Fred Lewis worked out with MGCCC before the 2006 season. Lewis is now playing with the San Francisco Giants.

Fred Lewis knew this might be the season that he gets a chance to play with the San Francisco Giants alongside players like Barry Bonds and Moises Alou. This week the Wiggins native and former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College baseball star got the call to the big leagues from the Giants. Lewis played in 120 games with the Fresno Grizzlies, the Giants triple-AAA affiliate as an outfielder. In 439 at bats, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound Lewis batted .276 with 12 homeruns and 56 RBI.

Since his days at Stone High to wearing the blue and gold of Gulf Coast back in 2000 and 2001, Lewis has inched his way up baseball’s version of the corporate ladder.

“You have to get a feel of everything,” said Lewis. “The atmosphere and what your role is on the team.”

Lewis’s mother Vivian said her son called to tell her the good news.

“He’s headed to Chicago to meet up with the team this weekend,” she said. “Then I’m going to see him play at Cincinnati next week.”

Besides his mom, no one’s happier to see Lewis make it than Gulf Coast baseball coach Cooper Farris.

“He’s gonna be good,” Farris said. “I was hoping the Giants would call him up, but I wasn’t sure when. Fred’s worked extremely hard to get to this point, and I couldn’t be happier for him. Anytime you have a former player make it to the big leagues it’s special.”