Flying High

BY LISA SAVAGE

For an assignment in fifth grade, Dakota Hudson wrote that he wanted to play professional baseball when he grew up. His teacher gave him a bad grade, sent the paper home and told him to do it again with a more realistic dream.

His parents talked to his teacher because he listed every element in the paper required to fulfill his dream, and his teacher reevaluated the paper.

“Sometimes adults tend to put stipulations on children’s dreams. It’s important to encourage, yet teach them that it takes hard work and determination. Not just luck or opportunity,” his mother, Christy Cartwright Lockhart, says.

Now, years later, the former Sequatchie County High School standout is fulfilling his dream as a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals.

His mother couldn’t be more proud. “He knew from a young age that’s what he wanted to do,” she says. “He worked hard to make his dream come true.”

Aaron Simmons, his coach at Sequatchie County High School, says Hudson is the kind of player every coach loves to have on the team — not because of his ability but because of his attitude. “He’s a hard worker,” Simmons says. “He always asked what could he do to get better. In his willingness to work hard, he found success, and that’s why he is where he is today.”

There was no defining moment that let his teammates know he would one day play professional baseball, says Logan Wells, Hudson’s catcher in high school. “Everybody just knew he was going to do it, seeing how hard he worked,” Wells says. “His work ethic and his love of baseball were driving factors that have gotten him where he is today.”

Hudson has always had tremendous support from his mother; his father, Sam Hudson; Hunter, his older brother by 11 months; younger brothers Alec and Collin; and all of their family members.

The Texas Rangers drafted Dakota Hudson out of high school, but he chose to accept a scholarship to Mississippi State University. He met his wife, Ashlen, through her brother, Ryan Cry, who also pitched for Mississippi State and was one of Hudson’s closest friends. Now, the couple have one son, Nolan.

Whether his mother is at a game or watching on TV, it’s difficult to keep her emotions in check. She says she usually cries for the first inning. “I’m proud of him and the fact that his dreams are coming true. I hope Dakota inspires a child to follow their dream,” she says. “But when I look at him, I see him as Dakota, my son, and I see that he is a good person, a good husband and father, and that if he never plays another day of baseball, he’s going to be happy.”

Dakota Hudson, a 6-foot-5 right-hander, spent two-plus seasons in the minor leagues with the Cardinals organization after his selection in the first round of Major League Baseball’s amateur draft in 2016 out of Mississippi State. He made his Major League debut in 2018, appearing in 26 games, all out of the bullpen, closing the season with a 4-1 record and 2.63 ERA with St. Louis. Hudson made the Cardinals’ 40-man roster out of spring training this year and became the team’s fifth starter after posting a 1.72 ERA in 15 2/3 innings of work in the Grapefruit League.