For the vast majority of Harvard College’s Class of 2004, longtime childhood hopes of playing professional baseball have long since been replaced by aspirations for the stolid world of grad school, investment banking and adulthood.

Trey Hendricks, congratulations on singularly keeping the dream alive.

Selected in the 24th round of the 2004 Major League Baseball Draft, Hendricks—Harvard baseball’s co-captain and a government concentrator—will look to head west after graduation to enter the Arizona Diamondbacks minor league system and begin his climb of the professional baseball ladder.

“I’m excited about the opportunity that Trey got,” baseball head coach Joe Walsh said. “I look forward to following him. It’s just unfortunate because their ballclub is in Washington [state].”

The 716th pick overall, Hendricks was chosen with his future as a first or third baseman in mind, taken for his offensive talent rather than the at-times tireless pitching arm which won him Ivy League Pitcher of the Year. Impressively, the Spring, Texas native ranked sixth in the country in hitting, winning the Ivy League batting crown with a .427 mark.

“I’m so happy for him, he deserves everything he’s gotten,” fellow draftee sophomore Zak Farkes said. “It was a perfect spot in going to Arizona.”

Indeed, to Walsh, Hendricks and the Diamondbacks organization are a prime, logical fit. He said that he was “not surprised by the selection,” and points in particular to a positive relationship between the senior and Arizona’s Boston-area representatives which developed prior to draft day.

“They came and got to see him near the end of the season,” Walsh said. “And when Trey went out to their training camp, he put the ball in the upper deck twice, right-handed and left-handed.”

Notably, however, Hendricks was curiously not amongst the first crop of Ivy Leaguers selected, a head-scratching fact only compounded by the comparative statistical performances of the players chosen.

Of the six position players taken before him—four of whom are from Princeton—none exhibited the same measurable level of hitting ability, power numbers or run production that Hendricks did this season or over their respective careers.

But, as Walsh notes—utilizing out the current buzzword of baseball analysts—it all comes down to “tools,” or projected physical skills—the same ones Tiger centerfielder B.J. Szymanski purportedly possesses five of.

“Trey is a ballplayer,” Wash distinguishes. “He gets the job done, he gets clutch hits, and he wins. That’s what he’s recognized as by the league. He gets put on All-Star teams, and he had a great year, a great career.”

FROM BOSTON TO BOSTON?

Sophomore infielder Zak Farkes, a 39th round choice to his hometown Boston Red Sox, will have a similar opportunity to join pro baseball, if he chooses to pursue it.

The 1,175th pick in the draft, the selection was especially meaningful because Farkes, the Massachusetts native, grew up mere blocks away from Fenway Park, idolizing the team for almost his entire life.