KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – JUNE 07: Quarterback Patrick Mahomes (back) of the Kansas City Chiefs hits a ball during the Big Slick celebrity softball game prior to a game between the Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on June 07, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. MLB news, David Ortiz, Cubs (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
The Detroit Tigers claim Patrick Mahomes as their own, David Ortiz is angry the Dominican Republic can’t host an MLB game, and the Cubs aren’t done shopping.
Patrick Mahomes is a part owner of the Kansas City Royals, but prior to that, he was a high school baseball star who was drafted by fellow AL Central foe, the Detroit Tigers.
The Tigers watched as their former draft pick won his second Super Bowl on Sunday night. It’s safe to say Mahomes made the right choice in football, as he was selected in the first round by the Chiefs after a successful career at Texas Tech. But how would he have fared on the diamond?
Detroit Tigers lay claim to Patrick Mahomes
Sadly for the Tigers, Mahomes chose football over baseball. That was back in 2014, as Tigers scout Tim Grieve described Mahomes as a ball of clay.
“You could’ve (tried to) throw a dollar figure at him…the fault with that is do you really want to convince a kid by throwing money at him? To me that’s just asking for trouble,” Grieve said. “What was being portrayed from his side was clearly ‘football is what I would like to do’. I think a lot of people that scouted Kyler Murray would probably tell you the same thing.”
Detroit hasn’t had much success with developing pitching prospects these days, as injuries have frequently gotten in the way. In football Mahomes chose a more direct path to financial success, and it’s tough to blame him.
“The energy, the passion, the leadership…you can tell he’s having fun when he plays. When you go see a high school baseball prospect so many are robotic, but he was different. He was just letting his athleticism and passion for playing take over. That was very evident at a young age…he was that same guy when he was playing baseball,” Grieve continued. “I loved that Patrick was a multi-sport kid.”