Long shot? Filipino teen takes swing at Major League Baseball dreams
No homegrown Filipino has reached Major League Baseball.
Sure, there is Claudio Manela, a pitcher from Cavite whose Negro League stint with the Cincinnati Cuban Stars in the 1920s is now recognized as part of MLB history.
There is also Bobby Chouinard, who holds the distinction as the first player born in the Philippines to see action in the MLB since its racial integration in 1947 when he made his debut for the Oakland Athletics in 1996.
Several players of Filipino heritage have made it to the MLB as well, including current New York Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, three-time World Series champion and two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, former Cincinnati Redlegs outfielder Bobby Balcena, former San Francisco Giants pitcher Geno Espineli, and former Florida Marlins outfielder Chris Aguila.
Aiden Lazaro, a 13-year-old standout from Ateneo high school, hopes to break new ground for the country.
“My biggest dream is of course to play in the MLB, to get drafted by a team and to hopefully play in the majors,” Lazaro told Rappler.
As lofty as that dream may be, Lazaro looks to be on the right path.
Lazaro won the Most Runs Batted In (RBIs) honors when he represented the Philippines in the 2024 U-12 Asian Baseball Championship in Japan, and then a year later, helped National Capital Region capture the gold medal in the 2025 Palarong Pambansa in Ilocos Norte.
Starting his baseball journey at the age of five, Lazaro also made Ateneo’s juniors roster for the UAAP last year, becoming the only Grade 7 student to earn a spot.
Those accomplishments have led to Lazaro being accepted to IMG Academy, a renowned private sports-focused boarding school and training center in Florida, United States, which has produced around 150 students who were drafted to a professional league in the last 10 years.
Some of IMG Academy’s most notable alumni include tennis icons Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, golf champion Nelly Korda, and NBA players Dwight Powell and Zach Edey.
And it also helps that Lazaro has the unwavering support of his mother Shelly, who accompanied him to the United States for the first phase of his athletic development program at IMG Academy.
“I really love the training there as I was able to train with very top-tier coaches and play with very good players. After the training, I was feeling very proud of myself that I was able to train, take lessons from very good coaches and play with very good teammates from the US,” Lazaro said.
‘Long shot’
While Shelly believes in Aiden, she also recognizes that making the MLB is a “long shot,” especially for a player coming from a country where baseball remains in the shadows of more popular sports.
That perspective prompted Shelly to temper her son’s expectations as he embarked on his training at IMG Academy.
“When you ask all baseball players, all of them dream to get to the MLB. It’s everyone’s dream. For Filipinos and for Asians, it’s really a long shot. I’m not delusional or I don’t have all these fantasies. My goal is to really just support Aiden,” said Shelly.
“My dream for Aiden, and I will support him all the way, is for him to reach the farthest that this skill, passion, and potential can realistically take him. Wherever it may take him, whether it’s the MLB or… the farthest that he’s meant to achieve, based on what he’s got.”
But Shelly’s optimism grew as Aiden received glowing feedback from IMG Academy coaches.
Local coaches, according to Shelly, describe Aiden as a player who is advanced for his age. Those from the IMG Academy share the same view.
“When I was hearing that and I was hearing all these feedback from the coaches, in my mind, ‘Oh, so it’s not a remote possibility. Oh there’s hope.’ Kind of made me really excited of what’s going to happen next. It’s still a long journey. It really gave me hope, seeing him train there and seeing how the coaches objectively evaluated his skills and his commitment.”
Firm belief
Aiden considers himself capable of playing any position, but he mainly plays catcher and shortstop.
And he patterns his game after some of the best in the history of the sport, including legendary Puerto Rican catcher Yadier Molina, a two-time World Series champion during his 19-year stint with the St. Louis Cardinals; current Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith, a three-time World Series winner; and current Kansas City Royals ace shortstop Bobby Witt Jr, a two-time Gold Glove and two-time Silver Slugger awardee.
Curiously, the catching coach at IMG Academy — according to Shelly — sees a lot of Molina in Aiden.
“That’s the first time I heard the name Molina, because the coach said… ‘You know Aiden, it’s really up to you. You can go as far as you would want to take yourself. It’s really up to you.’ It’s really up to him. If he wants to be in the MLB, he can make it to MLB, for as long as he doesn’t stop training, he doesn’t stop working hard,” Shelly said.
Although he knows he still has a long way to go, Aiden trusts in his ability to get where he wants to be.
“I agree with my mom that I’ll try my best to get as far as I can with my skills, but I also think that it could be possible, especially with the opportunities and resources given,” he said.
“In the future, I can imagine, and hopefully, that I will be playing at the college-slash-D1 level or even playing already in the MLB, perhaps the Triple-A or Double-A.”
Aiden has returned to the country to continue his studies at Ateneo as a Grade 8 student, but he will keep on working with IMG Academy under a hybrid setup.
“He loves representing the school and the Philippines. So we’re lucky that we have that option. For the time being, he will still be doing the academics here, he will still be a student of Ateneo,” said Shelly.
“School break, holiday, at least a two-week vacation that’s not going to be in conflict with any local tournaments, school, stuff like that, we fly. So we will be really shuttling between Manila and Florida.” – Rappler.com
