Pomona students are known for their aspirations after graduation. Many go on to graduate school to become doctors or lawyers. It’s not rare to hear about an alumnus becoming a CEO or politician. What is rare, however, is for a Pomona graduate to become a professional athlete.

In the last two years, two Pomona-Pitzer baseball players have defied the odds and been drafted into the ranks of professional baseball. Drew Hedman PO ’09 was drafted by the Boston Red Sox and currently plays on their Class High-A affiliate Salem Red Sox. Pitzer graduate James Kang ’10 is also in the Red Sox farm system, playing for the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox.

Several of Kang’s PawSox teammates are on Boston’s 40-man roster, meaning they could potentially be called up to the majors during playoffs. Only nine months after graduation, Kang has high hopes for the future and will look to continue his success during spring training, which began Monday.

This year, the team’s best prospect for the MLB draft is David Colvin PZ ’11, a pitcher that has been named to the All-SCIAC Second Team once and the First Team twice in his three years here. After a 10-3 record through 105 innings pitched last season, Colvin was named to the Division III preseason All-American Team.

Colvin spent this past summer playing for the Cotuit Kettleers in the Cape Cod League, a league commonly referred to as the top collegiate summer baseball league in the country and is often used as a stepping-stone for players who end up in the majors.

“The Cape League was amazing,” Colvin said. “The atmosphere was unbelievable at the games and the talent was through the roof.”

Pomona senior first baseman Nick Frederick also played in a summer league to gain some experience and get on the radar for scouts. The West Coast League that Frederick played in with fellow Sagehen Leo Rosetti PO ’12 is also known as one of the top collegiate summer leagues. “It’s a chance to play with wood all summer long,” said Frederick. “It’s a chance to get a feel for minor league baseball.”

College players sometimes have difficulty transitioning from playing with metal bats in NCAA competition to playing with a wood bat in the minor leagues. This change gave Hedman some difficulty when he first played after graduation. Conversely, moving to the minor leagues can give pitchers a leg up.

“Pitching against wood is always better than pitching against a metal bat,” said Colvin. “Pitchers don’t usually struggle.”

As far as the draft is concerned, Colvin has high hopes; he’s talked to several teams and says that his prospects look pretty good. Unfortunately, Frederick didn’t get quite the exposure he wanted over the summer but after a strong start to the season, there’s still a good possibility he’ll be considered in the draft. However, if he doesn’t make it in the majors he might still try and play post-collegiately abroad in Europe or Australia.

If, and when, Frederick and Colvin make it to the majors, they’ll have a lot to look forward to. In a quick conversation with TSL, former Pomona pitcher Adam Gardner reflected fondly on his time with the San Francisco Giants organization. After graduating in 2004, he spent three years bouncing around the minor leagues. He viewed baseball as the perfect transition to the real world after “spending a bunch of years in Claremont with people who are pretty similar to you.”

“I got a chance to establish friendships with a lot of guys I never would’ve met, if not for baseball,” Garnder said. “Baseball can really bring people together.”

As for the overall experience, Gardiner had some words of caution for future P-P draftees. “It’s really fun, but it’s also really stressful,” he said. “You have no idea where you’re going to spend the next six months [at the beginning of each season], and you can move at any time.” Players live a highly transient life, spending lots of time in team buses and hotels.

As a graduate of a top-tier liberal arts school, Gardner was a rare breed in professional baseball. In the off-season, he worked as a consultant in Washington, D.C.--time that most minor league players spend doing manual labor or working in baseball camps. During the season, Gardner also tried to keep his brain active by spending his considerable amounts of downtime burning through his reading list.

“I read more than I’d ever read before playing baseball,” Garner said. “The guys would just rip me all the time for reading books. I had a pitching coach actually tell me it was bad for my eyes.”

Eventually, Gardner stopped playing baseball, settled down with his fiance in Los Angeles, and returned to USC for graduate school. But his dream lives on in the current generation of P-P baseball players who one day hope to make it to the Big Show.

For now, Colvin and Frederick have to put their post-collegiate plans on the back burner and focus on playing their current baseball season if they want to continue down that road.

“Our team is looking very good right now, coming off a big win against Chapman and a... sweep of Caltech,” said Colvin. “Our team is one of the best in the nation.”

Frederick added, “I think this is the best team we’ve had since I’ve been here.”