Legendary quarterback John Elway was nearly a Yankee, writes Tracy Ringolsby of MLB.com. Ringolsby sat down with scout and former executive Gary Hughes to talk about some of the multi-sport athletes he’s recommended over his lengthy career. The Yankees selected Elway in the second round of the 1981 draft. Elway told Hughes he would play baseball professionally if the Baltimore Colts didn’t trade him. Ultimately, they did, and he chose football. Hughes insists that Elway had special talent and would have had a successful career in baseball.
- While working with the Expos, Hughes was instrumental in the signing of Delino DeShields. The second baseman was committed to attending Villanova on a basketball scholarship but changed his mind after playing in rookie ball. When asked why he decided to forego his basketball scholarship, DeShields said, “if I am going to be any good, I have to concentrate on baseball.” Not only did DeShields have a successful 13 season career, his son recently broke out for the Rangers as a Rule 5 pick.
- Rusney Castillo has been worth a decent 1.3 WAR in 329 career plate appearances, writes August Fagerstrom of FanGraphs.com. That’s roughly a league average outfield over a full season, although most of the production has come on defense. The Red Sox undoubtedly hope to get more offense out of their $72.5MM investment. Fagerstrom digs deeper to examine Castillo’s profile at the plate. His high ground ball rate generates a disheartening list of comparables – Christian Yelich, Joey Butler, and Jose Tabata are the only better than average hitters of the bunch. Supposed adjustments to his swing path will need to click for him to morph into a serious offensive threat.
- The Mets are targeting a July 1 return for rehabbing pitcher Zack Wheeler, writes Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Wheeler underwent Tommy John surgery last March. The procedure typically has a 15 month recovery period, and it’s no coincidence his 15-month anniversary is June 25. While some pitchers in the past have recovered from the surgery faster than the 15 month timeline, players and teams now believe the slower recovery period is best for long term outcomes.
15 months is not typical. Its been about 13 months +/- 1 for the past several years although their is evidence that 12-13 months may be too short, and obviously, there are some advocating a return to the days when 15 months USED to be typical
I’m curious if elway would’ve done both sports if he wanted to
I think it would have been too hard for him, being a Quarterback. Starting QBs in the NFL have insane workloads, on and off-season. The only players I can think of playing both sports – Deion, Brian Jordan, Bo Jackson – were specialists; defensive ends and running backs.
No he could not do both sports. How can someone be the QB of a team on a part time basis. No chance.
Even if he wanted to, I doubt the Broncos would have let him. Playing baseball would’ve only increased his injury risk chance. If Elway was serious about baseball they probably would’ve tried to put language into the contract to prevent him from playing baseball. If he was adamant about playing both I also wouldn’t see many teams willing to let their starting QB play another sport.