The former Queens and Ardrey Kell standout grew up rooting for New York.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. β At Queens University’s home diamond on Charlotte’s west side, the field is fit for a Yankee.
“It means a lot,” Dillon Lewis said. “This is where my baseball beginnings started in Charlotte.”
Lewis moved to Charlotte during his high school years, right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Stick Williams Dream Fields on Tuckaseegee Road provided a place to play.
“During that time, there was not a lot going on in terms of baseball,” Lewis said. “This field kind of provided that opportunity.”
Lewis became a conference player of the year at Ardrey Kell High School, but didn’t go on to play for Power 5 programs like North Carolina or South Carolina. Instead, he stayed here, starring for Queens University.
With the Royals, he was one of just two D1 players to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases during the 2024 season.
Lewis was drafted by a Major League Baseball team. And that’s where this story starts to sound storybook.
“You just couldn’t write a better script,” T.J. Lewis, Dillon’s dad, said.
When Dillon Lewis was little, he attended a game at Yankee Stadium in 2009.
“I don’t remember too much,” Dillon Lewis said. “I think A-Rod might’ve gotten ahold of one.”
But it was a memorable day for the entire family, including T.J., who was an Orioles fan.
“We walked in the stadium and I said, ‘I lost him,'” T.J. said. “It was the day I was like ‘He’s going to be a Yankee fan.'”
So last summer, when Dillon got the call on draft day, it seemed like fate.Β
“My husband was standing next to me,” Charmain Lewis, Dillon’s mom, said. “He looks over at me and he says ‘The Yankees got him.’ There were just tears of excitement. Tears of joy.”
Before moving to Charlotte, Dillon Lewis grew up in Tampa, which just so happens to be the home of the Yankees Single-A affiliate.Β
So back home, wearing his favorite team’s uniform, what did Dillon do next? You can probably take a guess.
He hit a home run in his first professional game for the Tampa Tarpons.
“No way. You see him connect with it, and you’re like, that ball’s gone,” T.J. Lewis said. “He was just checking off a lot of boxes right out of the gate. It was typical Dillon.”
In 14 games last summer, Lewis hit four doubles, drove in six runs, and stole three bases.
“It was some of the most fun, free baseball I’ve played so far,” Dillon said.
When he’s back in Charlotte, Lewis gives his time to the Knothole Foundation and the Carolinas Metro Reds at this field, organizations that help kids access the game he loves.
“It feels great. It’s giving back,” Dillon Lewis Β said. “I’ve had a lot of people helping me on my path, and I wouldn’t be able to do it by myself. To know I can be in the corner with those kids and those that need it, it feels great.”
Contact Nick Carboni atΒ ncarboni@wcnc.comΒ and follow him onΒ Facebook,Β XΒ andΒ Instagram.
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