WATERTOWN, N.Y. --  Ben Ancheff is getting set to take the mound. It's his second start as a professional baseball player.

It's as an unlikely a moment as you'll see in the sport. There's the obvious. He weighs 300 pounds. However, what you can't see is that he wasn't supposed to survive his birth. In college, he suffered one of the worst injures a pitcher can. Yet, on this Thursday night in 2016, here he is.

"To be where I'm at right now, I'm just really appreciative, blessed and thankful that I have this opportunity to play pro baseball," Ben said.

That injury was to his elbow. He needed Tommy John surgery. He parted ways with his 3rd different college team, Central Arkansas, and had to start rehab on his own.

"Sitting at home, no school, don't have a degree, sitting there rehabbing at physical therapy, somedays you think 'Why am I doing this?'" Ben remembered during those tough days.

It's a question that was answered a semester later. It was the day he got a phone call from the coach at St. Thomas in Florida, that NAIA school where he earned internet fame.

"Coach Perez was willing enough to believe in me. He saw me at junior college and he told me, 'You're going to be back to where you were before.' He instilled some confidence in me. I was down in the dumps and needed that," Ben said.

That's led Ben here. Watertown, NY. The Watertown Bucks.

His signed his first professional baseball contract. A few days later, he recorded his first professional strikeout.

"I got a call," Ben said. "They asked me if I was interested in playing professional baseball. I said, 'Yes. I'm ready tomorrow.' I said, 'I'll be up there as soon as possible.'"

"I look at somebody like Ben and I just say, 'There's your example. That's what you should strive to do and strive to be," Bucks GM Matt Snyder said.

In the short time he's been here, it's that exact example. It's the hard work, the fight and Ben having fun. That's his example. 

"When he comes in the building, you know he's there. It's not just because he's a big guy, but just because of the big personality he brings," teammate Collis Hunt said.

"I know when he looks in the mirror, he doesn't see what everybody else sees. That's just an outward appearance. He sees what he really is. He sees the whole package," another teammate Manny Reyes said.

"For me, I mean he could almost be my idol. I look at him saying, 'He's had to overcome the things that he's had to overcome, now why can't I overcome the things I can overcome,'" fellow Bucks pitcher Jimmie Davis added. 

The only thing that hasn't worked out for Ben is a jersey. No team expects to need a 4XL so they don't have them on hand. A jersey is on the way, but for now he wears the, as close to the team color as they could get, but still not really that close, shirt Snyder picked up at Wal-Mart and heat blasted the team logo on.

It's just something else Ben laughs about though because his size is measured in heart.

To see Brian's entire interview with Ben Ancheff, click here.