NATCHEZ — Playing in Major League Baseball has always been Kendall Logan’s dream, and in the 2010 MLB draft, he came one step closer to fulfilling it.

But Logan’s desire to get even better as a baseball player led him to pass up the minor leagues for now and transfer to Jackson State, where he will begin his junior season Friday against Arkansas Pine Bluff.

The Natchez High grad was a student-athlete at Copiah-Lincoln Community College when the Atlanta Braves selected him in the 46th round of last year’s draft. Instead of signing with the Braves, though, Logan opted to continue with school.

“I just decided it would be best for me to go back to school and hopefully have an even better year this year,” Logan said.

“Maybe things will work out in the future, and I’ll get picked up again by someone. I just want to better my stock.”

And Logan has set some pretty lofty goals for himself in hopes of getting that stock even better.

“I want to have a .500 batting average this year. Even if I fall short of that, it’ll still be a really good average,” Logan said. “I also want to steal maybe 40 to 50 bases. The goals are pretty high, but again, even if I fall short, I’ll still be close.”

Logan looks to play left field for Jackson State, a position his coaches say fits his skill set, Logan said.

“They like that I have a strong arm, and that I’m fast, so I can cover a lot of ground,” Logan said.

If there’s one area where Logan’s stock isn’t hurting, it’s grades. Logan currently has a 4.0 GPA and is majoring in civil engineering.

“I transferred to Jackson State because they have a good engineering program,” Logan said. “I started out at Co-Lin with the beginning classes, like the math courses, but now it’s getting more in-depth as I turn to my field of study.”

And Logan said his desire to major in civil engineering goes all the way back to his childhood.

“Ever since I was little, I liked building,” Logan said. “Civil engineering basically deals with designing, planning and building bridges and roads.”

But Logan also said maintaining good grades does not come easy.

“It’s really hard to balance school and baseball,” Logan said. “When I’m in class, I have to focus twice as hard. When I’m on the road for a game and I miss class, I have to teach myself the material that I missed.”