Kennesaw State alum Drew Plant has baseball in his blood. However, his time spent at KSU working with Owls Baseball and getting two degrees is what inspired Plant to pursue a career in the sport. He achieved his goal in 2022 after accepting a position as a baseball operations assistant with Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Angels.
With the Angels, Plant primarily focuses on scouting amateur players the organization can develop over time. He evaluates the prospects analytically, collaborates with the research and development department and the team’s scouts across the country, and handles administrative tasks. On a typical day, Plant works from his office in Angel Stadium or travels around the country to watch top amateur prospects play.
“I knew pretty early on in high school that the playing side of baseball was not going to work out for me,” Plant said. “However, I loved the game and knew I still wanted to work in it. My focus quickly turned to what I needed to do to make a career in baseball.”
To carve out his professional place in baseball, Plant turned to KSU. He worked with KSU Baseball as a student assistant, and later as director of analytics, while getting his Bachelor of Science in Sports Management and his Master of Science in Applied Statistics and Analytics.
In his first year with KSU Baseball, he began to recognize the growing importance of statistics and analytics in the game.
“Because I never played at the college or professional level, I knew that gaining knowledge and experience in the analytical side of the game would be important for me,” Plant said. “Luckily for me, the more I learned about the analytics and how they were being used, the more intrigued I became. Baseball is an ever-evolving game, but using data to comprehend as much as possible has always been fascinating to me.”
After graduating with his bachelor’s degree in 2019, Plant began working with the baseball team full time while pursuing his…
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