Dream job? Sure, but still a job.
By joshjacksonmilb
By Josh Jackson / MiLB.com
Kohl Stewart, the fourth overall pick in this year’s Draft, recently made his first start out of the Gulf Coast League, and a fine start it was.
Stewart, who won’t turn 19 until the big league playoffs are underway, got to visit Target Field when he signed with the Twins in June.
“It kind of gave me a taste of what they do every day. Seeing them play made me hungry. I got to meet a lot of cool people, people who are very good at what they do, and I got to sign,” he said. “It was really fun, and I got to watch three games. It was a good week for me and my family. It kind of gave me a goal and let me know what that goal is like, that long-term goal.”
I told Stewart that sounds like the kind of trip most Little Leaguers dream about making one day, and he admitted to being a little overwhelmed.
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“The first couple of weeks, I was kind of in shock,” he said, “but after that I started to understand I have a job to do.”
That’s the mentality he carried into his first pro season.
“I wake up every day and I have a job,” Stewart said, but he knows it’s probably better than, say, waiting tables or working in fast food, as many people do the summer after they graduate high school.
“I love what I do and I’m doing what I’ve always dreamed of doing and I’m proud to be doing it. It feels good,” he said. “But it comes with the territory, that it’s a job. I have something I have to do every day and something I have to work hard at getting better at, just like anybody else.”
Stewart had committed to play quarterback and pitch at Texas A&M before the Draft, but he’s also okay with departing from the standard path for teenagers by passing up college.
“I’ll miss [football] a little bit,” he said. “I’m sure when I’m watching it, I’ll wonder what would have been, but I’d much rather be doing what I’m doing, so I can’t complain.”
