Woodson's World: The foundation that built TJ Woodson into an all-star

Tracy Woodson stands in the dugout of Emory G. Bauer Field. The former MLB player, who won a World Series in 1988, in the midst of leading the Beacons to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2012 and 2013, has a companion next to him. Not an assistant coach or team captain. His son, TJ.

At Valparaiso games, TJ would be seen in two places.

The first was behind the bleachers. 

Many members of the Woodson family attended games. TJ would spend time with them running around or playing some wiffle ball during the games.

The second spot seemed to be his favorite: the dugout.

Tracy was hesitant to have his son in the dugout at first, but TJ never gave him a reason to kick him out. 

TJ understood what was expected of him, and was enamored by the college players around him. 

Today, TJ is in the midst of an all-star season for the Walnut Creek Crawdads and as he looks back to those days, he sees them as being crucial to his development.

"That helped me a lot," Woodson said. "I was able to go out, see college players that he was coaching and see what they do. It really helped me learn the different parts of the game. One of my best qualities is my baseball smarts and growing up around the game with him coaching really contributed to that."

Growing up with a father who played in the MLB and coached in college certainly impacted TJ. From setting up his own baseball games in the backyard to being coached by him in little league, TJ has always been connected to baseball.

However, TJ and his father are not the only members of his family connected to sports. TJ's mom, Lisa, played college basketball at the division one level herself before coaching afterwards.

Like TJ and his father, Woodson's sister, Erin, followed in her mom's footsteps, currently playing basketball at Abilene Christian University. 

His brother, Michael, is also well connected to sports, coaching Tennis at Baylor.

With the people around him being so connected to sports, TJ jumped into baseball at a young age.

Early on, Tracy coached TJ as he played little league and was a formative figure both inside and outside of the sport. Having the experience to watch the relationship between Tracy and TJ, Lisa was happy to see what her son was becoming.

"His dad has always been the person he's looked up to, his hero," Woodson said. "We live sports, in general, day in and day out, and having kids that embrace that and jump right in, that was pretty awesome." 

For TJ's entire life, his dad's support helped him evolve and grow. Tracy helped out to coach his little league team while he was the head coach at Richmond University, but eventually decided that he had "to have somebody else coach him," wanting to watch his son play instead.

While the official title of "TJ's coach" is now far in the rearview, it seems to never truly go away to the fullest extent possible.

Still to this day, conversations between TJ and his dad are very important in helping TJ learn the game. While being coached by his dad has "ups and downs", TJ is very grateful.

"He knows me best," Woodson said. "He knows because he played so long and has so much experience. He is very helpful to learn from that and to see what he's done and then try and help me with that. He also gets on me a little more. He expects better. Typical father, son baseball thing."

Tracy was not the only important figure in TJ's life helping him become who he is today. Him and his sister are only a few years apart in age. 

While they don't play the same sport, the Woodson family is an incredibly competitive one. Growing up, they made sure to show off the competitive spirit.

"We would go to the basketball courts and we'd play one on one and it'd get a little feisty," TJ said. "It really benefits both of us because we're so competitive and it helps us bring out the best in ourselves. We want to be the best and we know what it takes and we push each other for the best."

The benefit of both of them being division one athletes extends beyond the court or field.

Having such a close relationship, TJ and Erin are able to confide in each other when they need to. Having a brother she is so close with, Erin credits him as an important source of support.

"Being able to get through the hard stuff together," Woodson said. "I've seen him go through rough patches in baseball and me as well. Being able to understand each other and what we're going through and the grind that it is every single day, that has really grown us closer together."

As TJ grew up, his skill in baseball became more and more apparent. Winning a state title in three of four years in high school, two in Virginia and one in Texas, Woodson committed to Baylor.

While he redshirted his freshman year of high school, Woodson brings a lot of value to the field. 

Despite him not being the prototypical 2026 college baseball player, his dad still sees the best in his son.

"He's not the biggest out there," Woodson said. "Nowadays college baseball is all about power and strength and the physical part of the game and that's just not his game. Baylor really wants him to get stronger and do all this but we tell him, you got to do all the little things, you got to play defense." 

After redshirting his freshman season at Baylor, TJ stepped into Walnut Creek ready to tear up the 2026 season, which is exactly what he did.

In his 19 games played, Woodson is slashing .309/.420/.500 with 12 RBIs. 

His biggest moment of the season came on June 28 against San Francisco. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning in a tied game, Woodson mashed a ball over the left field wall for his first home run of the season.

However, Woodson's biggest impact has been his knack to hit doubles. He is one of just seven Crawdads to hit 10 doubles in a season in franchise history. The difference between everyone else and Woodson? He's done it in half a season.

His incredible play leading to an all star selection, TJ's knowledge of the game is a major contributor in getting him to where he is. When thinks of his mindset, he thinks of advice that he got from his dad.

"Not overthinking," Woodson said. "Baseball is such a game of failure. You get out seven of ten times and you're still a 300 hitter. Don't think too much about one game if it's a bad game. You have to just go to the next game and just trust in yourself."

Just about everyone in the Woodson family had the inkling that TJ would be where he is today. 

It certainly isn't a shock every time he hits a double or makes a great play at shortstop.

However, over 1700 miles away, there is still at least one person sitting on the couch anxiously waiting to see how every at-bat goes: his mom.

"I'm nervous every single at bat," Woodson said. "I just want him to show what he's capable of. I desperately want him to just be able to show what he can do. I'm extremely proud of the way he conducts himself, the way he handles his business. He's one of the hardest workers there is."