ESPN: The best baseball players in the NFL (4. New York Jets WR Eric Decker)

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BleedGopher

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4. New York Jets WR Eric Decker

Decker was drafted twice, by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008 (39th round) and the Twins in 2009 (27th round). An outfielder who threw and batted lefty, Decker played two seasons of college baseball at the University of Minnesota. He hit .324 with an on-base percentage of .406 in 374 at-bats over 110 games. His performance and obvious athleticism excited baseball scouts who envisioned him as a ground-covering outfielder and multi-threat leadoff hitter, but Decker prioritized his football career.

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http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/1...ted-major-league-mlb-tom-brady-russell-wilson

Go Gophers!!
 

for a guy that played baseball part-time, Decker had a lot of potential. Obviously, the football thing worked out well for him. But, when he was going through a lot of injury issues, I wondered at the time why he didn't give pro baseball a shot. I honestly think he had the ability to be an all-star caliber baseball player.
 

How does Wilson make that list? Because he's Russell Wilson. He sucked as a baseball player. Geez.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
for a guy that played baseball part-time, Decker had a lot of potential. Obviously, the football thing worked out well for him. But, when he was going through a lot of injury issues, I wondered at the time why he didn't give pro baseball a shot. I honestly think he had the ability to be an all-star caliber baseball player.
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Actually what he did made a lot of sense. In football you have the instant payoff from a financial standpoint whereas with baseball it takes time and you have to work your way up through the system. Had it not worked out in football after a year or two, I honestly believe he would have jumped ship and headed to baseball. Don't know this for a fact but given the way he talked about the sports at the time I think he loves football far more then baseball as well.

Had to have been rough coming out of college with two multi-million dollar futures in reach :).
 



MNVCGUY said:
Actually what he did made a lot of sense. In football you have the instant payoff from a financial standpoint whereas with baseball it takes time and you have to work your way up through the system. Had it not worked out in football after a year or two, I honestly believe he would have jumped ship and headed to baseball. Don't know this for a fact but given the way he talked about the sports at the time I think he loves football far more then baseball as well.

Had to have been rough coming out of college with two multi-million dollar futures in reach :).
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If he would have been drafted higher...would have been more likely.
 



which points out how hard it is to make the major leagues in baseball. Guys like Danny Ainge - great basketball player, good athlete - couldn't pull it off. Michael Jordan found out the hard way that baseball is harder than it looks. Also points out what a great freakin' athlete Dave Winfield was. Hall of Fame baseball player, and drafted in 3 sports.

Yes, there is no guarantee that Decker would have made the major leagues. just sayin' it would have been fun to see how he did.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
which points out how hard it is to make the major leagues in baseball. Guys like Danny Ainge - great basketball player, good athlete - couldn't pull it off. Michael Jordan found out the hard way that baseball is harder than it looks. Also points out what a great freakin' athlete Dave Winfield was. Hall of Fame baseball player, and drafted in 3 sports.

Yes, there is no guarantee that Decker would have made the major leagues. just sayin' it would have been fun to see how he did.
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Baseball is a lot harder than it looks. I was reminded of that this summer when coaching my son's baseball team. There were a few boys that dominated in soccer or basketball last year that looked just plain foolish on the baseball field.
 

Baseball and soccer are similar in that starting very young is really important.
 

Basketball, soccer, football require athleticism first and skill second
Baseball requires skill, then skill, then more skill, then athleticism

baseball players that are athletic would look good playing any of the other sports, not professional but competent. run, pass, catch, kick
Great athletes in the other sports wouldn't compete well in baseball without significant training. Most can't even manage to throw out a ceremonial first pitch. Imagine Kevin Durant fielding grounders or AP trying to take BP.
 

Usain Bolt could make the transition to baseball...as a pinch runner.

I'm certain baseball has the oldest average age of first major league participation...there are so many tools to master.
 



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