Monday, June 9, 2008
Kansas junior pitcher Sam Freeman needed to clear his head Friday afternoon.
Freeman had watched 900 names flash across his computer screen during the first day and a half of the MLB First-Year Player Draft. He was frustrated that he hadn’t been selected yet so he decided to walk his dog. When Freeman arrived home and started to fill up his dog’s water bowl, his phone rang.
“I got a call from one of my friends telling me I got drafted,” Freeman said. “It was kind of surprising. It felt good, like a relief.”
The St. Louis Cardinals had picked Freeman in the 32nd round of the draft, making him the 965th player selected overall. He was the first of five Jayhawks to be drafted Friday.
Senior outfielder Ryne Price, junior pitcher Nick Czyz, senior pitcher Andres Esquibel and senior infielder Erik Morrison rounded out the list of Kansas players headed to the majors.
Price, who was the second Jayhawk taken, was starting to wonder whether he would be drafted at all as he worked at a youth baseball camp Friday afternoon. But then Price received a phone call. It was his younger brother and fellow Kansas baseball player Robby Price who told Ryne that the San Francisco Giants had selected him in the 33rd round.
“I’ve always been a Giants fan,” Ryne Price said. “Then talking with them the last couple of years, that’s the organization I always wanted to get into.”
The MLB Draft isn’t like the NBA and NFL Drafts, where most of the players picked start playing for the team immediately. Players taken in the baseball draft play for a team’s organization in the minor leagues. If they can prove themselves, then they have an opportunity to move up to the major league team.
Ryne Price said part of the reason he was excited to play for the Giants organization was because he felt the team gave him a good opportunity to move up the organizational ladder. He left Lawrence Sunday for Phoenix, where he will participate in training camp.
Erik Morrison, who was selected in the 46th round by the Texas Rangers, also shipped off to Arizona for training camp this week. This was the third year Morrison was picked in the draft but the first two times, he decided to stay in college. Now that his college eligibility has run out, Morrison said he was excited about chasing his dream of playing baseball for a living.
“I get to prolong my career in baseball,” Morrison said. “You never want to see something come to an end after you’ve worked at it for the last 16 years of your life.”
Freeman and Nick Czyz, who was picked in the 35th round by the Seattle Mariners, were both juniors so they could chose to either sign a contract and start their professional career or return to Kansas. Freeman said he would not return to Kansas next year. Czyz could not be reached for comment.
Two high school seniors who comitted to Kansas for next season were also drafted. Infielder Zac Elgie went in the 12th round to the Oakland Athletics and pitcher Lee Ridenhour went in the 31st round to the Minnesota Twins.
— Edited by Mandy Earles
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