To understand Akil Baddoo’s play, you must first know his heart
On the day his baseball future changed, Akil Baddoo’s computer screen went black.
He was with his father, monitoring Major League Baseball’s Rule 5 draft in December 2020. Baddoo knew he was not on the Minnesota Twins’ 40-man roster, knew baseball’s complex rules meant any other team could select him and give him a chance. A friend texted him a link to an article that listed Baddoo among players who could be selected in the Rule 5 Draft. That’s when the notion of a new team and a new start first felt real.
Baddoo had spent the better part of two years away from the game he loved. And so just as the Detroit Tigers were up to announce the No. 3 pick in the Rule 5 Draft, Baddoo’s laptop shut off.
The 22-year-old Baddoo raced to restore his connection. And by the time the video reappeared on the screen, Baddoo saw his name. Akil Baddoo, outfielder. In the heat of the moment, Baddoo went insane. He raced around his home, cheering, yelling, cursing. “Holy $%@!”
Akilah, Baddoo’s mother, yelled from another room. “Akil, I’m on a conference call!”
It turned out the celebration was justifiable. As a Rule 5 pick, Baddoo would enter the spring with a real chance to make Detroit’s 26-man active roster. The story on the surface was charming enough. He was a kid from Georgia, from an energetic family where five boys grew up playing and fighting around the house. His mother was strict and intense in the best of ways, his father a little more laid back. He was also a player who missed almost all of 2019 recovering from Tommy John surgery and all of 2020 when COVID-19 shut down baseball’s minor leagues. Now he had a chance to play in the majors.