Whereas some professional baseball careers appear to be predestined, most are not. Most players have to scrap and claw their way up the ladder.
But few have been as much of a long shot as Isotopes third baseman Josh Fuentes, who played one year of varsity baseball at Trabuco Hills High School in Mission Viejo, Calif., before earning a walk-on spot at nearby Saddleback College. From there, he hit his way to Missouri Baptist, an NAIA school, before the first cousin of Rockies’ all-star Nolan Arenado signed with Colorado as an undrafted free agent in 2014.