Mike Stud always knew he'd have fans -- he just didn't always think they'd be following him because of his music.

"Forget a mic, my whole life, I thought it'd be the mound," the Rhode Island native raps in his new video, "Closer."

He's referencing a promising baseball career, which was derailed by an injury after his sophomore season at Duke University, where he was a pitcher. But he pivoted and found a new outlet: music, which he's been working on for the last few years.

His latest video, directed by Jon Kilmer and James DeFina, finds Stud turning metaphor into visual, as he runs uphill amid raps about proving doubters wrong and working to reach a level of success where he can spoil his family. The song ends with a voicemail his mother left for him.

This is the title track for Stud's upcoming album, Closer, which follows up last year's Relief. It will be independently released on July 7.