Chris Singleton was drafted by the Chicago Cubs nearly two years to the day his mother, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, was killed during the Charleston church massacre.
Singleton, who is 20 years old, plays center field on the Charleston Southern University baseball team. The Cubs selected Singleton during the 19th round of the Major League Baseball amateur draft on Wednesday, according to the New York Daily News.
The day after his mother and eight others were killed by Dylann Roof at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina, Singleton delivered inspiring words of wisdom on his university’s baseball field.
“If we just love the way my mom would, the hate won’t be anywhere close to what love is,” he said in the below video from June 2015.
Singleton was one of 41 picks the Cubs made.
Cubs Vice President Jason McLeod said the choice to draft Singleton was solely based on his athletic capabilities, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“First and foremost, he’s a talented player on the field,” McLeod told journalists Wednesday. “We had him evaluated really as almost like a top-10-round-caliber talent. He’s very athletic, a plus runner, plus defender, base-stealer.”
“We certainly understand the backstory there,” he continued. “But what I want to make sure doesn’t get lost is that this guy’s a really good baseball player. He’s talented. He’s athletic. There’s upside there.”
Singleton, who also lost his father in February, has two younger siblings to look after.
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