SF Giants fifth rounder Rohan Handa talks draft, heritage, and more

W: That sounds good man. I love the answers so far man. You are double majoring at Yale while playing baseball, right? How did you balance studying and baseball? I mean from the looks of it, you handled it very well because you’ve really improved!

R: So I’m majoring in Political Science and minoring essentially in Statistics and Data Science. Balancing it was tough. Freshman year was tough. But once I was able to stick to a routine and understand what I was really doing with myself on the development side of things, the studies part got easier because I have to kind of put a purpose behind it. But yeah, that’s kind of the way I’ve improved and I think that would be the best way to look at it.

W: Really good stuff man. I think I would like to cap off this interview with you bringing Kitaab to the US. For those who don’t know what Kitaab is, could you explain to the people what Kitaab does and why did you choose to support this initiative?  From what I read, it’s like an initiative to bring South Asian literature to the rest of the world, am I correct?

R: Your assumption is correct about Kitaab. Kitaab means “book” in Urdu, which is essentially a native language in India. My brother and I started the U.S. chapter here just to create some book drives, get some funds, and try to give some really cool books to these underprivileged children. We actually got the chance to give it to them personally when we went to India and it was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had.

W: That’s really awesome man. Thank you for doing an interview with me man! Really unexpected to hear your voice! Thank you very much! Would love to talk to you about stuff once again man!

R: Thank you.

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SF Giants drafted Rohan Handa out of Yale University, adding another intriguing left-handed pitcher to the organization. He’ll likely make his professional debut in the coming weeks, after officially signing earlier this week.