Tampa Bay Rays’ Evan Longoria to speak in Bradenton

Evan Longoria will return to Manatee County Central Library in June.

This will be the second time the Tampa Bay Rays third baseman has visited Manatee County Public Libraries. He visited last June.

Longoria will visit the Central Library, 1301 Baracarrota Blvd. W., Bradenton, around 11 a.m. Friday, June 17, to speak as part of the Reading with the Rays - “Read Your Way to the Ballpark” program, which is presented by the Suncoast Credit Union.

“We are thrilled to welcome Evan back,” Ava Ehde, county library services manager, said in a news release. “Last year, he created a great deal of enthusiasm among attendees, resulting in over 1,000 children who stayed after the event to sign up for the program.”

During the visit, Longoria “reads a few short books, discusses the importance of reading, asks a few trivia questions and hands out prizes,” according to the release.

Reading with the Rays is an incentive-based program, which encourages children in kindergarten through 12th grade to visit the library and read during the nine-week summer break, according to the release.

“Having a well-known celebrity come into the library to endorse reading makes a phenomenal difference,” Ehde said. “We end up getting people in who have never been to any of our libraries or haven’t been to one for awhile. It’s an opportunity to build more awareness about the vast programs and resources we have available to them all year.”

This story was originally published May 19, 2016 at 10:49 AM with the headline "Tampa Bay Rays’ Evan Longoria to speak in Bradenton."