'Dream Come True' For Massillon Washington Grad

Aidan Longwell OF / LHP / Massillon Washington, OH / 2020

MASSILLON - Aidan Longwell has been in Scottsdale, Ariz., for a week now pursuing his goal of becoming a major league baseball player.

“It’s exciting to get here,” related the 17th-round selection in this year’s MLB Draft, who arrived in Arizona on Saturday and signed a contract with the Colorado Rockies on Sunday. “It’s a dream come true to get here and start my pro career.” 

The 6-1 205-pound left-handed hitter is working out at first base, a position the 2020 Massillon Washington graduate played at Kent State the past two years while also seeing time on the mound for the Golden Flashes.

“I had one more year left,” Longwell said about his time at Kent State, which included first-team All-league honors in 2023 when he hit a team-high .409 with 75 RBIs to go along with 10 home runs. “I was hearing good things about the draft around people I trust and came up with numbers for a signing bonus.”

Longwell was at home with his family when taken with the 502nd pick in the recent draft.

“It was an awesome experience,” Longwell said. “It was a dream come true.”

While the draft is always an uncertainty, the 21-year-old expected to be taken at some point in time.

“I was talking with half of the teams in some form or fashion leading up to the draft, so I knew a call would come,” Longwell explained. “There were five that were really serious in picking me, that were in contact with my agent and the Rockies were one of them. I wasn’t sure if they would take me, but they showed a lot of interest.

“I talked with their scouts this fall to get a feel, and they let me know I was on their radar. But they didn’t talk to me during the season, they talked to my agent. But once the college season ended they talked to me again.”

After being chosen it was a matter of deciding to return to Kent State for his final year or pursue his professional career on the ball diamond.

“I had a number in mind and it was close enough to it for me to be comfortable,” Longwell noted. “I wasn’t against going back to Kent, and I’m thankful for the opportunity I had to be able to play there.

“I stayed in contact with the coaches at Kent, who were asking what was going on. They were a great resource to keep in my back pocket. Having them in my corner was a good thing to have.”

Now Longwell is in Arizona where the temperatures have been exceeding 110 on a daily basis.

“I’ve been working out and in a week or so I’ll play in the Arizona Complex League,” Longwell pointed out. “Then it will be instructional ball in September and October before heading home.”

It is just the beginning of what Longwell hopes is a path that ends in the major leagues.

“The goal is to get to the big leagues and start,” Longwell concluded. “I’m just taking it one day at a time and trying to get better each day. I have great resources here to continue to develop, get bigger, stronger, faster and continue to learn. I just need to trust the process and see how it works out.”