BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

OGDEN — Now that Cam Phelts feels confident in how to succeed as a baseball player, he can do it in front of his Northern Utah family and friends.

Phelts, the 5-foot-9 outfielder, is in his third professional season. He prepped and played most of his college baseball in Texas, but Phelts is a Layton native and grew up a Utahn.

So when Raptors manager Kash Beauchamp called Phelts in the winter after the 2022 season — a season in which he played for Pioneer League rival Northern Colorado — to talk about signing to play in Ogden, there was a lot to like.

“My family and family friends came to a lot of games here last year, and now I get to play in front of them almost every day. It’s kind of crazy,” Phelts said. “Pretty magical to be able to have that.”

One side of Phelts’ family came to Utah because of an assignment to Hill Air Force Base. The other side had relocated from Star Valley, Wyoming. Phelts snowboarded and played soccer growing up, and wrestled and played a little basketball at Central Davis Junior High. Much of his family attended Layton High School and his sister, Caylie, was a two-time state champion softball player as a catcher at Roy High.

Eugene Morgan, Ogden Raptors

But when his mother relocated to San Antonio for work just before Phelts entered high school, he decided to follow her to the Lone Star State.

Baseball was always his sport, Phelts said, which took him from high school to Alvin Community College in the Houston area, then to Texas College, an NAIA program in Tyler.

When the COVID-19 pandemic took away most of his senior season, he didn’t want to be done. After all, he was hitting a scorching .397 and stole 48 bases in just 29 games when the season was stopped.

The biology major found a place to finish a master’s in sports administration and to keep playing.

“I just always wanted as much as the game would give me. I was always chasing that next at-bat,” Phelts said. “Until someone told me I couldn’t play anymore, I was going to keep playing. I continued to chase it and opportunities came.”

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

That next opportunity was at Division I Grambling State in Louisiana. Phelts hit .290 and drove in 30 runs in 44 games.

If he didn’t get to keep playing, Phelts said he wanted to work somewhere like a national park, state park or in the forest service if not for a sports organization somewhere. But he got a shot with the Washington Wild Things (Pennsylvania) in the Frontier League, hitting just .164 in 34 games.

He got cut in Washington’s 2022 spring training, and that’s when he started to better embrace the strengths that had him flying high in his short 2020 college season.

“It took me a while because everybody wants to hit home runs and doubles,” Phelts said. “But probably in the last couple of years — because last year, I think I started to understand how much I can do things like bunt and steal bases, and that’s the same as hitting a double or a triple.”

He hit .288 and stole 51 bases in 88 games for the Northern Colorado Owlz in 2022, finishing nine behind the Pioneer League record for stolen bases in a season.

He fielded Beauchamp’s call in November and took maybe a week to decide that yes, he wanted to return to Utah and play for the Raptors.

“I knew it would be a good fit. I was on board,” Phelts said. “Kash, he reinstilled that in me, just put it in play and good things happen. Once I got that in my mind, I’d say this year especially, it’s been a huge eye-opener for me. Just not trying to do too much, using my speed.”

Phelts will bunt for base hits — “it gives you like this little-kid feeling, it’s great … putting it just out of reach or they have to make some insane play, and you know it drives them crazy” — and has stolen 19 bases this season. His speed gives him good range in right field and he has a plus outfield arm, especially for his stature.

He was a huge spark in Ogden’s offense Wednesday night when he hit a two-run home run and a two-run triple in his first two at-bats. He finished Wednesday hitting 3 for 4 with five RBIs and made a leaping catch against the wall to help seal the win that clinched the first-half division title. He came out of that game hitting .342 for the season.

“It took some time to build that confidence that I can really play just like that,” he said. “It would’ve been nice to figure that out a lot sooner but the game rewards us in different ways and things take time, that growth.”

Phelts said his success is similar to the team’s because it results from focusing on what the coaching staff wants for each player and having confidence in the guys around you. It’s how the Raptors started 10-9 and then won 18 of their next 24 to close in on the first-half division championship.

“We know how to keep the line tight, there’s not really any slack in it. Just moving on to the next pitch, knowing the guy behind you has your back,” he said. “Building that confidence just smoothed everything out, made the games fun — which is how it should be.”

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