Marysburg's Cole Bauml recently had a few extra fans in the stands.

Bauml, who is now in his third year of baseball in the minors, received a visit from August 23 to 25.

Curtis Strueby and brothers Paul and Luke, as well as Shaun Timmerman made the journey to Michigan to take in some games with the West Michigan Whitecaps, with whom Bauml is one of the top players.

Bauml was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 2015, and has quickly made an impact in the team's farm system, playing in the rookie league his first year, before moving up to Class-A Short and now Class-A Full.

Strueby says that Bauml's demeanour has helped him out.

"Cole is such an easy going guy. Very coachable and very likeable. No matter where he goes, he just fits in and you can see it down there," he noted. "The transition from wherever he goes to the next team or next level is simple for Cole - although it's not - it seems easy for him just because he's that type of person."

Strueby, who is a teacher at Lake Lenore School, where Bauml attended classes, says that ever since Cole was a youngster, you knew he would do well in life.

"I've been lucky to know Cole his whole life and even luckier to teach him in Lake Lenore. We knew in school he would have some success, and I'm not going to lie, I didn't really expect this much," explained Strueby. "He took part in everything in school athletically, which is a testament to him, and he excelled at everything he did."

Playing in Class-A Full has allowed Bauml to get the full big league experience for the first time. He played in 125 regular season games, batting .268 and driving in 55 runs.

Bauml's 55 runs batted in ranked fifth on the team in the regular season, helping the Whitecaps to a 91 win season - the second highest total in team history.

"Being from where we are from and our love for baseball, it's great to follow him and see how he's doing," Strueby said, adding that he follows Bauml's progress on a daily basis. "Every night, I check the minor league app on my phone, and I know a lot of others who do as well. It's great to see a local kid who has put in a ton of work have success."

Despite the 24-year-old working his way through the minor league system of the Tigers, he still has time to come back home and give back every winter, according to Strueby.

"He gets it and gets the big picture. He's come back the last couple years and helped with the senior boys basketball team until he has to go back for training," he said. "He's standing in our gym at 7:00am, working with these guys. He loves the sport of basketball and loves all sports really, and that's just the type of guy he is."

Bauml's Whitecaps finished first overall in the Midwest League and begin their playoff run on Wednesday.