, so I can imagine what they experience each day, and I’m feeling for that community,” Raley added. “It’s small and a close-knit community, so it’s obviously tough. I don’t know if there’s anything I can do. It’s going to take time.”

Raley, a two-sport star at Uvalde High School, has not lived in his hometown since heading off to college at Texas A&M, where he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 2009. He currently resides in College Station, Texas, with his wife, Rachel, and their three daughters.