Gold Coast pitcher Kailen Hamson snapped up in Major League Baseball draft
The Mudgeeraba Redsox junior and former Robina State High School student, 22, was selected 244th overall in eighth round of the MLB draft.
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Left handed Gold Coast pitcher Kailen Hamson’s Major League Baseball dream has become a reality after being drafted by the Baltimore Orioles.
The Mudgeeraba Redsox junior and former Robina State High School student, 22, was selected 244th overall in the eighth round of the MLB draft on Tuesday (AEST).
Hamson became the fifth player in Robina history to join a Major League franchise but was the first acquired via the draft.
Robina SHS sports academy director Daniel Norton-Smith said that draft capital and bonus years of development in college gave Hamson an even better chance to break out of the feeder system and make his Major League debut.
“I’m so excited for him,” Norton-Smith said.
“I spoke to him this morning (Tuesday) and told him how proud of him we all are.
“He said he’d come a long way since that little fella on the baseball field at Robina High.
“It’s pretty rare for an Australian to be drafted into the Major League Baseball system and to have that person come from your school, to see him grow and train and dedicate his life to this - then to see him succeed - is pretty amazing.
“You could tell he was pretty chuffed.”
Hamson joins past Robina students Josh Warner (Philadelphia Phillies), Hayden Timberlake (Houston Astros), Jack Barrie (Minnesota Twins) and Aaron Thompson (Texas Rangers) to play professionally in the US but is aiming to become the first to play at the Major League level.
“We’ve never had a student play in the Major League so hopefully Kailen is that guy,” Norton-Smith said.
“He still has a lot of work to do, as he told me this morning, but if that (debut) ever happens we’ll have the entire school in the auditorium to watch it on the big screen together.
“He’s going to be an inspiration to all our players because they all know it (Major League Baseball) is there but sometimes it just seems so far away. Now we’ve got a bunch of 12 to 17-year-olds here who now can see that dream can be a reality.”
Norton-Smith said Hamson had always possessed stellar potential and work ethic but had been held back by his smaller size.
A growth spurt to 6’1 (185cm) has allowed the leftie’s fastball to nudge 95mph (152km/h), tantalising Baltimore to take a late round swing on the Gold Coast talent.
“He was a little fella through his junior years at the school but he never let that stop him,” Norton-Smith said.
“As he grew and developed and attended college in America that was all he needed: he had every other attribute.”
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