Ugandan catcher continues his amazing baseball journey
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Kasumba trains outside his home in Gayaza, Uganda. Photo: Courtesy of the L.A. Times.
Four years ago, Dennis Kasumba dropped out of school in Uganda to work in a slaughterhouse just so he could feed himself. Now, the 18-year-old catcher is in Maryland, chasing his Major League Baseball dream.
Driving the news: Kasumba's first game with the Frederick Keys in the MLB Draft League was on Thursday — the next step in a yearslong journey from orphan to rising star.
- Visa issues nearly derailed his opportunity, but after three rejections his application was finally accepted two weeks ago and he arrived in Frederick, Maryland, on Monday.
- His ultimate goal: Become the first Ugandan major leaguer and just the third from Africa, joining South Africa's Gift Ngoepe (2017) and Tayler Scott (2019).
The backdrop: Kasumba was abandoned by his mother at 2 months old — a common refrain in a country where one in nine children are orphans, per the L.A. Times.
- At 14, he was given the opportunity to play by a former Uganda national team pitcher who uses baseball to pull kids like Kasumba out of poverty.
- Kasumba had never played before, but proved a quick learner and decided to be a catcher after watching videos online of players like Yadier Molina and Salvador Pérez.
- He started getting noticed last fall after posting videos on social media of his daily training sessions, where he worked out on a strip of mud beside his tiny house.
- Eventually, the notoriously hard worker earned a spot on the Keys as long as he could make it to the U.S.
What's next: Kasumba will spend the next month playing in the MLB Draft League, which was founded in the wake of 2020's Minor League Baseball contraction and comprises six former minor league affiliates.
- The league's purpose is to give college and high school players a way to improve their stock before July's draft, and it's worked brilliantly so far.
- Since the inaugural 2021 season, the league has produced 86 MLB draft picks.
The intrigue: This isn't just a feel-good story; Kasumba has serious skills. His pop time — the time between catching the ball and getting it to the second baseman — is 1.89 seconds. The MLB average? 2.00.
