Swinging from coast to coast
A baseball player traveling across the country to pursue his career.
Photo credit: https://www.kwtx.com/content/news/BU-Baseball-team-announces-suspension-of-14-students-linked-to-hazing-incident-567669461.html
Chase Watkins, 20, is on his way to becoming a professional baseball pitcher here at CF. Watkins has left his world behind to make his dreams come true. He moved from California to The College of Central Florida for baseball.
Watkins feels he is at his best when at CF. He first attended California Polytechnic State University in California for a year. Out of all the colleges to attend, CF was his top choice because it’s, “one of the best baseball programs in the country for me.” Watkins said.
Currently, Watkins is a sophomore at CF. After his spring semester here, he plans on getting drafted into the MLB. Out of all the MLB teams, Watkins prefers the Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Rays, and Minnesota Twins.
Out of his teams of choice, he wants a team that can work with him and be open minded. But if the draft doesn’t work out for Watkins, he wants to go to a University school.
From coast to coast, Watkins has moved to fulfill his destiny and make a career out of what he loves. But, with pursuing his career, he has had to leave his entire family behind and focus on what lies ahead for him.
However, trouble lies ahead for Watkins. These past couple of weeks have been rough for everyone due to the Coronavirus, or COVID-19. This bump in the road has put a halt to the career of this amazing athlete. But this does not stop him.
As of now, Watkins will be staying in Ocala, finishing the rest of his second semester at CF online. He does have mixed feelings about the matter at hand as well.
“It’s frustrating, but it’s out of my control so I can’t get too upset about it,” said Watkins. “Obviously it is sad that I won’t get to take the field with this team again, but at the same time there’s a lot of room for growth during this down time and I will utilize it.”
Even though his career has come to an end at CF, he wants to keep his eyes on the prize. Watkins came to Ocala in the first place for Baseball and will continue to do what he must to play with the top dogs.
Even with traveling from California to Florida, Watkins got a taste of what CF had to offer and got to play, practice, and train with his Baseball skills. The Coronavirus will not stop Watkins from following his dreams and he will continue to make them come true.
