DENVER -- After he's done chasing the Heisman Trophy, the
Colorado Rockies are hoping Michael Vick might want to chase down
some fly balls.
Vick, the Virginia Tech quarterback who finished third in last
year's Heisman Trophy voting, was Colorado's 30th-round selection
Tuesday in the second day of baseball's amateur draft.
Vick has not played organized baseball since about the eighth
grade, but Rockies scouting director Bill Schmidt said his speed
and athletic ability were too tempting to pass up in baseball's
unpredictable talent search.
"When you can run like him, our feeling was he could cover some
ground for us in the outfield," Schmidt said. "I didn't think it
was a major investment at that point (30th pick). If it didn't work
out, we could take a chance. Michael Jordan tried (baseball). Maybe
he might want to make a run at it."
As a freshman last year, Vick threw for 1,840 yards and 12
touchdowns and ran for 585 yards and eight TDs in the regular
season. He led No. 2 Virginia Tech to an improbable second-half
comeback in the national title game against top-ranked Florida
State before the Hokies fell to the Seminoles.
The Rockies have until the first day of the fall semester to
sign Vick to a contract, and Schmidt said Colorado scouts hope to
contact the sophomore-to-be in the next couple of days. The team
had not talked to him before the draft.
"I imagine (Tuesday) was a surprise to him," Schmidt said. | |
|