Ichabod pitcher Casey Steward was drafted to the Philadelphia Phillies during the 2023 Major League Baseball draft on July 11. He was the 583rd pick overall for the draft during the 19th round.

Steward, a soon-to-be senior in kinesiology, was born in Wichita, Kansas, and was one of four children to Corey Steward, who was also in baseball, and Cassidy Steward. His twin, Calvin, is beginning a master’s in social work in the fall at Washburn and was on the university’s baseball team with him.

“We were always together with baseball, we were always outside doing some type of baseball activity,” Calvin Steward said.

According to his brother Calvin, Casey’s dream was always to be in the MLB. Being from a Division II school makes it rare to see someone be drafted into professional sports. There is only a 9% chance of moving to the NCAA to professional , which would probably be lower since Washburn is a Division II school.

Steward led the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) with 110 strikeouts and tied with the Washburn school record. He was in the top five in standings for the MIAA for many different pitching statistics. During his first year at Washburn, he sat out for the whole season due to health reasons.

On top of being one of the best pitchers in the MIAA, he was also awarded many other achievements such as MIAA Academic Honor Roll, MIAA Scholar Athlete and was picked for Pitcher of the Week.

Over social media, Steward explained what it felt like when he found out he was drafted.

“It was a surreal moment and it didn’t feel real. I saw my name get picked and didn’t get a call until three minutes later. It’s a feeling that’s hard to explain,” Steward said.

Steward is the second Ichabod to be drafted into the MLB under Washburn’s head coach, Harley Douglas. The first Ichabod, David Gauntt, was drafted in 2016. Douglas has been coaching at his alma mater since 2015.

“You get into this to help kids become better and that was a life-changing opportunity for him. I couldn’t be happier for him and his family,” Douglas said.

Steward wanted to spend more time with his family after hearing the news of being drafted on July 11. However, he had to be in Clearwater, Florida by July 13 for training. That short time period was spent with him rushing to pack up his college dorm without having ample time to soak in his achievement. According to Steward, he doesn’t know how long he will be training for or when his first game on the roster will be.

Edited by Aja Carter, Tiana Smith and Christina Noland