Ugandan baseball players pursue
their dreams in Frederick

Steve Morano
MSMU Class of 2024

(8/2024) In an often American-centric view of our country’s national pastime, we often forget how much of a global game baseball truly is. The likes of which are only rivaled by sports such as soccer, basketball, or rugby. With foreign stars such as Shohei Ohtani and Elly De La Cruz, we often think that foreign players need to have a breakout roll at the very highest level to have any accreditation. But in fact, there are many players and stories that define the globalization of the game. Liam Hendriks, an Australian relief pitcher for the Boston Red Sox who defeated cancer and returned to play in the MLB, the Czech National Team who were the darlings of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, representing a country that would not come to mind as a baseball powerhouse, and the countless Latin American players from countries like the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Curacao are many examples of the games global reach. But two players ball players in Frederick have showcased that no matter where you come from, there may always be a chance for those who wish to challenge the game.

Dennis Kasumba and Sempa Shawali Sherican are two players, a catcher and pitcher respectively, for the Frederick Keys who have traveled quite a long way to pursue their baseball dream and develop their skills as players. The two are originally from Gayaza, a village in the Wakiso District of the East African country of Uganda. The pair are the first Ugandans to ever play organized baseball in the United States and are amongst a burgeoning, yet niche community of baseball players and fans in their home country. Their roles in the team have been more than just developmental, as they have played vital roles for the Keys in this year’s MLB Draft League campaign.

Kasumba, a catcher by trade, is no stranger to Frederick or the city’s baseball team. He was a member of last year’s team, made up of college players and NCAA eligible players looking to either be drafted or signed by Major League organizations. Before arriving in America, Kasumba was somewhat of an internet celebrity, posting many of his training videos on Instagram using bricks, tires, and other non-conventional baseball training methods at his disposal. He even had a segment of a ESPN documentary, filmed last year, about him. After his first season of seeing collegiate level baseball in the U.S., Dennis took back gloves, bats, catcher’s gear, and other equipment not readily available in his home country back to the growing baseball community. In this year’s edition of the Draft League, Kasumba was used in more of a proactive role, being a designated hitter. He was used in limited at-bats last year, working a walk in his first game but failing to record a hit. Even though Dennis has remained hitless through this season, he is putting more hard-hit balls in the infield, showing even more progression in his swing.

Sherican is a newcomer to the Keys as this is his first season with the team in the United States. Added to the pitching staff, he, in his first season, has been used a lot more than Kasumba in his first season with the team, being a active arm out of the bullpen and getting valuable experience against quality batters. Although his ERA would not be well regarded by an experienced baseball eye, with him having it close to 20.00, it has to be remembered that Sherican has never seen the types of batters that he has faced in the Draft league as compared to Uganda. It is also worth noting that he has been charged with five earned runs and has issued four walks while striking out two batters in 2.1 innings of work across the season. His role has widely been developmental, but Sherican has contributed enough in a pitching staff that is made up of close to 20 pitchers.

With the tide of baseball in the United States accepting more players in the lower leagues of the organized game from abroad, it is often a learning experience for said individuals. But it can also be an exchange of baseball knowledge from other ways of thinking in the game. As the game spread across the world, players from different backgrounds and cultures added their own spin onto the way it was played. One only has to look at the influence of the Negro Leagues in the modern game to see this. When African Americans were locked out of organized white baseball, the players employed their own ways of playing the game. Base path expedience, hit and runs, tactical bunting, and other, smarter, facets of the game were developed that would eventually become common place in the game as a whole.

Other internationals besides Kasumba and Sherican have found a place in both the Keys organization and other teams around the MLB Draft League. Joe Zhu of Beijing, China and a member of the Minnesota West Community College baseball team is amongst the pitching staff in Frederick. Zhu has helped along in the bullpen, across 7.0 innings, he has struck out six batters while notching a WHIP of 1.71. Another notable international within the Draft League is Trenton’s Rintaro Sasaki. The 18-year old Stanford commit hit a record 170 homeruns in the Japanese high school league and is constantly in touch with Shohei Ohtani, who he knows very from their fathers being friends and attending the same high school.

The affect that playing baseball in the United States has had on both Kasumba and Sherican is immeasurable as they have gotten valuable opportunity, both with training and game time that they simply would not have had in Uganda. In the way that information is naturally shared, the two friends will use this information that they have learned and gathered to not only chase their dreams of one day playing in the major Leagues, but to make the baseball community in the home country better as a whole.