It wasn't quite how Will Robertson dreamed it would happen, but it was still a dream come true.
When he learned last Tuesday he had been selected with the 117th overall pick in the fourth round of the Major League Baseball draft, he didn't receive the news firsthand from the Toronto Blue Jays.
Instead of watching the draft on TV, Robertson was on a plane ride home after his Creighton Bluejays had come up short in the Corvallis, Ore., regional.
"I wasn't expecting to be up in a plane, 32,000 feet above the ground when I found out where I was going," Robertson said in a phone interview Wednesday. "It was a way for me to think about everything: My journey of how I got to Creighton, what I've done to get to this point.
"I think it was nice to just sit back and take everything in and think about the journey, the process and how grateful I am."
While he was on the airplane, Robertson didn't have cell phone service, so he couldn't follow along on the draft online. But the news still managed to get to him while he was miles above the ground.
"My teammate, Andrew Meggs, was on his phone," Robertson said. "Somehow his mom's text message got through, and he asked me if I wanted to know where I was getting drafted to. I was like, 'Yeah, I want to know.' So I found out, I just didn't know the round, if it was the third or the fourth round."
And once Robertson's plane touched down, his cell phone became very active.
"I got over 150 text messages as soon as we were off the plane," he said. "It was nuts."
It didn't take long for Robertson to finally get in touch with the Blue Jays organization. He said he mostly talked with Wes Penick, the Blue Jays' area scout based out of Clive, Iowa.
"I've talked to them a few times, trying to get all the things worked out with travel and when I'm going to head down there and what I need to take care of," said Robertson, who plans to forgo his senior year of college baseball and sign with the Blue Jays.
"I'm going to go to Florida and do a physical at their spring training facility. I'm probably going to work out a little bit," he added.
Robertson is hopeful he'll be assigned to either Vancouver, British Columbia, a Single-A ballclub, or the Blue Jays' Rookie League affiliate in Bluefield, Va.
"Wherever I was taken, I think I was ready to sign, I was ready to be a professional baseball player," Robertson said. "It was up to whoever wanted to take me."
Robertson finished his Creighton career last week at the NCAA Regionals, where he batted 6-for-18 with two home runs and five RBI in five games.
"We wanted to move on to a super regional in Los Angeles, but we set a goal at the beginning of the year to get to a regional, and we did that and we went quite a long ways," Robertson said. "It didn't end up how we would have liked it to, but it was definitely the experience I thought it was going to be."
He especially enjoyed the opportunity to play against Oregon State and catcher Adley Rutschman, who was the No. 1 overall draft pick last week by the Baltimore Orioles. Creighton won 4-1 in an elimination game against the Beavers to keep its season alive.
"One of the things I wanted to do was play Oregon State at their place, play the defending national champions," Robertson said.
In addition to his playing days at Creighton, Robertson said the Cape Cod League played a vital role in getting himself ready to play professional baseball. While playing last summer in the Cape Cod League - which has produced countless MLB players through the years - Robertson batted .300 for the Cotuit Kettleers.
"For me, that's where I wanted to take the next step after my sophomore year, to play in the Cape League with the best prospects in the world," Robertson said. "I know I needed to do that if wanted to be a top-round draft pick."
He said last summer helped him get noticed by MLB scouts.
"It helped me out with realizing that I'm the type of player that can play with the guys at the next level, and guys around the nation that are going to these big schools," Robertson said.
But Robertson hasn't forgotten where he came from. As Creighton prepared for the Big East Tournament last month, he recalled some of his experiences with the Fatima Comets, Jefferson City American Legion Post 5 and his earlier playing days.
"I was saying this is like going into the postseason, it's the feeling like when you're playing on a travel ball team or like on a Little League team," he said. "You're making your way to the championship game and you want to win so badly, you feel like you want to do anything possible for your team to win. I haven't had that feeling in a long time."
As Robertson closes the door on his amateur career and looks toward a professional career in baseball, he said he has often reflected on his playing days in Mid-Missouri.
"I wouldn't have imagined in 100 years that I would be in the situation that I am," Robertson said. "I'm just thankful for the opportunities that people back home have given me, and for the people that have surrounded me and pushed me through this whole thing."