Canora鈥檚 Kody Rock fulfils dream, signs professional baseball contract
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听听听听听听听听听听听 Kody Rock, son of Darryl and Donna Rock of Canora, has realized the first step in a life-long dream by signing a professional contract as a pitcher with the Milwaukee Brewers.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Rock, 23, said he鈥檚 been playing organized baseball since the age of 4, and has wanted to be a professional baseball player pretty much ever since he can remember.
听听听听听听听听听听听听 鈥淗onestly it is something I've always wanted to do,鈥� Rock said last week. 鈥淚 always kind of thought there would be no cooler job in the world than playing baseball. Playing pro baseball was something I dreamed of doing since I was a kid.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 Even though many Canadian youngsters aspire to be professional hockey players, Rock said baseball has always been his favourite sport.
听听听听听听听听听听听 He played his minor baseball in Canora. After graduating from Canora Composite School in 2012, he pursued his baseball dream with a number of teams.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Rock played college ball with Mayville State in North Dakota. He has played summer amateur baseball with the Yorkton Cardinals of the Western Major Baseball League and the Mankato (Minn.) Moondogs of the Northwoods League, which has most of its teams in the upper midwestern United States.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Professional scouts started showing up at his college games last season, so to Rock it wasn鈥檛 a complete surprise that the Brewers offered him a professional contract. But as he puts it, 鈥渋t was a really cool experience.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 Rock said there have been a lot of special people who have played important roles in helping him reach this point in his baseball career.
听听听听听听听听听听听 鈥淛ust all of the coaches I have ever had have been a huge part of getting me to where i am at now. There are too many to name as I have been playing for 19 years now, but they have all been a big help.
听听听听听听听听听听听 鈥淢y parents also played a huge role in helping me develop. Whether it was my dad coaching me when I was younger or them driving me all across the province to get to games or clinics, they had to make sacrifices to help me out and I could never thank them enough.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 Rock is currently playing in the Arizona Rookie League with AZL Brewers. He pitched in his first game on July 8.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Looking forward, his goals are to work hard each and every day, and keep climbing to higher levels in the minor leagues.
听听听听听听听听听听听 Of course Rock鈥檚 family is extremely proud and excited, according to his father Darryl.
听听听听听听听听听听听 鈥淣ot a lot of people get to live out their dream,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut Kody still has a lot of work to do, in order to reach his ultimate goal of playing in the major leagues.鈥�
听听听听听听听听听听听 Now that he is a professional baseball player, Rock has some advice for any Canora youngsters who are hoping to follow in his footsteps.
听听听听听听听听听听听 听鈥淚ts an unbelievable feeling when it finally happens but it takes a lot of hard work to get there.鈥�
