In Photos: MLB star Cole Tucker arrives with wife Vanessa Hudgens for this weekend's MLB Dream Series panel discussion

Free agent and former first-round pick Cole Tucker was among the guest speakers at this year's MLB Dream Series.

The event is held by the MLB and USA Baseball Development for elite black high school athletes. Apart from Tucker, many other former and current athletes also attended the event, giving their insights to 80 Dream Series participants.

Cole Tucker arrived at the event with his wife and longtime partner, Vanessa Hudgens. Apart from Tucker, other current and former players, including Jerry Manuel, Chris Young, Cole Tucker, Micah Johnson and Josiah Gray, also turned up.

Each speaker spoke about their side of the story, talking about the adversity they had to face to enter the league and sharing their experience with the participants.

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What did Cole Tucker and other guest speakers say at the event?

Cole Tucker, who was drafted in the first round of the 2014 MLB draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, said that you need to grind and learn every day to be good at baseball.

“I got handed my first bit of real true baseball adversity as a 22-year-old in the big leagues, playing shortstop, hitting leadoff, scared out of my mind,” Tucker said. “But I want you to know that that’s not everybody’s journey. I mean, some of you guys are going to go on to be All-Stars, World Series champions -- baseball can do so much for you."

"But the grind and showing up every day, that’s what you learn. And that’s the separator of getting there and not getting there.” [via MLB.com]

Another speaker, Josiah Grey, earned his first All-Star selection in 2023 after giving up the most homers (38) and the most walks (66) in 2022. He mentioned his journey from how to get back from a down season.

“Last year, I did a really deep dive into, ‘How can I become the pitcher I want to be?’ … I was only a few years removed from dominating, being a top prospect within a couple of different organizations,” Gray said.

“So I was like, ‘How do I get back to that?’ I went out there with the best confidence that I could, using every resource that I had available to me.”

Tucker is now a free agent and looking for potential suitors for the upcoming 2024 season.