The latest Canberra teenager bound for the big US baseball leagues is expected to sign a seven-year deal with the New York Yankees today.
Kyle Perkins, 16, joins the world's most renowned baseball club after being spotted by a Yankees scout during last year's under-18 national championship in Western Australia.
The 16-year-old Daramalan College student was told a fortnight ago to expect an offer from the baseballing powerhouse. And today it arrives.
Perkins, who is in Year 11, will join the club roster as a catcher in 2010 after he has finished school.
Until then he is expected to follow a rigorous training regime and a strict diet and put in a lot of hard work.
Perkins has been recruited by the Yankees along with Victorian teenager Nathan Aron.
"This is a life-changing event," Perkins said yesterday ahead of his Australian Provincials debut last night in the Claxton Shield match against Queensland. "I look at this as though it is the opportunity to start another journey."
Perkins' manager Stuart Hanrahan was approached by a Yankee talent spotter, who then told the teenager's parents their son's life was about to change.
They decided to keep the news to themselves until after the nationals - which Kyle's father admitted was tough.
Since hearing the news the ACT baseball community has thrown its support behind Perkins.
US Minor League player Michael Collins, who plays with the Bandits in Canberra, has taken Perkins under his wing, throwing with him and offloading all his experience on to the young talent.
"People can tell you as much as they want, but you never know how hard it's going to be until you get there," Perkins said.
The Woden Rebels catcher turned to baseball after trying softball at school.
ACTAS realised his talent three years ago and recruited him into its program. Perkins hasn't looked back.
Academy of Sport assistant coach Brent Phelan said he was proud of the US-bound talent and said it was great news for Canberra ballplayers.
"He's a young kid with a lot of potential," Phelan said yesterday.
"Three years ago we put him in our junior program, which we planned to be for future scholarship players.
"[Perkins] was an athletic kid whose body, we thought back, then would get big."
Phelan, himself a scout with the Chicago Cubs, said the talent leaving Australian shores for the US leagues was a great thing.
"There'll be a lot of kids in Canberra, there's usually about a kid a year ... and the Yankees is awesome.
"It's a great organisation with a great history."
Perkins is likely to get his start in the rookie leagues with the Gulf Coast Yankees based in Tampa, Florida.
But he doesn't care, as long as he's over there.
"I just thought that it would have been great to have an offer, but the fact that it was the Yankees made me feel even better," said Perkins.