At Dream Series, MLB Works to Develop Young Black Players

Johnson is 6 feet 5 inches, weighs 240 pounds and said many people have attempted to persuade him to switch to football or basketball. Darwin Pennye, a scout for the Kansas City Royals who has worked as a coach and youth development director, said it is hard for young players to resist the allure of those sports.

“We are trying to keep the Patrick Mahomeses of the world in our game,” Pennye said.

Patrick Mahomes, whose father, Pat, was a major league pitcher, chose football, as did other dual-sport stars like Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston.

Johnson has been mentored and encouraged by Hawkins, a 21-year major league pitcher who watched Johnson throw on Saturday in front of about a dozen M.L.B. scouts, all urged by Reagins to attend the Dream Series. Reagins said more scouts were showing up at the events in the wake of last year’s draft, but he would like to see even more.

The programs approach players at all levels, starting in elementary schools, and each year, the top 44 players are invited to play in a special game at Truist Park, the home of the Atlanta Braves, where they use the same clubhouses as the big leaguers and stay in the same hotel as visiting teams.

“That was the highlight of my baseball life,” said Jones, the catcher from Illinois.

Not all make it that far. But some, like Fateen McDaniel, go even further, in part because of the mentorship they received. McDaniel was such a troublemaker at the Hank Aaron Invitational several years ago that Reagins almost sent him home. But Manuel, who recommended McDaniel for the program, told Reagins if they did, they never would hear from McDaniel again. Today, McDaniel serves as an aviation boatswain’s mate, launching aircraft from the deck of the U.S.S. Harry S. Truman.