I found this in my Hometown Newspaper online.
http://starnewsonline.com/apps/pbcs....plate=printart
Article published Mar 15, 2007
Godwin yet to find the right place at the right time
Maybe it is bad karma. A decade ago, Tyrell Godwin was a second-team, high school All-America in baseball at East Bladen and spurned a $1.8 million signing bonus as the 24th overall selection by the New York Yankees.
After making third team All-America at North Carolina in 2000, the Texas Rangers chose him as a compensatory pick, 35th overall, but he returned to school to complete his education.
Considered almost a surefire big league player, he turns 28 in July, yet still doesn't have a major league hit.
"Baseball is about being in the right place at the right time,'' Godwin said. "Sometimes it is hard finding that right place.''
Three years after the Toronto Blue Jays drafted him in the third round, Godwin thought he'd found that place when the Washington Nationals took him in the Rule 5 minor league draft just before Christmas 2004. At the time, he received several congratulatory calls, including one from Ryan Howard, last year's National League Most Valuable Player.
He and Howard formed a friendship while playing against each other for four years in the minors.
"He told me he thought he'd have to go to camp and compete for a job,'' Godwin recalled. "I was like, 'You hit 48 home runs last year between Double A and Triple A.' At the start of 2005, they sent him back to Triple A until Jim Thome got hurt and the rest is history.''
An opposite fate befell Godwin.
After going 7-for-20 in his first spring training with the Nationals, he was among the last players sent to the minor leagues. Washington promoted him to the majors in mid-season, but he returned to New Orleans after only three at-bats.
Last spring, Godwin felt better than ever about making the Nationals. Hall of Fame writer Peter Gammons mentioned Godwin as a possible fourth outfielder, not necessarily with the Nationals, who acquired Alfonso Soriano in a December 2005 trade.
I remember the buzz surrounding Soriano's reluctance to switch from second base to the outfielder. I knew the decision would impact Godwin.
Godwin learned the same thing at the outset of spring training a year ago when Nationals general manager Jim Bowden told him if Soriano accepted the move to left field, Godwin was ticketed for Triple A, where he had batted .321 in 499 at-bats in 2005.
Sure enough, Godwin was sent to minor league camp, but went 3-for-4 in his first exhibition.
The next day he pulled a hamstring, a nagging injury that contributed to a career-low .248 for New Orleans in 2006.
In retrospect, he should have opened the season on the disabled list.
"When you are a guy who can run, it does play in the back of your mind,'' he said. "When you can run, you don't have to center every ball. If I miss-hit one, I still have a chance to get a hit. Then, you start to dwell on how did I get from coming into camp looking to compete for a fourth or fifth outfield position to being in Triple A with a sore hammy and a 2 for 30 start.''
Late this winter, Major League Baseball informed Godwin that since he had six years of minor league experience, he could declare for free agency, even though he was technically under contract with the Nationals. He opted to sign a split contract with the Cincinnati Reds Jan. 14.
He will open the season with Triple-A Louisville.
Although he signed too late for a non-roster invite to big league camp, maybe his luck will change with a new organization.
Staff writer Chuck Carree can be reached at 343-2262 or
chuck.carree@starnewsonline.com
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Originally Posted by Gallen5862
