COM Outlook Spring 2020

NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY | 15 When fourth-year Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine (KPCOM) student Tej Desai was born, his astrologist grandfather boldly predicted that Desai would excel in a career where metal would be his primary tool. “My family took this to believe I would one day become a surgeon,” said Desai, whose dream job growing up was to become the general manager of his hometown Chicago White Sox baseball team. “However, I spent my childhood telling my family it meant I would be scouting baseball players who played with metal bats. Ironically, the tables have turned.” Desai, who grew up in the northern suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, said he never had a desire to become a physician. “I had a fascination with numbers and the business of baseball growing up, and that is what led me to major in applied mathematics at Saint Louis University in Missouri,” he said. Texas Home Run Unlike those who dream of becoming a star player, Desai yearned to use his skills to assemble a Major League Baseball (MLB) team that could win the World Series. However, he soon learned that breaking into the industry is a challenging enterprise. After earning his bachelor’s degree, “I had to network tirelessly,” Desai admitted. “I mailed my résumé to all 30 MLB teams and secured a handful of interviews during the annual Winter Meetings—an event that takes place every December and is publicized as a conference of baseball executives meeting to make trades and sign free agents. It also serves as an opportunity for teams to interview candidates for potential job open- ings, so I pitched my background to anybody who would listen.” To his delight, Desai received a call from the Texas Rangers to work in the team’s baseball operations department starting in January 2015. “Working with the Rangers was a completely surreal experience,” he recalled. “I felt incredibly honored to live out my childhood dream. I worked on projects that ranged from looking at recovery times from a Tommy John surgery to analyzing potential free agent and trade acquisitions.” While his day-to-day role mainly focused on analytics, Desai occasion- ally participated in scouting potential players. “The thing I enjoyed most BY SCOTT COLTON, B.A., APR Trading Baseball Success for Surgical Ambitions PROGNOSIS