{"id":14874,"date":"2011-06-30T00:04:12","date_gmt":"2011-06-30T07:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seamheads.com\/?p=14874"},"modified":"2011-06-30T00:11:11","modified_gmt":"2011-06-30T07:11:11","slug":"the-other-guys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2011\/06\/30\/the-other-guys\/","title":{"rendered":"The Other Guys"},"content":{"rendered":"

Major League Baseball\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 2011 First-Year Player Draft, now nearly a month old, ushered in the next crop of prospects.\u00c2\u00a0 Most of the hype and media attention centered on first rounders such as Gerrit Cole<\/strong> and Anthony Rendon<\/strong>, and rightfully so.\u00c2\u00a0 Many first-round draft picks have the athletic talent, physical attributes and mental approach to play at the highest level of professional baseball.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

But several players from the lower depths of the draft\u00c2\u00a0 — it is a fifty-round event — will more than likely\u00c2\u00a0play in a Major League stadium.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Some will\u00c2\u00a0become household names, potentially even stars.<\/p>\n

These other guys not only fill up organizational depth charts, they chase big league dreams.<\/p>\n

The Baltimore Orioles selected oft-hyped high school pitcher Dylan Bundy<\/strong> fourth overall in the first round.\u00c2\u00a0 The club also selected Mike Wright<\/strong>, a right-handed pitcher from East Carolina, with the 94th overall pick in round three.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wright (6-5\/195) established career highs in both strikeouts (75) and innings pitched (100) during his junior season.\u00c2\u00a0 The right-hander quickly signed a professional contract joining the Baltimore organization.\u00c2\u00a0 Speaking after the draft with Shane Miller<\/strong> of the baseball blog, Ball Game Talk<\/a>, Wright noted his eagerness to begin.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I expect to just keep improving, I don’t plan on pitching in the minors for long,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Wright said<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My dream as a child growing up wasn’t to pitch in the Minor League it was to pitch in the Major League.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

If he navigates the minor leagues free of injury\u00c2\u00a0and inconsistency, Wright should realize his Major League dream.<\/p>\n

Former Jacksonville University shortstop Jimmy Howick<\/strong> (6-2\/190), a 21st round selection (640th overall) of the Houston Astros, enjoyed a successful junior season but was sidelined the final five games after sustaining a knee injury.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I always felt like I had what it took to get an opportunity at the next level, but after I went down with my knee injury in the conference tournament, I really felt like it hurt my chances,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Howick said in a post-draft\u00c2\u00a0interview<\/a> at Ball Game Talk.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153So when it happened I was just shocked and I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe that it happened. It was a very exciting moment and I am so grateful for the opportunity.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The infielder, currently rehabbing his knee with the Astros organization, will soon have an opportunity to show that he belongs in the professional ranks.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Howick posted a .319 AVG for Jacksonville this past season adding 37 runs and 48 RBIs.<\/p>\n

The shortstop has the collegiate resume, now he needs professional results.\u00c2\u00a0 And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s how the other guys close the gap between the first-round bonus babies.\u00c2\u00a0 The only way a player earns a ticket to the big leagues is through their on-field results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Major League Baseball\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 2011 First-Year Player Draft, now nearly a month old, ushered in the next crop of prospects.\u00c2\u00a0 Most of the hype and media attention centered on first rounders such as Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rendon, and rightfully so.\u00c2\u00a0 Many first-round draft picks have the athletic talent, physical attributes and mental approach to play […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,9,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collegiate","category-general","category-minors"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}