If the whole being an awesome quarterback for the best team in football thing doesn’t work out for him, Russell Wilson has baseball to fall back on — and a new employer.
The Texas Rangers selected Wilson, a minor league second baseman when he’s not taking snaps for the Seahawks, in Thursday’s Rule 5 draft. Wilson had been left unprotected by the Colorado Rockies, who could not use a 40-man roster spot on a fringe prospect who has not played in two years.
Wilson originally was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles out of high school in 2007. The Rockies made him a fourth-round pick in 2010, and he played two college summers in the bushes. In 2011, with Asheville of the Low-A South Atlantic League, Wilson hit .228 with a .366 on-base percentage, 15 stolen bases (in 17 tries) and 82 strikeouts in 193 at-bats.
The Rangers plucked Wilson in the Triple-A portion of the draft, meaning it cost them $12,000 to secure his rights. He will be placed on the restricted list.
It is unlikely Wilson ever returns to the diamond, what with being an NFL MVP candidate with a 22-7 career record at quarterback. But according to Fox Sports, Wilson’s agent, Mark Rodgers, said Wilson would not want to attend spring training as a mere bystander: “Russell will want to take BP and ground balls. He loves baseball.”
The Yankees lost right-handed pitcher Tommy Kahnle to the Rockies in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft. Colorado must keep Kahnle on its big league roster for the entire season or else offer him back to the Yankees for $25,000.
Four more Yankees minor leaguers were taken in the lower rungs of the draft: outfielder Ravel Santana (Astros) and right-handers Mikey O’Brien (Reds), Felipe Gonzalez (Pirates) and Kelvin Castro (Marlins), a converted infielder.