PHOENIX -- You can see it jutting out on a map. Senegal, with its capital city of Dakar, reaching out from West Africa to touch the Atlantic Ocean. The country is a veritable hotbed for soccer, baseball not even a glint in its collective eye.

Which is where Khadim Diaw comes in.

Diaw became the first player of Senegalese descent to be selected in the MLB Draft when the Twins tabbed him at No. 96 overall in the third round on Monday afternoon. Diaw, 20, was ranked as MLB Pipeline¡¯s No. 163 Draft prospect after flashing a well-rounded skill set during his playing days first at Notre Dame High School (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) and then Loyola Marymount University.

Diaw¡¯s father -- who is trilingual in French, English and Wolof, a language native to West Africa -- was born in Dakar and imbued his son with a love of sport, namely soccer. Diaw¡¯s mother, Suzanne Scheld, was a softball letterwinner at Yale in 1984 and ¡®85; with Khadim having been born in Hoboken, N.J., idolizing Derek Jeter, a new path was formed: baseball.

That doesn¡¯t mean that Diaw¡¯s father immediately took to the nuances of a sport famous for its intricacies and difficulty.

¡°He, at this point, understands baseball a lot better,¡± Diaw said. ¡°As soon as he got the understanding of a balk, I knew that he knew what was happening in the game. He follows it. He enjoys it.¡±

Gift Ngoepe made history in 2017, becoming the first player born in continental Africa to debut in the Majors. While the game is still in the infancy stages of taking hold on the continent as a whole, there is a growing interest wherever there is space to swing a bat and hit something resembling a ball.

¡°I loved it. I thought it was really cool,¡± Diaw said of spending time in Senegal growing up. ¡°I remember when I was younger, playing with the local kids in the community, you know, it was always soccer. They don't have much baseball, playing soccer in the streets just sparked my competitive side.¡±

Long is the list of ball players who grew up with an extensive multisport background as a way to hone their athleticism. Before either Khadim or his father were on the baseball track, the son of a ¡°big soccer guy¡± was using mostly his feet before he ever got accustomed to swinging a bat. (Diaw¡¯s namesake, Khadim Diaw, is a pro soccer player in the Sudan Premier League, who was born in Senegal.)

¡°I think it's helped me with my speed and my power and just agility on the field,¡± Diaw said, ¡°kind of that balance to help me be dynamic as a person and not get too burnt out on baseball or soccer.¡±

The young Yankees fan born in the heart of Bronx Bombers country would continue his baseball odyssey in a new setting: Southern California. With Diaw¡¯s mother taking a job as a professor of anthropology at Cal State Northridge in 2004, the two-sport star would eventually take his talents to famed Notre Dame HS, a program that has produced big league All-Stars Giancarlo Stanton, Hunter Greene and more. The SoCal prep baseball scene is notorious for the talent that it generates year after year, serving as yet another stepping stone for those with dreams of The Show.

¡°I think it's pretty cool to be around those guys,¡± Diaw said. ¡°You kind of get to see them around the field -- Giancarlo is a giant, so is Hunter Greene. So it kind of raises the bar of competitiveness and the standard. And so you're always playing good competition known for having great players.¡±

Diaw, who has experience both behind the dish and in multiple outfield spots, is something of a Draft wild card, as his on-field playing time has been severely limited by injuries -- a back fracture, broken left thumb and sprained wrist zapped him of development over the past three years alone.

But when on the field, the 20-year-old has done nothing but hit, delivering a .348/.426/.559 slash line over 80 games with Loyola Marymount. He also made up for lost time by playing in the Alaska Summer League (.984 OPS) in 2023 and the Cape Cod League (15 hits in 11 games) in ¡®24. Those experiences, albeit limited, appear to have unlocked something for Diaw, who has hit his collective groove as his body and approach have matured.

¡°I think the first time I ever hit with a wood bat made me feel like a pro,¡± Diaw said of his summer stints. ¡°You know, it's kind of something different; professional players are the only ones that hit with wood. So just that different sound than metal. I felt like I was really there.¡±

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It wasn¡¯t until Diaw¡¯s sophomore year at Loyola Marymount that it clicked that he could have a professional future on the diamond. Teammates, ever the endless hype men, imbued him with a sense of his abilities.

But no matter how accomplished a Draft prospect becomes or where they ply their craft, you never forget the first time bat met ball and the result was it sailing beyond the fence.

¡°The first time I ever remember getting a home run, it was to dead center and I had all the accessories -- the bright yellow EvoShield, leg guard, elbow guard,¡± Diaw said. ¡°And I remember running and my leg guard was like falling off and then I would pick it up. So it was kind of embarrassing. It wasn't the greatest aura I guess you could say running around the bases.¡±

But seated at the Draft Combine, overlooking Chase Field with talent evaluators from all 30 Major League organizations in attendance, there was a definite aura about a player who has gone from playing soccer on another continent to being on the precipice of making baseball history.