ATLANTA — AJ Gracia took the podium inside the Atlanta Braves’ news conference room at Truist Park. Dressed in the club’s iconic white home jersey, the soft-spoken 21-year-old looked every bit like someone still adjusting to the spotlight that comes with being the No. 9 pick in the draft.He answered each question thoughtfully. Some responses were brief. Others required a little more reflection. But when the conversation turned to the people who helped him reach that moment, the nerves melted away, and a smile spread across his face.“My parents have been awesome to me my whole life,” Gracia said. “A lot of sacrifice, traveling all around the country and playing baseball. At the end of the day, when I’m trying to look at my support system, I’m just looking at building a really good group of people around me.”AJ’s father, Andres, looks at it from a different perspective.Which teams fared well during MLB Draft Day 1?Keith Law“It was never a sacrifice,” Andres Gracia said to The Athletic with tears in his eyes. “I enjoyed every single moment, and I would run it back. If I could go back tomorrow to when he was 4 years old, I would.”That journey began in an empty room in the Gracia household in Monroe Township, N.J. Andres spent his evenings throwing minibaseballs to AJ, who took the mightiest of swings every time.As the years went by, AJ Gracia was glued to the television to watch full nine-inning games before he was old enough to do anything else. His favorite activity during the games was emulating the batting stances of players, with Gary Sheffield and Robinson Canó being his favorites to mimic.Eventually, those imaginary at-bats in the living room turned into results in the batter’s box. Everywhere Gracia went, he hit. His amateur journey took him all over the country. As AJ’s baseball career took off, balancing travel became more complicated. His younger sister, Marlena, who will be a freshman on the volleyball team at Oregon this fall, was pursuing her own athletic dreams, forcing Andres and their mother, Taylor Gracia, to split weekends between baseball and volleyball whenever possible.One of those baseball trips brought AJ within half an hour’s drive of what eventually became his new home, though he had no idea at the time.In his sophomore year of high school, during a showcase at East Cobb Fields 16 miles from Truist Park, Gracia and his family met Elvin Soto. The relationship stuck, and Soto eventually became his agent at Ballengee Group.All roads led back to Atlanta — in 2022, Gracia returned to Truist Park to play in the Hank Aaron Invitational. He was just a baseball-loving kid soaking in the surreal experience of playing in a major-league ballpark.“Even at a young age, we would always have people tell us, ‘He’s special, he’s going to make it,’” Taylor Gracia said. “When you live it day to day, it’s kind of like, ‘All right, we need to stay present.’”That was cemented when Gracia went on to have a decorated career between Duke and Virginia. He entered the season as one of the top draft prospects for his combination of bat-to-ball skills and developing power.As the season ended, plenty of uncertainty remained about where he would be drafted. One thing, however, was never in doubt: He’d be surrounded by the people who helped him get there.On draft day, family and friends from every chapter of AJ’s life filled the same house where he once mimicked swings alongside Andres in the living room. When the phone finally rang and he learned the Braves had selected him, years of “sacrifice” became a celebration.“I’m just thankful for the people in his life,” Andres said. “It takes a village. It’s not just us.”It still doesn’t feel real for anyone in the Gracia family, but all parties involved say it’ll hit hard when they arrive at the Atlanta airport this morning, as Andres and Taylor head back to New Jersey and Gracia heads to the Braves’ complex in North Port, Fla.Tears will be shed. Extra-long hugs will be given. And an emotional goodbye will be said.For the Gracias, it’s the culmination of years spent chasing a dream together. The destination may be professional baseball, but the journey was built on a family’s love.