Frederick Keys catcher Dennis Kasumba from Gayaza, Uganda gets batting tips from coach Jacque Jones during batting practice at Muncy Bank Ballpark June 21, 2023. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Baseball is a global game.

Just looking at the average MLB roster would show a glimpse at that. With Americans still representing the majority in the show, a typical roster would be filled out by athletes from South America, to the DR, and all the way out east in baseball havens such as South Korea and Japan.

The 2023 World Baseball Classic further proves this point, with countries from all over competing in what was the highest level of baseball the tournament had seen. It even featured its share of upsets, with countries like the United Kingdom and England snatching wins, proving that the quality of the game has improved from a global perspective.

But nobody opened more eyes than Japan, who’s exciting play and brilliant atmosphere culminated in winning the Classic vs. the United States in the final. Indeed, the game known as America’s pastime has stretched far and wide throughout the world as a global game.

While the Williamsport Crosscutters have their fair share of culture in their clubhouse, their opponents in their midweek series this week — the Frederick Keys — may have done them one better with one of the best stories in the league so far in catcher Dennis Kasumba.

Dennis Kasumba is something out of a sports movie. Standing at just 5-foot-6, 154 pounds, the Gayaza, Uganda native came from the most stringent circumstances to get his big shot in the Draft League.

His work ethic is something to marvel at. A quick look at his twitter account, and you’d see Kasumba practicing throws to second using broken bricks in a muddy patch, throwing car tires against the wall in catcher’s gear, and doing elevated push ups using concrete blocks and having a water cooler container on his back for an added challenge.

There’s plenty of debate in terms of what the Ugandan can produce on the diamond, but there is no debate that the Gayaza native didn’t work harder than anybody else possible for his chance across the pond.

Just getting to the states had been an issue for Kasumba was a tall task, with his travel visa initially declined multiple times by the U.S embassy. That declaration has now been rescinded, allowing Kasumba to take a massive step towards his goal at becoming a professional baseball player.

“Quitting is not an option,” said Kasumba on his twitter account with a picture of him throwing a tire for strength training. “I will keep working hard until I become better at this.”

Baseball can be seldom on the mind of a kid growing up in Uganda, with 55% of the country’s children living in poverty and 24% living in extreme poverty according to UNICEF.

Kasumba has had to battle it all. In a piece from the Los Angeles Times, Kasumba was shown being paid 50 cents for shoveling cow manure to afford sugar. According to the same piece from the LA Times, the Ugandan previously dropped out of school at the age of 14 and worked at a slaughterhouse in order to afford a meal.

“I asked him why he was working in the slaughterhouse,” said his volunteer baseball coach Paul Walufa, “and he was like, ‘I want to have something to eat. We don’t have anything to eat at home.'”

Kasumba, thanks in large part to his coach and mentor in Walufa, saw baseball as much as an escape as it was a way out, with his call to enter the Draft League for the Keys his biggest leap in his young career.

“He came in here one knee down, just like you see everyone nowadays. When you come from Uganda, the hardest [he’s had to catch] is about 85, 86,” Discussed Keys manager Rene Rivera in an interview with the MLB Network. “Now he has to catch 95, 96. So I went back and told him ‘let’s go traditional, both knee up, target, and just receive’ and he’s been doing alot better… I’m very happy with the jump he had.”

Heading into Wednesday’s fixture vs. the Cutters, Kasumba still chases his first hit after 10 at bats, but has reached three times via walks including one which scored a runner.. His experience with the squad is expected to elevate, with the 5’6 catcher expected to play behind the plate in Thursday’s game at Historic Bowman Field.

The final chapter is yet to be written, and no one truly knows just how far Dennis Kasumba’s journey to become the first Ugandan and third African to ever make it to the show will go. But one thing’s become clear when following his journey so far, and it’s that he will always leave it all out on the diamond to reach his goal and achieve his dream.