It's been a long road for Red Deer's Nathan Flewelling.
One that took plenty of hard work, and sacrifice, but with his family's support his dreams of one day playing in Major League Baseball are one step closer.
Last week, the 17-year-old Innisfail, product, who now lives in Red Deer, was taken 94th overall in the third round of the 2024 MLB Draft by the Tampa Bay Rays.
On Sunday he celebrated with his family and friends at their home before leaving for Florida on Tuesday to begin training.
He said that it's a super exciting time for him and the realization that he's been drafted to the MLB has begun to sink in.
"I think it has a little bit more each day. With the support of my family I think it helps it," he said.
Flewelling was taken by the Rays on the second day of the draft. He was at home when he received a phone call from the Rays but didn't initially say anything to his family.
"It's hard because I blacked out in the moment but it was super cool and something that doesn't happen every day," he added.
On the other line was a member of the Rays management group who broke the exciting news.
"Hey man, you're going to be a Ray. Let's get after it."
Those were life-changing words that he won't soon forget.
Maybe even more so for his mother Erin who saw her son's dreams become reality in a blink of an eye.
"It's awesome. Nathan is such a hard worker. I think it's good if the young kids could see that this happened and know that if you work hard and believe in your dreams, they do come true," she said.
"Nathan is the only 15, 16, 17-year-old I know that will go out and hang with friends but is home by 11 because he's got to get up and go to the gym in the morning. We've been blessed that he's like that and he's always been like that."
Nathan's father Curtis Flewelling added that it's been a whirlwind of a week and that he was excited to see his son's hard work pay off.
Once Nathan was drafted Curtis explained he felt lots of different emotions but it was also an opportunity to think about everyone who's helped his son get to where he is.
"He's always had such a passion for the game. He loves the game and loves everything about it, which includes all the friends he's made over the years. He was blessed with an internal drive to want to work extremely hard to become as good as he could," Curtis said.
"He's done lots of things to develop himself as a baseball player not just the skills but also strength and conditioning. He's had a very strong mental makeup to allow him to get to this point. A lot of those things can't be done without a lot of great people who've been around him to help him achieve that goal."
Flewelling, who's committed to Gonzaga University, was ranked 236th on MLB.com's Top 250 draft prospects list.
With that in mind, getting selected in the third round may have come as a surprise to some but Flewelling knew headed into the draft that he would most likely get picked in that area.
"You can't really trust those things too much. I just kind of knew through my advisor and what the other teams were saying," he said. "[To be picked by the Rays] is cool, it's definitely unique. It's not really a team that gets a lot of love around here so I think it would be cool."
Despite the fantastic news for the central Albertan, the hard work isn't over just yet. On Tuesday he and his family flew out to Port Charlotte, which is a community south of Tampa Bay with hopes of signing a contract with the club.
While down there for a few weeks he'll visit their spring training facility and begin working on his craft alongside some of the other Rays draftees. He'll also suit up in a few games against some of the other MLB clubs.
"I'm excited to go meet some new teammates and play with some new coaches. It'll be fun."
The left-handed hitting catcher batted .329 in 20 games this season for the Sylvan Lake Gulls in the Western Canadian Baseball League. In 70 at-bats, he has 23 hits, five doubles, five home runs and 19 RBI.
Late last year, Flewelling joined the Canadian Junior National Team program, participating in the Fall Instructional League Camp that took place in the Dominican Republic.
He's played with plenty of other teams throughout his young career including the U18 AAA Red Deer CarStar Braves of the Baseball Alberta Elite League last year. He also suited up for the St. Joseph High School Falcons Baseball Academy.
"I couldn't have done it without them. Just coaches and then the tight group of guys that I played on in every team," Flewelling said. "They've helped me become a better ball player and enjoy the game quite a bit."
