Fierce Competitor: Sterlington’s Miller Sheets to continue career at Baylor
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Sterlington shortstop Miller Sheets had written down the two goals two years beforehand.
In a notebook that serves as a motivational reminder, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound shortstop wanted to be the state tournament Most Valuable Player and lead the Panthers to a state baseball championship.
After two years of building, including a state runner-up finish, Sterlington broke through his past spring with a Game 3 victory over Erath for the Division III non-select championship – the program’s first since 2021 and fourth overall.
Miller, who had a key bases-loaded single for two RBIs in the final, was named the Division III tournament MVP.
“It was like everything kind of fell into place,” Sheets said. “Right where I wrote MVP, I wrote state champion right below it. That was pretty cool.”
Sheets enjoyed a ‘Triple Crown’ haul of postseason honors for the state champions. The shortstop was selected to the Class 3A All-State team and was the team’s overall MVP, and was later selected as the recipient of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s Mr. Baseball award.
Seven months later, during a ceremony at Sterlington, the good news continued for Sheets when he realized a lifelong goal of playing in college and signed with Baylor. Teammates, second baseman Brady Belanger and right fielder Corbin Peacock, also signed with Coastal Alabama North and Arkansas State Three Rivers, respectively.
“I wanted to play Power 4 (conference) baseball, and I wanted to go to a spot I felt that wanted me and they liked me,” said Sheets, the youngest son of former Major League pitcher Ben Sheets. “They’re good people that were recruiting me. They made it seem like they wanted me early on, and I wasn’t going to wait around and find out who was going to want me later. If they were going to want me then, I was going to want them, too.”
Miller Sheets, who has played first, second, and shortstop, committed to play baseball at Baylor on Aug. 4 of last year and didn’t take official visits to any other schools.
“I had a few visits that I was going to take,” he said. “I decided that I just wanted to go to Baylor and not waste anybody else’s time or my own time. Signing was very rewarding. That’s pretty much your bucket list when you get a little older and start to realize the landscape of baseball, and that’s to sign with a college that you want to go to.
“It’s a decision that you made, and you’re happy with,” he said. “When I sat down and signed, it felt like it was a reward for what I had done, and I was going to get into a situation that I was going to like after high school.”
Baylor coach Mitch Thompson signed a class of 12 players with four non-pitchers. The Bears were 32-22 in Thompson’s third season in ’25 and didn’t reach the postseason.
“I think they’re going to be pretty deep on the infield,” Sheets said. “They also have a couple of younger players and one that played as a freshman. I know when I get there, I can compete and see how that works out.
“I’m going to try and compete to play shortstop,” Sheets said. “However, I will do whatever they want me to do. They may move me to corner (an infield spot) or stick me in the middle (of the infield). I’m willing to do anything to play there.”
Sheets is the product of a baseball environment. His father, Ben, was a standout pitcher at UL-Monroe who went on to become the No. 10 overall selection of the Milwaukee Brewers in the 1999 MLB Draft. He pitched for a total of 10 seasons, earning four MLB all-star appearances and recording 1,325 strikeouts.
Ben Sheets, a member of the Brewers’ Wall of Honor, also pitched for the Oakland A’s and Atlanta Braves, earning a pair of medals as a member of the United States’ national team – including gold in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Sheets’ older brother, Seaver, also played for Sterlington, signed with Auburn, where he redshirted, and is set to play his redshirt senior season at ULM.
During his brother’s career, Miller was in Sterlington’s dugout as a batboy, adding to his awareness of the game.
“He’s been around it his whole life,” Sims said.
Sheets said he’s been playing baseball since the age of 8. He became affiliated with travel ball at 14 as a member of his dad’s teams – Sheets Baseball.
He just happened to like the sport he possessed plenty of natural ability to play.
“When I got closer to high school, I started to realize how real some of it was and what I could do,” Sheets said. “I realize the potential I had. When I got to high school, is when I started taking it as a job, giving up some things that maybe a regular high school kid would get to do. It was like it could be my future, and I didn’t really want to risk that. I started to embrace getting to the field early and connected it to my life.
“I bloomed later than a lot of the good players in my class,” he said. “The summer after my sophomore year, I began to bloom. I got bigger and stronger and was able to compete with everyone. My dad’s teams were always a grade ahead of me, and most of them graduated in 2025. I went to East Cobb (Ga.) last year and enjoyed it.”
