NEW DIANA, Texas — Millions of kids grow up with dreams of playing professional sports, but only a tiny percentage of them will see those dreams come true. But, the recent MLB draft brought exciting news for some Texas athletes.
"Man it’s uh, I was, I’m honestly at a loss for words. Like Coach Martinez said it’s been a lifelong dream since I started playing the game," New York Yankees 14th round draft pick, Austin Green said.
Green's baseball journey which started in New Diana, has taken him from Weatherford College, to Texas Tech and soon he could touchdown in the Bronx.
The Yankees selected him in the 14th round of the 2024 MLB draft after he hit over .320 in his senior season at Texas Tech. Green’s coach at New Diana, Bernie Martinez, describes him as an athletic, high skillset, high IQ infielder with a strong bat who’s always capable of producing a highlight play.
"We were down to our last out, down by a run, and we had talked earlier about the possibility of stealing home, we talked about it, and when Austin made it to third, I mean we both looked at each other like ‘we’re gonna do it’. He stole home with two outs and we tied the game and the rest was history for that season but that memory will stick with me for a while," Martinez said.
One thing you cannot question about Austin is his love for the game and recently he’s been able to take his game to the next level, by embracing the many failures that come with playing baseball every single day.
"To love the failure as much as I love the success is when I became a really good baseball player. Obviously in this game you’re going to fail a lot, and if let that eat you up, ya know, like I said the game’s gonna chew you up and spit you out. So when I fell in love with not only the success, but the grinding to get back to the success, that’s where I became a really good player," Green said.
That growth has now put Austin in a position that tons of kids can only dream about. He got the call that he was drafted on Tuesday, and he’s set to head down to the Yankees training facility in Tampa on Sunday. It’s a dream realized – a massive accomplishment - but the work doesn’t stop here.
"Like I said my life long dream is to play professional baseball, but ya know getting drafted isn’t the end of the story for me. I’m gonna push and work hard to get to the highest level that I can," Green said.