FORT WORTH, TEXAS -- Braden Montgomery has spoken passionately of “spreading love for the sport” of baseball.

Montgomery, who was selected 12th overall by the Red Sox as the 2024 MLB Draft began on Sunday night, stood in front of a panoply of bright lights, cameras and a crush of media shortly after hearing his name called by Commissioner Rob Manfred.

The 21-year-old outfielder out of Texas A&M not only handled the throng pressing in toward him with aplomb, he did it with a million-dollar smile that never left his face -- a smile that only grew wider as he discussed amplifying a passion for baseball among youth within underserved communities.

“I want to put young kids on the right path that they want to be on,” Montgomery said, “to be who they want to be. To see kids around them that look like them. I love it.”

Montgomery has experience on both sides of the equation -- he’s not only been active in helping kids find a path that could lead them to the realization of their baseball dreams, but he’s actually been one of those kids.

Montgomery was one of three Draft prospects selected in the first round on Sunday who are products of the MLB Develops program, an all-encompassing initiative that promotes baseball and softball development among youth and college players, with an emphasis on underserved communities.

The other two are College World Series star Christian Moore out of Tennessee, a second baseman who was taken eighth overall by the Angels, and Florida State third baseman Cam Smith, whom the Cubs selected with the 14th overall pick.

“I was with [MLB Develops] growing up all the time,” said Moore, who made history by completing the first cycle in a College World Series game in 68 years when he helped the Volunteers to an opening round win over Florida State en route to Tennessee’s first College World Series title.

• 'Dude, you're blind': How an eye exam changed the No. 8 pick's baseball trajectory

“I was going to the camps two, three weeks at a time, and I got to work with the best -- the manager for the Angels, Ron Washington, I got to work with him when I was 14.”

Little did Moore know back then that seven years later, he would be drafted by those Angels.

Moore participated in several MLB Develops events, including the 2018 Dream Series, the 2019 Breakthrough Series, the 2019 Hank Aaron Invitational and the 2020 Dream Series. Montgomery joined Moore and others in the 2019 Breakthrough Series, the 2019 Hank Aaron Invitational and the 2020 Dream Series.

Smith, a 6-foot-3, 224-pound third baseman with raw power, an ever-improving approach at the plate and an elite arm at the hot corner, participated in the 2021 Hank Aaron Invitational.

Moore’s Tennessee team defeated Montgomery’s Texas A&M squad in the College World Series finals, and less than a month later, these MLB Develops alumni -- along with Smith, whose Florida State team also reached the College World Series -- were each drafted among the top 15 picks.

Montgomery comes from a football family -- both his father and his stepfather played collegiately at Iowa. But he fell in love with baseball at a young age, and he determined early on that he wanted to pursue his dream of reaching the Majors.

MLB Develops played a significant role along the way.

“They helped me a whole lot,” said Montgomery, a switch-hitting slugger with a tremendous arm. “I tell every person I come across about the Dream Series event that we held at the Angels’ Spring Training field. Everything they do, all the instruction and all the former players they bring out to coach the events -- it’s all top-notch. I couldn’t speak more highly of MLB Develops and the series they put on.”

Some of the former players who have given back through the MLB Develops program as instructors or special guests include CC Sabathia, Eric Davis, Marquis Grissom, Brian Hunter and Howie Kendrick, as well as MLB Develops alumni such as right-handed pitchers Hunter Greene of the Reds and Josiah Gray of the Nationals.

As the number of first-round selections -- and Draft selections overall -- among MLB Develops alumni continues to burgeon, so too does the number of future stars who want to give back through the program that helped them reach those heights.

“It’s beautiful,” Moore said. “Those guys, giving back to the community, it’s a beautiful thing. I don’t know how long my career will be, but hopefully I can do the same thing when I’m done playing.”