Kahlil Watson gets his first MLB hit in a big spot for the Cleveland Guardians.
Every kid who grows up playing Little League dreams of making it to MLB and getting their first big-league hit. Finally, on Monday evening, that moment came for Cleveland Guardians prospect Kahlil Watson.
Watson was called up last week, and despite a plethora of opportunities, was still waiting to get his first ball in play. The left-handed hitter wasn’t in Cleveland’s initial starting lineup against the Chicago White Sox, but he entered the game in a pinch-hit situation at the top of the seventh inning.
The Guardians had the bases loaded and were down three runs at the time. On the third pitch of Watson’s at-bat, he hit a perfectly placed ground ball between the first and second basemen.
Not only was this a memorable moment for Watson, but it was also a huge moment for the Guardians. Watson’s first career hit came with his first and second career runs batted in as Steven Kwan and Daniel Schneemann scored.
This was a tough moment for any hitter to step into, let alone a rookie with less than a week of experience.
Watson said his goal coming into that situation was, “I just wanted to be aggressive and just come up in a big spot and just do a job, and I think I did it.”
Watson clearly, and understandably, had some nerves over his first few games, but even he admitted he’s started to settle down a little bit more at the plate. “I started just relaxing and letting it flow,” he said.
Now that Watson knows what it’s like to get on base in a big-league game, he’s already shifted his focus to his next goal at the big-league level, and that’s making some noise on the basepaths.
“All I was trying to do was just get on base so I can just start stealing," continued Watson. "So now, I've got that first get out of the way. Now I can just go out there and just start swinging like I want.”
Given Cleveland’s continued injury issue, Watson should continue to see more playing time and opportunities over the next few weeks.
Now that he has his first hit out of the way, he can take that pressure off and swing the bat as he was doing in Triple-A, which warranted that call-up.
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