Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:57 pm Posts: 58765 Location: New York, NY
Quote:
But for a MLB team to select Woodall, it would have to overlook the fact he hasn't played baseball in years and there appears very little chance he would even consider abandoning a starting role for his senior football season to jump back into the other sport.
Why is that? Because he has chosen football over baseball too many times to stop now. I refer you back to this story on Woodall from the 2008 season. He describes his reasons in high school for turning down the New York Mets, which selected him during in the 19th round and lost out to the lure of an SEC football career.
Didn't we "lure" Stegall away from football when we picked him a few years ago? Worked out great so far...
I'd prefer to focus on guys who love baseball, not who play it because they were paid to like it more.
Stegall wasn't a lefty pitcher who could hit mid 90's on the gun that we offered 1 million bucks to, Woodall is.
No doubt.
But after a few tough outings at AA, who's to say he doesn't decide he doesn't like baseball again anymore?
Or after his first arm injury, he decides its not worth the rehab?
Point is: I like guys who like baseball. If he did, he'd be playing for one of our farm teams right now. There's a difference between using your athleticism for leverage and turning down a huge contract to play college football.
Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2006 2:57 pm Posts: 58765 Location: New York, NY
MarkJohnson>You wrote:
Metro2007 wrote:
MarkJohnson>You wrote:
Didn't we "lure" Stegall away from football when we picked him a few years ago? Worked out great so far...
I'd prefer to focus on guys who love baseball, not who play it because they were paid to like it more.
Stegall wasn't a lefty pitcher who could hit mid 90's on the gun that we offered 1 million bucks to, Woodall is.
No doubt.
But after a few tough outings at AA, who's to say he doesn't decide he doesn't like baseball again anymore?
Or after his first arm injury, he decides its not worth the rehab?
Point is: I like guys who like baseball. If he did, he'd be playing for one of our farm teams right now. There's a difference between using your athleticism for leverage and turning down a huge contract to play college football.
he won't be a high pick but nobody expected Samamiawoddjja to quit football. Worse ideas than gambling on talent. The Mets must have LOVED Woodall to offer him 1 million bucks.
_________________ Twit-@Wexlerrules http://stlucietoflushing.com/ W.L.W- We Love Wheeler NYFS Top 30 list... starting 10/1 Staunch anti-BADP (Batting average dependent players) Pronounced "Dar-No"
Didn't we "lure" Stegall away from football when we picked him a few years ago? Worked out great so far...
I'd prefer to focus on guys who love baseball, not who play it because they were paid to like it more.
Stegall wasn't a lefty pitcher who could hit mid 90's on the gun that we offered 1 million bucks to, Woodall is.
No doubt.
But after a few tough outings at AA, who's to say he doesn't decide he doesn't like baseball again anymore?
Or after his first arm injury, he decides its not worth the rehab?
Point is: I like guys who like baseball. If he did, he'd be playing for one of our farm teams right now. There's a difference between using your athleticism for leverage and turning down a huge contract to play college football.
he won't be a high pick but nobody expected Samamiawoddjja to quit football. Worse ideas than gambling on talent. The Mets must have LOVED Woodall to offer him 1 million bucks.
Didn't they give him a 10 million dollar major league deal?
And thus far, in his 4th year in the org, he's given them one good 10 inning stretch followed by a fade during the pennant race, and fairly bad pitching in the minors.
I think if you ask Cub people, they'd say that, so far, was a "loss".
Obviously he hasn't looked into playing football since then or anything, but I'm just saying- if you have to pay a guy to like the sport, he probably doesn't like it enough to every really be "great". And at that price, you're paying for "great".
Joined: Wed Sep 20, 2006 7:08 am Posts: 1915 Location: Franklin Park, New Jersey
R Nitelight wrote:
Perfect 44th Rounder.....
Agreed. The thing with Woodall, is that he hasn't truly established himself as a legit NFL prospect yet (like Samardijza did). Until he has, baseball should still be an option for him. That's why spending a late-round pick on him still makes sense. Furthermore, I fell in love with his stuff on MLB Video. He was low to mid-90's and had great extension in his windup. He also flashed a pretty wicked breaking ball as well.
He hasn't signed with an NFL team yet, right? I remember seeing his name on a list of UDFA's. And yeah, hope it was us..
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MarkJohnson>You wrote:
Yeah, and if you're using the "He's 19" logic, then I guess the best report a scout could give us is:
"I have no idea. He's a teenager. He may go through 5 arm surgeries between now and his 30th birthday. He may add a pitch. He may lose a pitch. He may put on 30 lbs and add velocity. He may put on 50 lbs and eat his way out of the league. I literally have no idea what he is going to be."
But thats not what these guys are paid to do, nor what we are looking for them to do, right?
Just because he opted to play football doesn't mean he doesn't "love" baseball. He was good enough at football to be a starting safety on a National Championship team and many thought he'd get drafted. Unfortunately for him he didn't and could only get a tryout with the Bears.
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