What Was I Thinking?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Daniel Stegall was a seventh-round June draftee by the Mets. He had already committed to a scholarship to play quarterback for the University of Miami, but walked away despite the potential prestige of that position at that school. (MIami has lost like four quarterback recruits in three years.)

Now, perhaps he was better than a seventh-round pick, but slid down when the MLB teams got wind of his intentionn to play football, and perhaps the Mets offered him second- or third-round money, but .214 with minimal power in the Gulf Coast League from a 6'2" guy is a tough 40-game start. On the plus side is his isolated OBP of .110 and his hitting in his last 10 games.

[DocTee]

Teach him to avoid reverse racial discrimination!!

[Frayed Knot]

What are you driinking?

[DocTee]

In another thread, SteveJ suggested that Notre Dame WR Jeff Szmrdija chose MLB over the NFL not because of money or "the health of the game" but because as a white guy he'd never get the "respect" of other WRs.

Just piling on Steve here, but suggesting that this fellow also fled football for MLB due to racial concerns (and I'm not even sure if he's white/black/biracial/multiracial or).

[RealityChuck]

He can't be any older than 19, so I'm sure the scouts are taking that into account. Also, he was a pitcher in high school, so maybe that's a potential fallback.

This article indicates that he just likes baseball better. Plus scouts seem to think that he'd be a solid football prospect, but not an outstanding one, which probably means he wouldn't have a chance to start at Florida as QB. And, realistically, he probably had no chance at a pro career as QB.

It also looks like he was as interested in Florida's baseball program as its football one (see third quote.)

Most likely, he didn't expect to be drafted and went to Florida expecting to play baseball for a few years. When the Mets called, he jumped.

[Frayed Knot]

Oh sure, change the subject title and make my joke look lame!

[Guest Edgy DC]

Oh, that's what you were on about.

Actually, I changed it after DocTee failed to notice you were referring to me. I knew you were making a parallel reference. Just now am I noticing you used the double-i as I did.