Kenya Huggins arrived in the Athletics organization at the 2025 Trade Deadline with a new clubhouse, a new player-development staff and a career still very much in its opening innings. What he did not expect was to find a Hall of Fame pitcher waiting to help him navigate all of it.
Dave Stewart had seen Huggins throw only a few times when the former Athletics ace decided to introduce himself. Their first exchange in Arizona was not about a breaking ball or a delivery. Stewart noticed the young right-hander’s size-15 shoes. From there, the conversations kept coming.
Now, in the Mesa Solar Sox dugout during the Arizona Fall League, the 23-year-old Huggins calls his mentor “Uncle Stew.” Stewart, a three-time World Series champion and an Athletics Hall of Famer, talks about Huggins as family.
From an unsigned card to a daily connection
- Huggins was selected by the Reds in the fourth round of the 2022 Draft after pitching at Chipola Junior College, following his high school days in New Orleans.
- Cincinnati traded him to the Athletics at the 2025 deadline, placing him in a new organization while he was still developing as a professional pitcher.
- Before getting to know Stewart, Huggins was handed a Stewart baseball card and told to get it signed when they met. Huggins admitted he did not recognize the name at the time.
- Once Stewart watched one of his bullpen sessions in Arizona, the two began talking regularly, on the field and away from it.
- Huggins later dug into Stewart’s career and wanted their relationship to become more than a passing instructional conversation. It has turned into an everyday line of communication.
For Stewart, the move came from a familiar place. He remembered the veteran pitchers who helped him when he was breaking into pro ball, particularly as a young Black pitcher. Don Newcombe was the first person Stewart met after he arrived at Dodgertown in 1976, and Newcombe explained why he felt responsible for helping the next generation.
Stewart said he is trying to carry forward what Newcombe, Bob Gibson and Sandy Koufax gave him. Huggins is part of a longer list that includes Dontrelle Willis, CC Sabathia and Hunter Greene—pitchers Stewart has tried to reach with practical advice and a smoother path through the game.
A difficult Double-A season and a Fall League reset
The guidance mattered during Huggins’ first full campaign in the Athletics system. The club pushed him aggressively to Double-A Midland, where he worked both as a starter and reliever. The season brought plenty of swing-and-miss—10.2 strikeouts per nine innings—but command problems in and around the strike zone led to a 6.63 ERA.
Huggins is working from the bullpen for Mesa in the Arizona Fall League. Stewart follows every outing closely, feeling the highs of a good appearance and the frustration when his protégé runs into trouble.
Stewart believes Huggins has more raw ability at this stage than he did as a young pitcher. That is why his expectations are demanding. He also understands the emotional side of the Minor Leagues, and he said the challenge is knowing when to deliver a hard message and when to remember what it felt like to be a pitcher searching for footing.
Huggins, for his part, wants the hard message. He has told Stewart not to soften his feedback, saying he responds best when the standard is clear and the criticism is honest.
A mentor who sees more than the stat line
Huggins said the relationship means more to him than any financial reward. He values learning from a man who has lived the professional game, understands the experience of a Black pitcher, and still pushes him to reach beyond Stewart’s own accomplished career.
The right-hander said he could have used this kind of direction earlier, whether in New Orleans or at Chipola. Still, he sees the timing differently now. The trade that disrupted his routine also brought him into the orbit of the mentor he calls Uncle Stew.
Huggins has spoken openly about the hardships that shaped him and the pressures facing a player trying to climb through the system. In Stewart, he sees someone who has chosen to be present every day, even though he has no obligation to do so. For a young pitcher working through a rough Double-A line and trying to establish himself out of the bullpen in Mesa, that voice carries weight.
The numbers from Midland will remain part of Huggins’ record: a 6.63 ERA, 10.2 strikeouts per nine, uneven command and a season spent switching roles. But his Arizona Fall League work has another subplot now. Each appearance comes with a Hall of Fame set of eyes nearby, a mentor invested enough to celebrate the good innings and feel the bad ones right along with him.
