PEORIA — Tre Richardson makes no secret about his love for baseball, but he does keep part of what motivates him under his hat.
The St. Louis Cardinals prospect came up to the Peoria Chiefs last season, and will pick up where he left off with the Chiefs when the high-A Midwest League team opens the 2025 campaign on Friday at Dozer Park.
"There are a few people who really helped me on this path, helped me get to where I am now, and I don't ever forget them," Richardson said. "My father (Robert) was an NCAA player. My mother, Leah, I was around her so much I'm proud to say I was a real mamma's boy growing up. My grandmother, Shirley, and my grandfather, J.R.
"They have all been such a big part of my life. A lot of who I am as a person comes from them."
The inside of his ballcap carries the date of his grandfather's death "1-23-22" as a memorial, and on the underside of the bill of his ballcap is scrawled a Bible verse, "Isaiah 41:10."
"He was such a big influence on me," Richardson said of his grandfather. "He was a pastor, and when I was really young, he would set aside time to read stories to the youngest kids (in the congregation). I would climb up on his lap and join the group and listen to the stories."
Richardson is a man who wears the Cardinals logo on his uniform chest and his deep faith on his sleeve — and under his ballcap — every day.
A phenom … at age 3
Richardson, 23, was born in Oklahoma City and grew up in Houston. He started playing catch and swinging a bat when he was just 3. By the time he was 5, he was playing in organized games with a YMCA league.
His father, Robert, was a catcher for the University of Oklahoma, and today coaches baseball at Spartans Post Grad Academy in Houston.
Richardson went on to star at Kingwood High School (Texas), where he was teammates with longtime friend Masyn Winn. Winn went on to be drafted by the Cardinals and play for the Chiefs in parts of the 2021 and 2022 seasons before reaching the majors with St. Louis late in the 2023 season.
"We've been friends since I was 10 years old," Richardson said. "After high school, we went our separate ways in the game. But when I was drafted, the first call I got was from him."
Richardson graduated high school a semester early and played two years at Baylor, where he earned Big 12 honorable mention selection in 2021 and 2022. He transferred for the 2023 season to TCU and hit the baseball world with a record-tying performance in the NCAA regional, in which he hit three home runs and piled up 11 RBIs in a win over Arkansas on June 4, 2023.
Thirty-seven days later, he was a professional baseball player.
Draft day, July 11, 2023