Sheets hit .333 with 26 RBIs as a freshman and earned first-team all-district honors. He helped Sterlington to the first of three straight district championships, reaching the state quarterfinals, where they were swept by eventual state champion Berwick.
“Once you realize that you can play this game and you’re pretty good at it, then you start looking at the next level,” Sims said. “He primarily was our first baseman, played third, and shortstop when our pitcher had to pitch.
“The thing that stuck more, he was probably more advanced than most freshmen that came in,” Sims said. “He has a more advanced knowledge of the game when he came in, being around his older brother and Ben. What made him such a complete player is that he’s played every position on the infield and know where everybody would be when the ball’s hit.”
Sheets was named both all-district and all-region in 2024, hitting .367 with two homers, 20 RBIs with five stolen bases during his team’s state runner-up showing.
“Since I got to high school, my class has been obsessed with winning a state championship,” Sheets said. “We didn’t make the state tournament my freshman year, and we lost in the state championship game my sophomore year. We were still young and learning how to win games.”
Sheets was part of an experienced team that also showed plenty of mettle in returning to the state tournament and outlasting Erath in the final.
The Panthers (35-9) won 11 of the final 12 games in the regular season, received a first-round bye, and swept St. James in the regional round.
Sterlington had its back to the wall after a 1-0 loss to French Settlement in the first game of their quarterfinal series. The Panthers responded with consecutive 6-4 and 12-8 wins to advance to the semifinal round, splitting the first two games with Westlake, before reaching the final series with a 12-2 win.
“We lost the year before to South Beauregard in the championship, and he was on the field for that,” Sims said of Sheets. “Most of those kids were on the field and had a lot of them returned. That left a bad taste in their mouths. Miller took it personally; it was personal to him. I don’t think I’ve seen someone who takes it more personally like he does.
“He showed leadership during those series and wanted to be in the big moments,” Sims said. “A lot of people say they want to be in those moments. He’s foaming at the mouth to be in those moments. It’s something different with him. In all of the years I’ve been doing this and all of the kids I’ve coached, this is a different animal.”
Division III’s top two teams – No. 1 Sterlington and No. 2 Erath – divided one-run games in the first games of their series, forcing a third and deciding game.
The Panthers were leading 2-1 and loaded the bases in the fifth inning when Sheets highlighted his team’s three-run inning with his 2-RBI single, and his team held on for a two-run victory.
Sheets was joined on the Class 3A All-State first team by teammates, pitcher Landon Johnson, infielder Travis Adams (UL-Monroe signee), third baseman Devyn Downs (LSU commitment), and outfielder Dylan Downs.
“That team was a lot of fun,” Sheets said. “This year came, and it felt like nothing was going to stop us. It wasn’t like any other state championship run. We tested ourselves each time.”
Sheets batted a career-best .435 with four homers, 23 doubles, 57 RBIs, 56 runs scored, and seven stolen bases. His postseason honors included a second straight berth on the All-District team, the LBCA Division III and LSWA’s Class 3A All-State teams, and All-Region Hitter of the Year and Ouachita Citizen’s Hitter of the Year in the parish.
“I had one of my better years,” Sheets said. “I realized midway through the season to stop worrying the hits I needed to get and each bat, started trying to figure out a way to win the game, and that helped.
“I really didn’t know what Mr. Baseball was. I had never really thought about that,” he said. “That’s definitely the coolest thing out of the individual awards that happened to me.”
Sheets, the state’s No. 1 prospect per Perfect Game, gained valuable exposure during the summer in several showcase events that figure to send scouts and cross-checkers flocking to Sterlington games in the spring.
He played in two Major League stadiums –the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres – that provided the experience of a lifetime for a long-time baseball player with next-level dreams.
The Perfect Game National Showcase and Perfect Game All-America Classic were both played at Petco Park in San Diego, while Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama, hosted the East Coast Pro event, and the Area Code Games were played at Long Beach State.
“That was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” Sheets said of the Perfect Game All-America game that was played under the lights.
Sheets, considered a Top 10 shortstop nationally by two different outlets, is taking a win-win perspective into next July 11’s MLB Draft.
“If I get to make that decision, it will definitely be a blessing,” he said. “I’m not quite sure what the decision would be. It couldn’t be bad either way. I think a lot of people that play baseball dream of playing professional baseball. If I had to go to college, I really like Baylor, and I feel like it’s a really good spot.
“I think either way, either choice would be good for me as a player and as a person,” he said. “It’s obviously a big decision, but I don’t think it’s going to be one of regret, no matter what choice I made if I had an option.”