Earlier this month, Dennis Kasumba, an 18-year-old catcher from Uganda, turned “impossible dream into reality” after making a sensational and rare debut in the United States playing high-level baseball after gaining global recognition through social media.

Kasumba’s story is significant after climbing one step further in his bid to become a professional player in America despite only practicing playing baseball in Uganda where the majority of its population have barely heard about baseball.

He started playing in the country when he was 8 years old before gaining global notoriety and mostly used improvised and substandard kits and gears for practices until his dream of playing baseball in the U.S. became reality.

The catcher garnered global attention in the baseball world from posting videos of himself doing various baseball drills without the resources available to most aspiring players and subsequently earned a chance to play in the ongoing Major League Baseball (MLB) Draft League.

On June 1, three days after arriving in the United States from Uganda, Kasumba debuted for Maryland-based collegiate summer baseball team Frederick Keys in what was a sensational upgrade from once playing in rough terrain pitches in faraway East Africa to American professional baseball stadiums.

Speaking to VOA on his debut, Kasumba said My first game was very, very good because I faced a pitcher who threw 95 [miles per hour – about 153 kph], yeah. And I hit it. I need to hit because I am here to hit, to show my skill, I am ready to hit. I want to show I can hit. I want to show them I can throw.”

He spent two years trying to get a contract with an American team and was denied a travel visa twice at the U.S. Embassy in Uganda. But after the intervention of one of Kasumba’s admirers, Joshua Williams, an American attorney and baseball enthusiast, the teenager’s visa was granted in his third attempt.

Kasumba now features for the Keys, playing high-quality amateur league baseball, one step below the professional minor leagues.