Teen captivates TikTok with passion for baseball in Uganda. Now there’s good news
Eighteen-year-old Kasumba Dennis has spent years chasing the same dream.
He’s wanted to become so good at baseball that the major league won’t be able to ignore him — even overseas in Uganda.
Thanks to the help of social media, he’s now waiting on third base.
“I don’t let where I come from stop (me) from dreaming big and working hardcore to materialize those dreams,” Dennis wrote on one of his videos on Twitter. “MLB is my target.”
Dennis’s TikTok and other social media accounts are full of videos of his training. Often donned in a red jersey, Dennis runs through jumping and pitching drills, with rain in his eyes and mud up to his ankles.
Before he found solace in the sport of baseball, Dennis worked at a slaughterhouse, his coach Paul Wafula told The Los Angeles Times. As an orphan, he had been working since he was 14 to keep himself fed, according to the news outlet.
Eventually, Wafula convinced Dennis to pursue baseball — and offered to give him food and pay for his education if he stuck with it.
“If you don’t have hope, why do you even get up in the morning?” Wafula told The Times. “If you don’t have hope, you don’t have anything.”
Along with hope, Dennis’s determination and dedication to the sport seems to seep out of the screen in his videos. His workouts include anything he can get his hands on: bricks, tires, milk jugs, full bottles of water and ropes.
“Quitting is not an option,” Dennis said in another Tweet. “I love you Baseball you are my everything in this life. I will fight till I get you Baseball. MLB is the source of baseball!! God help me to be the one who can represent Africa in MLB league.”
His story began to spread online and eventually caught the eye of Ben Verlander, a baseball analyst for FOX Sports — and Dennis’s future began to take off.
Verlander reached out to Dennis and the two spoke about his ambitions. In February, Dennis messaged Verlander to ask him for a favor that changed his life, Verlander said in an interview on Fox Sports.
Dennis was working to get to the U.S. and needed help getting in contact with college coaches for an invitation letter, Verlander told Fox Sports.
With the help of Verlander and the heaps of inspiring TikTok videos testifying to Dennis’s commitment to the sport, it didn’t take long for coaches to take notice.
Dennis doesn’t just have the will to succeed, though. He also has the numbers to back his talent up, Verlander told FOX Sports.
Verlander told viewers Dennis has a 1.89 pop time, which is the time between the moment the pitch hits a catchers mitt to the moment the fielder is expected to receive the throw, according to the MLB glossary. The average pop time, recorded in 2018, is 2.01, according to the MLB glossary.
After touching base with different coaches, the first step to Dennis’s dream is coming true — he’s been invited to the MLB draft league for the summer.
The 2023 MLB Draft League will start June 1 and end in September with the League’s Championship Game, according to the league.
The MLB Draft League has created 86 MLB draft picks since it started in 2021, according to the website. Players are provided housing, pre-game and post-game meals free of charge from the league and get “unprecedented visibility to MLB Club scouts.”
Dennis sent Verlander a message of thanks to share the good news.
“I really really appreciate and I’m very very happy because I’m going to achieve my dream sir,” Dennis said in the message.
For Dennis, June 1 is just the beginning.
This story was originally published May 8, 2023 at 10:48 AM with the headline "Teen captivates TikTok with passion for baseball in Uganda. Now there’s good news."
