The 2010 Major League Baseball Draft takes place this week. Not being a big baseball fan, I don't typically follow it, but this year is a little different. My nephew, Derek Eitel, of Marshall, Illinois has had discussions with several major league teams, including the Cardinals, Reds, Yankees and Braves, among others. He's been an
ace pitcher for the Rose-Hulman Engineers for the past four years, where he was also the
starting quarterback and broke several school records. Derek is pictured above showing off his stuff to the Cardinals recruiters at Busch Stadium. The baseball draft is quite different from the drafts for football and basketball. It lasts for three days (June 7-9) and can go up to 50 rounds with as many as 1,500 drafted. The right-handed pitcher is far from being anywhere near a top draft prospect, but he hopes to get a call from someone by the third day. Good luck, Derek!
UPDATE: Here's a
story from the Terre Haute Tribune-Star discussing his prospects in the draft.
UPDATE II: The Arizona Diamondbacks drafted Derek during the second day of the draft today. He was the 511th pick. he becomes the first Rose-Hulman athlete to be drafted into the pros. Congratulations, Derek. You've earned it.
3 comments:
Very cool, Gary. There was a pitcher from my hometown, Bryan Bullington, drafted #1 in the first round coming out of Ball State in 2003. He's had a few cups of coffee in the majors but has been plagued by injury problems. He's probably running out of chances. It's a great opportunity to have though. Good luck to your nephew.
Yeah, I have a client whose son got drafted a few years back that had a bad shoulder injury that sidelined his career while he was still in the minors. I kind of wish he was up for the NFL draft instead. Pitchers are prone to serious injuries.
No, kidding. You just never know about pitchers and injuries.
But if you can have a big league career, baseball is the best of any of the sports in terms of longevity and salary. Good players can last into their 40s now. Surprisingly there are a lot of 40+ pitchers.
Post a Comment