Robinson Smith was named after a Major League Baseball legend - now the Australian teenager is out to carve his legacy after signing with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Smith, son of Australian Olympic swimmer Nicole Livingstone, will join the five-time World Series champions on a six-year contract as an international amateur free agent.
The deal will take the 17-year-old from Sandringham Baseball Club in Melbourne's south to Pennsylvania in the United States.
In joining the Pirates, Smith also fulfills a case of nominative determinism.
Livingstone and husband Marty named their son after Jackie Robinson, who became the first black baseball player to play in the major leagues in 1947.
"It is a bit surreal and you start to think, well, where does destiny play a role in this?" Livingstone told AAP.
"Destiny played a role in us choosing that name, him choosing the sport and then getting behind him in pursuing what he loved.
"It feels like the jigsaw pieces came together very nicely and that jigsaw is somewhat complete today, but it's a small jigsaw and I know he's got his eye on a much bigger one."
Smith becomes the 27th Australian contracted with an MLB outfit after Sydney product Travis Bazzana was drafted to the Cleveland Guardians with the No.1 pick in July.
The 195cm tall right-hander can pitch the ball at 152km/h - a speed that will only increase when he heads to the Dominican Republic to join Pittsburgh's development squad.
He has spent the last seven months not at school completing year 11, but in Florida under the tutelage of developmental coach Manny Carrion.
Pittsburgh first knocked on his door in 2023 after he played in the under-16 Australian championships.
Smith joins the Pirates despite their most recent last-place finish in the National League Central division, turning down rival club offers to link up with compatriots Solomon Maguire and Blake Townsend.
"As soon as I got that offer, I was stoked," Smith told AAP.
"I can tell you right now, during primary school, I was always saying I'm going to make it to that big stage one day and it's finally happening."
With baseball returning to the Olympics program for the 2028 Los Angeles games, there is a chance the teenager can emulate his mum.
"I competed at my second Olympics as a 21-year-old. When we get to 2028, he will be 21," Livingstone said.
"If he ends up being an Olympian, that would be a huge honour."
