Neither injuries nor a position change could slow down former Brother Rice star Zion Rose on his way to professional baseball.
Rose, who played three seasons for the Crusaders before transferring to IMG Academy in Florida for his senior year and then finding college success at Louisville, had his MLB hopes fulfilled earlier than anticipated Saturday.
"It's been my dream for a long time, so to be able to see it come to fruition was amazing," Rose said in a press conference. "I got to share it with my family and the people who supported me my whole life, so I'm just grateful to be here."
Rose was taken by the Kansas City Royals with the sixth overall pick in the first round of the MLB draft in Philadelphia .
A 21-year-old outfielder who was the 2022 Daily Southtown Baseball Player of the Year, Rose was widely projected to be chosen toward the end of the first round.
Instead, the Royals shocked the baseball community by taking him off the board much earlier than expected. Going into the draft, Rose felt ready for anything.
"I never wanted to put any limitations on myself, so I never wanted to say that I wasn't going to go in top 10 or that I'd go later," he said. "I wanted to assume that I was going No. 1 and then leave all that up to chance. The Royals obviously saw something in me and I'm grateful."
Brother Rice coach Sean McBride is too.
"I'm just overly excited," McBride said. "I'm at a little bit of a loss for words. We knew early on that there was potential for him to be a high draft pick. He's put in a lot of work. He went through some injury things this year, so from a personal standpoint, you're just super proud of him.
"Nobody's more deserving. That's just what I told him."
Rose missed some time this spring because of ankle and hamstring injuries but hit .417 with six homers and 24 stolen bases in 36 games for Louisville. He also fully settled in as an outfielder, playing there full time after being a catcher in high school and part of his freshman year in college.
Rose, who batted .496 in his final season at Brother Rice, had long ago convinced some of his former teammates that he would be in the big leagues one day.
Bryce Nevils , who is transferring to McNeese State after being named a second team All-American this spring in junior college at John A. Logan, definitely saw it coming.
"Zion just has a special mindset," Nevils said. "In high school, he would teach us how to take rounds of batting practice the correct way and work on something instead of just going up there swinging. He was always working on something.
"This just makes a ton of us from Chicago who are in college right now extra motivated. We all want to have a chance to get where he is."
And although part of Rose's journey involved leaving Brother Rice, the Crusaders' community certainly takes immense pride in him.
"The year that Zion was at IMG, we made it to state and his family was there cheering us on," McBride said of the 2023 season. "They're Crusaders, Zion and his family, and they always will be.
"Ultimately, it all worked out. He was the sixth overall pick in the MLB draft. You say that out loud and it just gives you goosebumps."
Rose told Royals fans to expect to see his full effort every day as he looks to work his way up the organization.
"I play my game hard," Rose said. "There are still certain parts of my game that are there to develop, with power and all that, but I'm going to get to the ball wherever it's pitched and I'm going to put balls in play.
"I'm going to do my job out there."
