Last season could have been the end of Eryk McConnell’s N.C. State career when the Baltimore Orioles selected him in the June Major League Baseball draft. McConnell changed that last week when he decided to return to school.
The redshirt senior was a 10th-round pick of the Orioles’, but the team didn’t sign him, and McConnell, the closer on last year’s team, will return for his final season with the team.
McConnell was 3-2 with a 1.72 ERA last year for the Wolfpack as the closer. He converted 11 of his 13 save chances as he held down the back end of State’s bullpen.
McConnell said the entire baseball community helped him make his decision to return.
“I talked to coach Avent,” McConnell said. “I talked to [associate head] coach [Tom] Holliday, my parents, a bunch of friends on the team. I wouldn’t say just one person stood out more than the others, but there was definitely some help in guiding me.”
Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, laid down some guidelines dealing with salaries of draft picks on the eve of the draft this year. Under these guidelines, the Orioles did not offer McConnell the compensation he thought he deserved. As a result, the pitcher decided to return to school to play his senior season.
“The commissioner laid down some guidelines for signing players from this year’s draft,” Holliday said.
“It had a strong effect on Eryk’s initial offer. The Orioles didn’t wiggle with him at all. Eryk very maturely said, ‘That’s not acceptable for me to give up my education,’ and made up his mind he’s going to finish his education at N.C. State and then play pro baseball — which he will do.”
McConnell is projected to return to the starting rotation this season where he went 7-6 with a 4.50 ERA in 2006. Holliday said he is confident McConnell will one day be on a major league roster and said this year will be useful to improve McConnell’s draft status as he shows scouts that he can both start and finish games.
“He can go from being the closer to being a starting pitcher and convince the professional world that he can do both,” Holliday said. “That way when he does get into the pro world, he’s ready for whatever challenge they present him.”
McConnell is taking his move back to the rotation in stride and said he just wants to help his team win.
“No matter what night I’m throwing, I just want to go out there and give our guys a chance to win,” McConnell said. “I’m going to go out there and work my butt off all fall and give my team a chance to win every time I go out there.”
Holliday added that McConnell is far from his ceiling and that the pitcher can improve his draft stock greatly.
“He can go up 10 more rounds,” Holliday said. “He was drafted in the 10th round. He can pitch his way into being a first rounder. At the same time, maybe he can get drafted by an organization that wants his services more than the Orioles did. He will get his opportunity again this year.”
Even with the prospects of improving his draft stock, McConnell maintains that his education was one of the most important parts of his decision — along with a desire to win a championship.
“I just want to graduate,” McConnell said. “Both my parents graduated, and they’ve really supported me. I want to go to [the College World Series]. We have a good team this year, and we have a good chance to win.”
