PORT CHARLOTTE -- This spring training means more for Rays prospect Lucius Fox.

“My goal is simply make it to the big leagues,” Fox said. “I feel I can help a big league team win. “

Fox made the Rays’ 40-man spring training roster and is ready to prove he belongs in the majors.

“I can score a lot of runs, get on base and steal, get in scoring position for our guys -- I play good defense.”

He finished last year in Triple-A Durham with a career-high 39 stolen bases and 66 runs scored. But his road to the MLB has been a unique one – beginning in Nassau.

“Growing up in the Bahamas was special,” Fox recalled. “Ever since I stepped on the baseball field, I just wanted to play major league baseball.

“That started in Nassau Bahamas on an open field with just grass. We just lined up basese, and I just fell in love with the game there.”

At the age of 13, he moved to the United States to advance his skills and gain more visibility.

“We didn’t have any scouts coming down to the island or colleges coming down so our way of doing that was trying to get to the United States to get seen by as many eyes as possible,” Fox explained. “But you know, the Bahamas is special, it has a lot, a lot of athletes there.”

The move to America took a lot of sacrifice from his family.

“Extremely thankful — I tell them all the time, ‘without you guys, I wouldn’t have been here’ and I never take that for granted,” Fox said. “They didn’t have to do it. Young kid, I could have just went to school in the Bahamas, got a regular job, but they listened to me. They saw a passion that was about the game and they made every sacrifice and I’m super thankful to them for that.”

Now, Fox wants to help show the world that baseball in the Bahamas is on the rise.

“Just seeing the talent on the island now getting recognized is just special,” he said. “We always felt we had athletes there, but we didn’t have the exposure.”

The talent from the Bahamas is on par with other international baseball hotbeds.

They may not have the quantity of players, but they do have the quality.

Including 7 minor league players who are ranked among the top 30 MLB prospects on their respective teams.

“Since 2015 when I signed, internationally you know a lot of scouts been coming down there and just checked us out to see what we have and you know, that’s a testament to the guys before us,” Fox said. “Good foot forward, you know, show the scouts that we can play with Dominican Republic, United States and all the other countries.”

When Fox takes the field, he’s not only playing for a shot in the big leagues.

He’s also playing for kids back home who share the dream of one day playing in the MLB.