406 MT Sports: For Billings Mustangs star Taylor Lomack, show business will have to wait — for now
When his baseball career is over, you might just catch Billings Mustangs left fielder Taylor Lomack in the movies, or perhaps take in a play he has written.
(This article was originally written by John Letasky for the Billings Gazette and 406 MT Sports, to read the full article, please visit https://406mtsports.com/baseball/pioneer-league/billings-mustangs-taylor-lomack-pioneer-baseball-league/article_f9fe8c8c-1d4e-11ef-9032-f7e37dce4e31.html)
(Photo taken by Amy Lynn Nelson, Billings Gazette)
When his baseball career is over, you might just catch Billings Mustangs left fielder Taylor Lomack in the movies, or perhaps take in a play he has written.
It isn't a stretch that the likeable Lomack and his big, bright smile and bubbly personality would be in the movies. After all, the multi-talented Lomack did have a small part in "Barbershop: The Next Cut" in 2016.
As a 15-year-old, Lomack was in two scenes playing a young gang member in the movie starring Ice Cube.
"They weren't that long of scenes, in the car 45 seconds to a minute and the second one about 45 seconds to a minute inside the school," Lomack recalled on Tuesday afternoon in the Dehler Park bleachers as the Mustangs (4-2 entering Tuesday) readied for their Pioneer Baseball League home opener later that day against the Boise Hawks (5-1).
Lomack — who is originally from Stockbridge, Georgia — said his stepmother helped him land the part.
Although this time he was acting in a movie, it wasn't the first time that Lomack had acted.
When he was at Mount Vernon Academy in Georgia as a youth, Lomack said he studied the performing arts.
"It was a church school. We did a play a month, eight to 10 plays a year," he said with a grin.
The 24-year-old Lomack says he's been writing plays since he was young and eventually wants to direct movies.
Show business will have to wait — for now
According to Mustangs team officials, Lomack is closing in on the all-time record for career steals with the club.
This season, Lomack has swiped eight bases and has 49 total steals entering Tuesday's contest. The Mustangs' all-time leader is Pablo Bernard, who had 67 steals playing in Billings from 1953-54. Bernard swiped 27 bases in 1953 and 40 in 1954.
In 2010, one of Lomack's baseball heroes — Billy Hamilton — swiped a team single-season record 48 bases for the Mustangs.
That mark, and the all-time record, are ones that Lomack is shooting for.
Through parts of 11 seasons in Major League Baseball Hamilton stole 326 bases.
"It's really cool," said Lomack of approaching Hamilton's mark last year and the all-time record held by Bernard. "(Hamilton) was a person I looked up to growing up and I tried to model my game after him; how he steals bases and is aggressive on defense, and how he played football, too."
'I love Rickey Henderson'
This season, Lomack was batting .435 in 23 at-bats through six games entering the Ponies' contest on Tuesday against Boise. Last year, he batted .322, with 62 RBIs and 78 runs through 89 games and 351 at-bats.
Another of Lomack's favorite baseball players is Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, also a left fielder, who is Major League Baseball's all-time stolen base king with 1,406 over a 25-year career. He also scored a career-record 2,295 runs.
In fact Lomack explained that last year he slid into the bases feet first, but now he's patterned his slides into a head-first motion.
"Rickey Henderson, that's who I've really studied a lot with the head-first slide," Lomack said. "I love Rickey Henderson."
First-year Mustangs manager Craig Maddox also got to know Lomack last year when Maddox served as the Mustangs' bench coach. Maddox explained that Lomack is a truly gifted athlete, saying, "he has the un-coachable tool, which is speed."
"Taylor Lomack, he's probably the hidden gem of the Pioneer League," said Maddox. "The kid is special. As long as he wants to play baseball and I'm a manager, he'll always have a job.
"He goes about his business and is an outstanding teammate and is locked in."
Lomack has several goals while playing baseball for the Mustangs.
First, he would like to help deliver a championship to the Mustangs' faithful as he was on last year's squad that advanced to the Pioneer Baseball League Championship Series before falling to the Ogden Raptors in Game 2 of the best-of-three series.
"We came close to about winning the whole thing," Lomack said. "My first goal is I want to try and win the championship."
Lomack, who was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 24th round of the 2019 MLB June Amateur Draft out of Tallahassee Community College (Florida) and played two seasons with the organization, would also like to take the next step in his baseball journey.
"I want to go back to affiliated ball, but for right now I'm enjoying the moment with my team and looking to win it all," he said.