File photo by Travis Roseanu Ethan Stade delivers a pitch for the New Ulm Brewers during an amateur baseball game against Bird Island on May23, 2025. Stade was drafted to the Atlanta Braves in the 18th round of the MLB Draft on Sunday.

NEW ULM — New Ulm’s Ethan Stade’s dream of being drafted by a professional baseball team came true Sunday afternoon.

But it was not via a phone call but a live stream that the Atlanta Braves chose Stade in the 18th round and 532nd player overall.

Stade, who graduated from New Ulm High School in 2021, said that he found out he was a professional baseball player during a lull in the draft on Sunday afternoon.

“There was a break in the draft between rounds 10 and 11 and a Braves scout had texted me and had asked me a couple of things about myself to send up to their front office,” he said. “And I did not hear from them for hours. And it got to the 18th round — I think it was around 5:15 [p.m.] — and I had gotten a phone call from the Tampa Bay Rays and they were getting some information from me on some stuff and that call ended. And right after that call ended, I got another text from that same Braves scout and he asked me if I was watching the draft.”

Stade said that because of some technical difficulties he was trying to get the draft coverage up and running again through live stream.

When he did he got the good news.

“I looked at the MLB draft tracker and that was how I found out that I had been drafted by the Braves.”

Stade said that when he found out he had been drafted, he was overwhelmed.

“All of the emotions flooded out — hugging all of my friends and family — it was my dream come true,” he said. “It got pretty crazy around the house. There were about 30 to 35 people at our house just all going nuts. This is everything I have wanted. I am so grateful and so blessed.”

Stade said that he has not signed with the Braves yet but he said he has to report to Atlanta on Saturday, July 18th.

“I have not heard anymore than that but I am sure there will be more communication as the days come,” Stade said. “I would assume that I am going to Atlanta to their organizational meetings and get a tour.”

Stade said that he has set high goals for himself as a member of the Braves.

“I want to make it all the way to the majors.” he said. “I want to do whatever I need to do — keep my focus — and trusting myself. And once I make the big leagues, it does not stop for me. I want to win a World Series and I want to win Cy Youngs. I want to do it all.”

Bowling Green University head baseball coach Kyle Hallock said that he is proud of Stade.

“He dominated both this spring and summer against high level competition and he is great example of what can happen when buying into a process and development occurs on a daily basis. His personality is consistent with how he arrives at the field. The Braves will soon benefit from Ethan.”

Stade had 103 strikeouts this season for BGU, which was 21st in the nation, and averaged 14.5 strikeouts per nine innings, which was sixth in the nation. He had a season-high of 15 strikeouts.

Stade did not allow many walks this year with just 20 free passes for a 5.15 strikeout-to-walk ratio, which was 28th in the nation and opponents hit just .220 off of him.

Stade said that he knows that he has to work the overall competitiveness of pro baseball.

“It is going to be multiplied by a hundred to get where I am going,” he said. “I need to stay in that competitive mode. It will be a huge adjustment, but it was a huge adjustment when I went to Mahoning Valley to play with the Scrappers [in the MLB Draft League]. You need to want to put in the work”

Stade had a 1.23 ERA for the Scrappers with 28 strikeouts.