Johannesburg Roots, Tokyo Aspirations
Lynchburg, Va. -- Kieran Lovegrove tries to picture it."I really can't even fathom the idea of sixty thousand or so in a stadium," Lovegrove said, a Hillcats reliever for the second straight season. While it might be challenging for Lovegrove to picture the scene, the opportunity for him to pitch
Lynchburg, Va. -- Kieran Lovegrove tries to picture it.
"I really can't even fathom the idea of sixty thousand or so in a stadium," Lovegrove said, a Hillcats reliever for the second straight season. While it might be challenging for Lovegrove to picture the scene, the opportunity for him to pitch in the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo has become an increasingly real possibility.
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1994, the first ball Lovegrove picked up was a cricket ball, and the first bat he swung was a paddle. However, when Lovegrove was five-years-old, the family relocated to Southern California, where his mother, Kelly, is from. At that point, it made sense to make the transition to baseball.
Lovegrove fell in love with baseball in America and continued to excel at the game as he grew older. His father, Keith, who was born in South Africa and lived there for much of his adult life, would mention the possibility to Kieran of playing at the international level. At the time, it seemed to Kieran as no more than a hypothetical, as baseball at the time had been removed from the list of Olympic completion.
His dad has played an integral role in Lovegrove's development.
"He's been my number one supporter since day one," said Lovegrove. "He's been there every step of the way."
While Kieran was growing up in California, Keith found a job that would allow him to work from home, so that he would be able to make it to all of his son's games. That included road trips to Arizona and cross-country flights to tournaments in North Carolina.
Lovegrove's first exposure to baseball on an international stage came at the World Baseball Classic in 2009. South Africa played Mexico, and Lovegrove got a chance to watch players from his country of birth participate in international competition.
"They didn't really know who I was at the time, or realize that I was born in South Africa," recalls Lovegrove, but it planted the seed that his father's proposition wasn't out of the realm of possibility.
Lovegrove would dominate the high school ranks at Mission Viejo, earning a third-round selection from the Cleveland Indians in 2012. Following his first professional season, Lovegrove got his opportunity to play on the international stage.
Team South Africa was competing in a tournament in Jupiter, Florida, and Lovegrove competed against the likes of Spain, France, and Israel. For Lovegrove, the highlight was meeting the South African natives on the team, and realizing what baseball meant to them.
"The guys on the team more or less play baseball as a hobby, very few play professionally, but they have a passion for the game that either matches or exceeds that of the American players," said Lovegrove. "Getting to meet them and spend time with them is pretty cool."
Lovegrove has since stayed in contact with many of the players on the team, including the handful that, like Lovegrove, are working their way up the minor league ranks.
In spring training, he and fellow pitchers
"There was just this collective feeling of jubilation that we had done it, that we had broken though," said Lovegrove, "and now there's a few of us coming up, Dillon with Angels, Taylor with the Rangers, so it's starting to very slowly trickle down, and the athletes in South Africa are beginning to play baseball."
Talking with Lovegrove, the excitement for playing internationally, and representing his country is palpable. That feeling was taken up a level when the 2020 roster was released this spring, and he saw his name, along with many familiar faces.
"There's a sense of national pride, that I think, supersedes any sort of team pride," he said. "And don't get me wrong, the Indians have been so good to me for seven years, but I wasn't born an Indians fan, I was born South African, so there's that different feeling, standing on the line and hearing the South African national anthem, and having the guys next to you singing it. It feels like it carries a lot of weight."
While the schedule is still being fleshed out, the road begins in the not-so-distant future. The team will begin training in October, then comes the Africa qualifiers, and following that, a unification qualifying stage against European nations.
It's unclear yet whether the qualification games will take place in South Africa, but regardless, Lovegrove hopes to return to his native county, for the first time since 2013.
"I don't know if I'd call it home because of the small amount of time I've spent there," Lovegrove said, "but it feels like a place that I was meant to be. I love the people there, the culture, the food, the drinks. The life that exists in South Africa is incredible."
While it's a long road ahead for Lovegrove and team South Africa, the Hillcats righty looks forward to the possibility, not just for him, but for his dad.
"I hope he gets the opportunity to come with me, because I don't think there's anything he would enjoy more," said Lovegrove, who adds that Toyko has always been a city that he has longed to visit.
While it's easy to fantasize over the big stage and bright lights, Lovegrove remains focused on the present.
"I don't think I'm going to start thinking about it until it becomes more of a possibility, because I think it might be overwhelming to try to do so. After seven years of pro ball I've learned what is, and what isn't important to think about, and I think the most important thing is what's right in front of you."