Los Angeles Dodgers draft pick Aidan West took the road less traveled to the 2025 MLB Draft.
Drafted in the fourth round out of Long Reach High School, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound shortstop wants to show that there are many roads to pro ball. He is proud of his.
West and his family opted to go to a public school in Howard County rather than finding a private school. The 18-year-old understands that private school is typically the first option for players who want to be drafted or recruited by Division I colleges, but he wants to share that it isn’t the only path.
“I really never took anything for granted, either,” West said on Glenn Clark Radio July 15. “I always took pride in going to a public school, going to Long Reach. I got interviewed about a month before the draft and someone asked me, ‘What was going to be the best part?’ And I said, ‘Honestly, hearing Long Reach High School being called on MLB Network.’ That’s definitely something I take a lot of pride in. Make your own route. Don’t follow others.”
West has special ties to his high school and its baseball program. His father Gavin taught his high school coach, Anthony Lyon, in second grade, so his family has known Lyon for years. He was also able to continue playing alongside his best friend by attending Long Reach.
“For us, it was really about creating the legacy there and leaving it way better than we found it and changing the narrative,” West said.
West is the first player from Howard County to be taken in the MLB Draft since Cody Morris, who graduated from Reservoir High School and was selected by Cleveland out of South Carolina in 2018, according to The Baltimore Sun. He has always had a love for baseball and the game’s competitive nature.
“Baseball just really stuck with me,” West said. “Knowing that it’s an impossible sport to be perfect at just keeps me going further and further every day. … It was always natural to me.”
West recalled a story his dad likes to share of when West was 5 years old.
“He was just chilling in the basement watching an Orioles game, and I came down to watch an inning with him,” West said. “I left when the commercial break came on and he thought that was it, and then I ended up going back downstairs and watching the whole game with him. Just stuff like that makes it that much sweeter for sure. And I’ve always really known that baseball is my sport, and that’s what I was good at and what I wanted to stick to.”
West was a huge Adam Jones fan growing up. He credits Jones for why he wears high socks when he plays.
He hasn’t officially signed with Los Angeles yet, but West is thrilled to become part of the organization. He will forgo his commitment to North Carolina State to sign with the Dodgers.
“When you think of baseball, you think of the Dodgers,” West said. “You think of Shohei [Ohtani], you think of Mookie [Betts]. All a kid can ever envision growing up playing baseball is playing for a team like that and helping them win a World Series. So that’s what I’ll be striving for in the organization.”
To hear more from West, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Aidan West