How Anthony Pack's upbringing helped him earn SEC freshman of the year honors

Anthony Pack Jr. has been outstanding in his first season as a University of Texas baseball player, and the foundation for his standout campaign which earned him SEC freshman of the year honors was set by his parents. Anthony Jr. deserves all the credit that comes his way for earning that award, but his parents LaKeysha and Anthony Pack Sr. should also be praised for doing everything possible to put their children into positions to succeed and molding Anthony Jr. into the outstanding young man he is today.

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gimme two claps for the @SEC Freshman of the Year 👏#HookEm | @theeantpack pic.twitter.com/Z07q7wdZCN

— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) May 18, 2026

The story for Anthony Jr. and his sister Taylor, who played softball at Ohio State, starts before they were born. Anthony Sr. and LaKeysha grew up in South Los Angeles. That is a challenging environment to grow up in, but Anthony Sr. and LaKeysha did everything possible to put themselves in a position to succeed so that their children could achieve even more.

“Words can’t express how proud we are of both of them,” LaKeysha told Inside Texas. “We both knew what we wanted for our kids and we did everything to put our kids in optimal positions to succeed in anything and everything they wanted to do.”

Schedules weren’t easy for the Pack family. Anthony Sr. worked full-time as an LAPD police officer, and LaKeysha worked as a NICU nurse at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital. There were a lot of tired nights as both Anthony Sr. and LaKeysha worked shift-oriented jobs with difficult hours but the efforts they made to provide their kids with opportunities to pursue their dreams were all worth it.

“There was a lot of commitment on my part to move my schedule around to make things happen,” LaKeysha said. “But the benefit of working 12-hour shifts, three days a week, we kind of make our own schedule. I made my schedule based on whatever the kids had going on. The last 10 years, I worked the night shift to be able to be there for them.”

LaKeysha’s job helped instill values Anthony Jr. and Taylor used on the field. So did Anthony Sr.’s role, but also his athletic career where discipline was just as essential. He played football at Division I-A Cal State Fullerton before starting his law enforcement career.

If you have ever heard Anthony Jr. speak, it’s easy to see where his biggest influences are from. His parents trained on how to interact with others based on their experiences in the field and in the NICU. After hearing too much “coach speak” from players, they would “surprise interview” Anthony Jr. and Taylor as if they were speaking to the media. Anthony Sr. would even use a TV remote as a microphone. They’d go over it again and again until they got it right.

“You know, some of the things that that I taught in the academy was basically teaching recruits how to talk to people and how to treat people out in the field,” Anthony Sr. said. “So, what I found is I was coming home and teaching some of those same core values.

“When you look at some of Anthony’s interviews, that’s just who he was raised to be. That’s how he was raised, to deflect the credit and give other people credit. That’s just who he is as a kid. That’s how we raised him.”

Anthony Sr. and LaKeysha saw baseball as a potential path for Anthony Jr. early on. Anthony Sr. was 5-foot-9, 160 during his playing days with the Titans. They knew football as a preferred sport probably wasn’t going to be feasible unless there were some hidden height genes somewhere in his family tree.

They were right, as Texas lists Anthony Jr. at 5-foot-10, 190 pounds. While he was a multisport athlete at Long Beach (Calif.) Millikan, they knew if Anthony Jr. wanted to pursue baseball that he would have to concentrate on that particular sport.

Anthony Jr. also watched how his parents were able to guide Taylor to Division I softball. There were some difficult times for Taylor, slumps as anyone who follows a bat-and-ball sport would call them. There were some times when quitting may have been on Taylor’s mind. However, she persisted and went on to help the Buckeyes reach two NCAA Tournaments. That perseverance was something Anthony Jr. saw he needed if he wanted to be a collegiate athlete like big sis.

“Her softball career at Ohio State he’ll tell you had a tremendous impact on his development,” Anthony Sr. said. “Because she basically provided him with a blueprint to be even more successful than she was.”

But there were big expectations for Anthony Jr. as Taylor moved out of the house. Anthony Sr. got a truck and customized a license plate for it: 1D112GO. One Division I athlete, one to go.

That’s a lot of pressure, but that was almost by design.

“It was literally a goal of ours, my wife and I, coming from where we came from to break generational cycles,” Anthony Sr. said. “Making sure that our kids were squared away. We checked their homework. We tracked where they went. We monitored who they were hanging around with. We corrected their grammar and how they presented themselves.

“Our favorite Bible verse in this house, and Anthony will tell you, is Matthew 23:12. As a matter of fact, Anthony has the Bible verse tattooed on his left pectoral.”

Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

“That’s the foundation of our parenting in this home,” Anthony Sr. said.

It takes more than just talent to win freshman of the year in the SEC. There are a lot of talented freshmen in the SEC. It takes the type of hard work and dedication Anthony Jr. has had from day one to play in all 53 games, starting 52, and slash .353/.471/.547 (AVG/OBP/SLG) with seven homers, 45 RBI, and 20 stolen bases. Especially when the plan originally didn’t include a stop in college.

Anthony Jr., the No. 32 overall high school prospect in the 2025 class and the No. 102 draft prospect according to Perfect Game, was not picked in the 2025 MLB draft. His commitment to Texas very quickly became a reality. Anthony Sr. and LaKeysha bought a flight to Austin after the draft was over and moved Anthony Jr. onto the 40 Acres.

From there, he started working out and learning from Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle and assistant coach Troy Tulowitzki. Anthony Sr. said Tulowitzki helped modify Anthony Jr.’s swing and get him right for the SEC.

“He has some natural talent,” Anthony Sr. said. “But I’ll tell you, it was four or five months of hard work and dedication. We almost never even heard from him during those months. He would check in every now and then, but he went to work and we’re just happy as parents to him enjoy the fruits of his labor.”

Said LaKeysha, “he’s always been motivated, waking up at five in the morning before going to school to go to the gym, lift weights, and run in the neighborhood. He’s always been a kid to motivate himself, and he didn’t care if he was the only one. I think that behavior rolled over to college, but of course college brought more out of him.”

There were other motivations for Anthony Jr. His late grandmother, who he honored with a tattoo on his chest of an angel watching over him as he catches a flyball in the outfield, is a figure who reminds Anthony Jr. he’s doing this for more than just himself.

“After he had been at Texas, maybe about three months or so, he called me and said he was in center field at the Disch all by himself, listening to one of his grandmother’s favorite songs,” Anthony Sr. said. “He called me and he was in tears. And he said, ‘You know, I’m doing this for Maw Maw.’”

Maw Maw would be proud. Just as LaKeysha and Anthony Sr. are of the man who not only excels on the diamond but has wisely made use of the resources and even the money available to someone who starts for the Longhorns baseball team. He’s taking everything in stride as he completes his first collegiate season, using lessons he learned at home to be everything he wants to be as a Longhorn.

No matter what he’s called, whether it’s “Antman,” or “Pack Man,” or “6-Pack” from teammates, “Lil’ Papa” by LaKeysha, or just plain “Ant” from Anthony Sr., Anthony Pack Jr. has fulfilled so many of his dreams this season and therefore so many of his parents’ hopes and dreams.

He’ll need to continue to be a standout outfielder for the Longhorns as their NCAA Tournament journey continues. That’ll be a new stage for the SEC freshman of the year.

But there should be little doubt that Anthony Jr. has been raised to meet the moment this year and for years to come.