NY Times: Amir Garrett about to join Reds

[redsmetz]

Story just posted on the NY Times website about Amir Garrett getting ready for the minor league season

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/sp...r=1&ref=sports

[redsmetz]

Just reading some of the comments about him are exciting. Guess he'll start out in extended spring training and then what, Arizona Rookie League?

[redsmetz]

I thought I'd just post an excerpt from the story to highlight the portion that I found of interest:

The St. John’s basketball trainer, Patrick Dixon, described Garrett as a “physiological freak.” He is 6-6 and 208 pounds, and has an 80-inch wingspan and a 32-inch vertical jump. The St. John’s assistant Tony Chiles said he thought Garrett was still growing; he is just 19, wears size 12 shoes and cannot yet palm a basketball.

The Reds discovered him in May at an arranged tryout in front of 22 scouts at the College of Southern Nevada; he had played his senior basketball season in Henderson, Nev. He had not pitched a game in almost a year and had resumed throwing just three weeks before the tryout. Yet his pitches were clocked in the mid-90s.

The Reds liked his velocity, the looseness of his arm and his instinctive motion.

“Almost everything he does is totally natural,” said Chris Buckley, the Reds’ senior director for amateur scouting.

“We just wonder what he could do if he was punching away full time.”

The Reds and Garrett agreed on a dual-sport contract, which is spread over five years and contingent on Garrett’s reporting to camp — essentially a club option if he decides not to play baseball.

[Vottomatic]

He might as well transfer to UC from UConn since he's going to be here so much.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by Vottomatic

He might as well transfer to UC from UConn since he's going to be here so much.

He is at St Johns, not UConn. And he isn't going to be here at all. He will be in Arizona or Billings for the next two years probably.

[klw]

Any updates on Mr. Garrett? Last I checked his twitter account was private and he had not be used in any AZL games yet. He is on the AZL Reds roster however.