East Longmeadow High School alum drafted by D’BacksDate: 8/1/2023 Some baseball players spend their lives imagining the moment they get drafted, making their professional dreams come true.
It’s safe to assume, however, that Alec Baker’s experience wasn’t exactly as he had pictured it.
The Major League Baseball Draft is a three-day, 20-round event that can be stressful for those waiting to get the call. Baker and his family booked an Airbnb in Florida for three days during the draft, but a mistake in booking made his experience on the third day a unique one.
“It’s actually a funny story,” Baker said. “There was a chance I could’ve gone day two so we had the Airbnb for that and we were watching and waiting and it didn’t happen that day so the third day we kind of messed up the dates and didn’t have the Airbnb booked so we ended up going to a local hotel with a big lobby.”
Baker and his family sat in the lobby for around three to four hours during day three of the draft before he got the call.
“Sitting in this random lobby, watching the draft, waiting for the call, watching pitchers go by, definitely an interesting place to get drafted from. It was pretty funny in the moment. It definitely felt good to receive the call. The whole draft is an emotional wave, a lot of things going on.”
Ultimately, Baker, a 2018 East Longmeadow High School graduate, was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 18th round.
Baker, a right-handed pitcher who graduated from Dallas Baptist University and whose pitching arsenal includes a fastball, slider and changeup, is the third ELHS baseball player to be drafted in the past 12 years.
Nick Ahmed, who plays for the Diamondbacks and won two gold gloves in the late 2010s, was taken in the second round in 2011.
His brother Mike Ahmed was taken in the 20th round in 2013 and made it as high as AAA.
Baker said his draft experience was not what he expected, but he was relieved to receive the call.
Baker explained that there are teams talking to players like him and their advisors before the draft, negotiating money, and that it is a stressful time.
“It’s a big sense of relief once you know you get a deal done and a team will be calling your name soon.”
Right now, Baker is taking part in a draft mini-camp at the Diamondbacks complex in Scottsdale, Arizona, after which he will be assigned to one of the organization’s minor league affiliate teams.
He added, “This is a starting point. I feel very blessed that I got to this point. Anything from here is a plus and I will work as hard as I can to see how far I can make it.”
Baker has been playing baseball since he was 5 years old and looked up to his older brother’s passion for the game to continue playing.
“Pretty much from the moment I could walk, I kind of followed in my brother’s footsteps. He was six years older than me, always playing baseball, always really good so it was kind of younger brother trying to keep up with his older brother type deal,” Baker said.
He also fell more in love with the idea of baseball as he grew up.
Baker said, “The game itself is an intriguing one. It’s a game of failure but that is almost what is addicting about it. You keep coming back because it’s a game you can never figure out. You have to constantly keep making adjustments and keep trying to get better. I think that is one of the reasons why I fell in love with it.”
Growing up as a Boston Red Sox fan, Baker remembers watching pitchers like Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett who were two pitchers of many that he admired.
Baker said the thought of continuing to pursue baseball professionally came when he was a sophomore in high school, training at Powerhouse Training with Jon Davis in East Longmeadow.
He added, “He was a very forward thinker of the game and was the first I felt like in the area that started making use of some of the more scientific sources that we have now on how to develop pitchers. I started to make some really good jumps under his wing and started to get some division one attention. In the back of my mind, I knew there was a small possibility that I might be able to get to the professional level if I go to the right college and develop but that was the first time it sat in the back of my mind a little bit.”
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