On June 17, before Jamill Moquette walked up to the batter’s box for his first at-bat of his professional career, his teammates encouraged the recent University of Massachusetts Boston graduate to swing at the first pitch.
“All the guys kept saying, you have to go for the first pitch, and I’m like ‘what?’”
Though he had his doubts, Moquette listened.
Moquette swung on a first-pitch fastball, for a double up the line, to gain the first hit of his career with the Aberdeen IronBirds.
“I was really, really happy that I got that hit,” Moquette said.
Moquette first picked up a baseball bat at the age of nine-years-old, when he moved to the United States from his home country, the Dominican Republic.
Thirteen years later, the young boy who had dreams of becoming a professional baseball player watched his dreams become a reality when the Baltimore Orioles picked him in the 32nd round of the 2014 MLB draft.
A dream fulfilled.
“It’s a dream come true for me to play at the next level. I’m very excited, but it’s a grind now to play every day — practice every day,” Moquette said.
“A lot of people always told me that I always had the ability to [get drafted]. But it was that extra moment, the extra motivations that I gave myself, to push myself to be able to get drafted, and become the person that I am today as a player.”
Moquette has been making the most of his opportunity. After starting off slowly for the Orioles’ Short Season Class A affiliate, Moquette has improved steadily this season. While his average is only at .208, he has the club lead with eight home runs and is tied for the IronBirds lead with 25 RBIs. 
Moquette’s accomplishment was not just for him, it was for his country and a culture that taught him to love the game of baseball at a very young age.
“Every Dominican kid’s dream is to become a baseball player to see how far they can make it, how far they can go,” Moquette shared.
And it was also for his mother, the woman who motivated him to keep pushing even when his path was mobbed by obstacles.
“I always wanted to do it for my mom,” Moquette said. “I wanted to better myself and help her out with anything because she’s always been the one saying ‘yeah you got it, anything you need, you know I’ll do it for you.’”
Since getting drafted, Moquette admits that his life has changed but that his love of the game is what fuels his ability to get up and play every day.
“My life has really changed but I love it. I don’t mind, it’s a little bit tiring because it’s my first year, but you get used to it after those first couple of weeks.”
Moquette admits that he had to adjust to the speed of the game after he struggled earlier in the season.
“[I wasn’t used to] seeing guys with a ninety-five-mile per hour fastball. Up in the Northeast in Division 3, you’d never see that. But then again I can’t tell myself I can’t hit that because I know I can. You just put your foot down and you go with it.”
“I would say [the minor leagues] is ninety-nine percent different than it is at UMass Boston right now. Especially being from the northeast and playing at sixty-five degree weather pretty much every day of my senior year. The pitching is so much better, the hitting is so much faster.”
Moquette attributes a lot of his success to his former manager at UMass Boston.
“Coach [Brendan] Eygabroat [helped] me a lot. I used to live in the weight room in the fall and it just helped me to get to where I am now.”
Although many have helped the 6’3, 215 pound outfielder along the way, he expressed that his motivation and drive to push himself is a big reason why he is where he is today
“Just to have that drive, that drive to know that I can make it. If there is a point in your life when you know you can do it, you have to do it yourself and make it happen.”