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WooSox first baseman Niko Kavadas fields questions from Park Avenue Elementary School students in press conference-style assembly

May 4, 2024

WooSox first baseman Niko Kavadas visited Park Avenue Elementary School in Webster, Massachusetts on Friday, May 3, to meet with over one hundred 4th grade students via the WooSox Foundation Care-A-Van, presented by Bank of America.

WooSox first baseman Niko Kavadas visited Park Avenue Elementary School in Webster, Massachusetts on Friday, May 3, to meet with over one hundred 4th grade students via the WooSox Foundation Care-A-Van, presented by Bank of America.

In a mock press conference, Kavadas sat in front of the Park Ave students and answered a wide variety of their questions. The infielder from South Bend, Indiana, said it was cool to have the opportunity to speak with so many 4th graders in the central Massachusetts area.

“I was in 4th grade once, and I idolized the guys that played for the South Bend Cubs,” Kavadas said. “To know that you can have that kind of impact on someone is really cool.”

When one student asked about Kavadas’s baseball idol, he replied with a former member of the Red Sox organization.

“Growing up, I loved Kyle Schwarber,” #24 said. “He’s a Midwest guy, he’s a stockier build, left-handed hitter, and he helped the Cubs win the World Series in 2016 to break a 108-year drought, which was awesome.”

One student asked what team Kavadas wanted to be drafted to, a question the first baseman responded to by reflecting on his childhood.

“When I was young, I always wanted to be a part of the Chicago Cubs,” he said. “My dad was a really big Cubs fan, and we would watch Cubs games together all the time. When I got to middle school and high school and I was pretty serious about playing baseball, I wanted to get drafted by the Colorado Rockies because I learned about elevation and altitude and about how the ball moves further out there and how I could hit more home runs.”

Towards the end of the Q&A session, the Park Ave students gifted Kavadas a baseball signed by the entire 4th grade.

Kavadas and the Worcester Red Sox will next face the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Saturday, May 4 at 4:05 p.m.