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Baseball: Unexpected path to the draft: Former walk-on Stripling signs MLB contract
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
Former Southlake Carroll pitcher Ross Stripling spent Monday night in Glendale, Ariz., signing paperwork and finding out what to expect when he shipped out the following day to Ogden, Utah to begin his professional baseball career.
The recent Texas A&M graduate was selected in the fifth round of the 2012 MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers, just one year after being selected in the ninth round by the Colorado Rockies.
But four years earlier, when Stripling set foot on campus in College Station, a career in baseball wasn't even on his mind.
Until a fateful call from Dragon's head baseball coach Larry Hughes changed everything.
"Ross went down to College Station for orientation and I gave (Texas A&M) coach Rob Childress a call and told him I had a player down there that I thought he should meet," Hughes said. "He wasn't recruited a bunch but he just went 14-0 and I think you should take a look at him. He said 'I don't have a lot of spots to offer but tell him to stop by.' So I called Ross up and said 'Hey, why don't you at least go over there and meet coach Childress and take a look at the field and everything."
Stripling decided take the meeting and was eventually granted preferred walk-on status.
"It all took off from there," he said. "I really credit coach Hughes. I love baseball, but I decided to be an Aggie. But coach kept telling me that I was good enough to play [at A&M] and he put in the call for me. I met coach Childress and took a look at everything and really wanted to give it a shot.
"It's a funny story and who knows how things would have turned out otherwise."
Stripling went on to pitch for the Aggies for four years, including returning for his senior season after being selected in the draft following his junior year when he led the nation with 14 wins.
"I'm a third generation Aggie so getting my degree was very important to me," he said. "And we had a group of seniors on the team that had been together for a while and we were poised to make a run to Omaha [for the College World Series]. It didn't work out like we wanted, but I'm glad I went back for one more year."
As a senior, the right-hander went 10-4 with a 3.08 earned run average, including five complete games, and led the Aggies with 120 strikeouts.
However, Stripling's A&M team was eliminated in the regional round, just a day before the draft began.
"I had a good feeling that I was going to go in the (round) 5-7 range," he said. "We put the draft on and waited for my name to be called. When it was, we were just jumping up and down. It was a pretty cool feeling."
Three days later, Stripling signed and now he heads for rookie ball, where he will play for the Ogden Raptors.
"It's like starting all over again as a freshman," he said. "Nobody knows who you are and you are there with hundreds of kids and you have to prove yourself again. A lot of the more experienced guys drafted are sent there and I think it's a good sign. I just want to get my feet wet and get used to the daily grind."
After throwing a conference-high 125 innings this season for A&M, Stripling said he will be a starter in rookie ball but will be on a pitch count and innings limit.
Like most, his hopes are to pitch in the big leagues. But in the meantime, he is setting his goals a bit lower.
"Everyone's dream is to get to the majors," Stripling said. "But it will be three or four years before that is even a possibility. In the short term, I'm hoping to get to Double-A by the end of my second full season. If I can do that, that will show I'm on a good path and might have a shot to make it. I have to have a great work ethic and hope the results come from there."
"I'm really proud of him," Hughes added. "I've been at Southlake for 16 years and have watched Ross play since he was a kid at Bicentennial Park and have seen him grow up. He's a great player, but I also know what kind of person he is and how smart he is. He's a winner and I think he is going to win at everything he does. I really think he can be a major league pitcher and I think he is going to get there quickly."
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