Mars student Nate Taylor, 11, is pictured here alongside a Dicks Sporting Goods advertising banner bearing his likeness. Taylor has been the face of the store's youth baseball advertising campaign each of the past two years.

MARS — Seeing their face on the cover of a glossy sports magazine or a national ad campaign can be the pinnacle of a professional athlete’s career. But for one Mars student, it might already be considered old hat.

For 11-year-old Nate Taylor of Mars, seeing his own face above shelves of brand new sports merchandise isn’t anything new. For the second year in a row he is the face of youth baseball for Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Nate plays basketball at Mars Area School District, where his father, Lamont, says he’s a straight-A student. Lamont Taylor, a basketball standout for Butler, has his own sports legacy in Butler County. But Nate is off to a fast start of his own, albeit in a different sport.

Nate’s first love has almost always been baseball. He started playing at age 4 in Butler’s youth league and currently plays on a travel team for Steel City Select, a Wexford-based organization that runs a training academy and fields baseball and softball teams for various age groups.

Nate is the shortstop for Steel City’s 11-and-under team, and says he loves the demands of the position — and the travel league.

“When the ball’s being hit you’re mostly in the action,” he said. “It’s challenging and really fun.”

Nate’s constantly on his toes at shortstop, but a Dick’s photo shoot can be a jarring experience, he said. The shoots are held in July or August each year, before the new season begins. They can also involve quite a bit of setup work, said David Duke, a creative copywriter in the company’s marketing department and the cousin of Nate’s mother, Tracy.

It was Duke who first brought Nate into the company’s youth baseball campaign two years ago, in what his father called a “right place, right time,” scenario. The Taylor family had moved back to Butler County from Atlanta, and Duke knew that Nate had been honing his skills for years.

“His name popped into my head immediately,” Duke said. “We wanted local players who love the game and are good at it. He filled everything we’ve been looking for.”

Sometimes the company goes far afield for its shoots, but for the past two years Dick’s has featured local sports complexes in its baseball campaign — two years ago at Moon Park, and last August at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Cranberry Township.

Nate said it took some time for him to get used to how the shoots work. For an energetic young shortstop, waiting for a shot to be set up can be a little boring.

“At first it’s a little weird, but you get used to it,” he said. “And I love playing baseball, so any opportunity I can, I take so I can play more.”

For Lamont and Tracy Taylor, some of the most fun has been hearing from friends in Atlanta, who message them and Nate after seeing Nate’s picture above gleaming displays of baseball gear each year.

“When you’ve got friends in Georgia walking into a (Dick’s) store and seeing Nate’s picture, that’s a pretty cool experience,” said Lamont Taylor. “He puts a lot of hard work into the sport and into his studies. His mother and I are proud.”

Nate said the biggest charge for him still comes from putting on a uniform and picking up a bat or a glove. There’s no place he’d rather be than out on a baseball diamond.

“When I get to go dress up and stay in baseball gear everyday, that’s pretty cool,” he said.