In what will end up being the biggest non-story of the year…the San Diego Padres did this on Saturday.
Big thank you to the @Padres and @padresmikedee for selecting me in the MLB draft. What a great day! pic.twitter.com/MaTKVZ5JqY
— Johnny Manziel (@JManziel2) June 7, 2014
Seriously, if they wanted to waste a draft pick…they should have just selected me.
But this isn’t the first time a baseball team has taken a big name college quarterbacks in the MLB draft. Consider the 1979 MLB Draft, when John Elway and Dan Marino were selected ahead of future New York Yankees great Don Mattingly…we all saw how those worked out.
Journeyman quarterback Kerry Collins, who last played in 2011, saw himself get drafted three separate times. He was first drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 1990 and was one of three straight future NFL players (Greg McMurtry and Rodney Peete were the others) they picked. The next year, Detroit tried again taking him in the 60th round. Lastly, he found himself again selected in the 1994 draft…this time by the Toronto Blue Jays.
A year later, the Montreal Expos took a chance on a high schooler out of San Mateo, California named Tom Brady. The then-catcher was taken in the 18th round. In the 2000 MLB draft, the Rockies made Michael Vick the 887th overall pick. The kicker…dude hadn’t played baseball since he was a 13-year-old eighth grader.
Most recently, both Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson found themselves selected. Kaepernick was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 43rd round of the 2009 draft and, a year later, Wilson was picked by Colorado Rockies in the fourth round. But, unlike the San Francisco 49ers signal caller, Wilson actually found himself racking up some time in the minor leagues.
And, lastly…two years ago, Jameis Winston, the 2013 Heisman Trophy winner and current pitcher for the Florida State Seminoles, was selected by the Texas Rangers. My guess is he’ll be picked again pretty soon.
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