Wilson’s visit creates buzz around camp
John Hicks still knows the scouting report. The former Virginia catcher remembers that when Russell Wilson was at the plate he would try and hit the ball back up the middle. And when Wilson was on the mound at North Carolina State, he liked to throw his slider.
It’s still a little surreal for Hicks, a catcher in the Seattle Mariners system, to know the guy he played against in college, and played alongside growing up in Richmond, Va., is a Super Bowl champion quarterback. The same goes for Seattle pitcher James Gillheeney, who played baseball with Wilson at N.C. State.
“Just sitting back and thinking a few years back we were just hanging out. He used to come over to the house and just hang out. My roommate and myself would cut his hair every week,” Gillheeney said. “Just sitting there watching him on that kind of stage and thinking about how he used to be one of the guys just hanging out watching TV or what have you, it was definitely a really cool feeling.”
On Monday, Wilson’s past will be revisited as the Texas Rangers prospect makes a visit to their camp in Surprise, Ariz., that will be the buzz of the Cactus League.
The attention on the Rangers was one thing when they selected Wilson in the Class AAA portion of baseball’s draft at the winter meetings in December. It’s another when he makes the trip to Arizonaa month and a day after leading the Seahawks to the first Super Bowl title in franchise history and becoming a championship quarterback in just his second season in the NFL.
Don’t worry, Seahawks fans.
The Rangers are not about to put Wilson into Monday’s game let him get buzzed by 90 mph fastballs even though he’ll be in uniform and in the dugout for the matchup with Cleveland. Wilson may take part in some of the Rangers’ pregame workout, but that’s it.
“Our intentions are to bring him in and see if there’s anything he can say that may help anyone around here that has on a baseball uniform,” Texas Manager Ron Washington said. “This guy is a winner. He has tremendous character. He has attitude and undoubtedly has a lot of commitment to what he does.
That’s what we’re about and we just want him to feel comfortable.”Homework?
Minor league outfielder Josh Hart now has a clue who Frank Robinson is.
Hart, who is in the Baltimore Orioles farm system, was assigned to write a report on Robinson.
The 19-year-old gladly obliged.
“It’s important that we realize there were some people that paved the way to have that strong fan base, the people that live and die with everything the Orioles do,” Orioles Manager Buck Showalter said. “There’s not a city in America that loves their baseball team more than Baltimore.
“This should be a hero of his. It should be. And it is now. I guarantee you. He and the other guys now will know.”Quote of the day
“It’s a winning locker room. They’re going out there expecting to win.” Arkansas men’s Coach Mike Anderson
Sports, Pages 22 on 03/02/2014