JUPITER, Fla. — To really know 20-year-old Zach Hoffman, you first have to let his village brag on him.
"He's always in a good mood," said Ryer Gardenswartz with Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter. "Always happy to be at the stadium."
"He can light up a room just by walking into it," said Ben Hoffman, Zach's father. "It's not that he's loud or telling jokes. It's the charisma that he has, especially when he's at the stadium."
I asked Zach how it's possible to keep a constant smile on his face and remain positive at all times.
"I just am," Zach responded.
Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter is Zach's happy place. He works there with the promotions team for the last few years and has overcome challenges to get to this point.
"When he was five, he was diagnosed with a hole in his heart," Zach's father said. "Through it all, his love for baseball has made everything work."
Zach is on the autism spectrum. He runs the fan-cam at the stadium and helps keep the crowd excited with his choices for music. He also gifts fans things like t-shirts.
"If it's a 6 p.m. game, we go over at like 2 p.m., just so he can be with his Roger Dean family," Ben Hoffman said.
"I'd have to say all the love they give me," Zach explained when asked why his co-workers feel like his family.
"Any day he walks through the door, we all light up," Gardenswartz said.
"Just seeing the joy he has at the stadium, that's huge for my wife and me. Because we know he's found his calling and what he wants to do," Ben Hoffman said.
In the off-season, Zach spends his time away from the stadium watching old games and counting down to his return to work and his happy place.
